Stithians Community Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy.

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child's welfare.

We actively support the government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism. 

• Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Ellie MacQuarrie (Headteacher)

• Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Trevor Manley (Deputy Headteacher)

• The governor with responsibility for safeguarding in our school in Cath Cullen (Chair of Governors)

Everyone at Stithians CP School takes the responsibility towards preparing the children for life in modern Britain. fundamental British Values are introduced, discussed and lived out through the ethos and work of the school. All curriculum areas provide a vehicle for furthering understanding of these concepts and, in particular, our RE, PSHE lessons and assemblies provide excellent opportunities to deepen and develop understanding.

Children embrace these concepts with enthusiasm and demonstrate a good understanding of their application to their own lives. We make considerable efforts to ensure children have exposure to a wide experience beyond their local community during which these concepts are shown. For example: sporting events, assemblies and a range of visits.

Their strong-rooted values-based understanding gives them an excellent platform for embracing difference. All staff and governors are aware of their responsibilities towards radicalisation and have received training on The Prevent Duty.

Staff understand their obligation to identify children who may be vulnerable to radicalisation, and know what to do when they are identified. Protecting children from the risk of radicalisation is seen as part of schools’ wider safeguarding duties, and is similar in nature to protecting children from other harms.

As a school we are preparing children for the 21st century and embrace the technologies that can enhance learning. Our aim is to safeguard and promote our pupils’ safe use of internet and electronic communication devices such as mobile phones and wireless connectivity. The internet and other technologies have an important role in the learning and teaching processes, however, we feel it is important to balance those benefits with an awareness of the potential risks. For further information on this please see our e-safety policy.

If the actions of a member of staff causes any concerns regarding their conduct with a child, then the matter will be dealt with following whistleblowing procedures in which the headteacher and chair of governors will investigate, and, if needed, will contact the local authority to report their concerns. If you are ever concerned about a child or adult in our community, please contact one of our designated safeguarding leads, Miss MacQuarrie and/or Mr Manley.

Operation Encompass

The school uses the services of Operation Encompass, a unique police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people exposed to domestic abuse.

Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools before the start of the next school day when a child or young person has been involved or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous evening.

The information is given in strict confidence to a school’s key adult to enable support to be given dependent on the needs and wishes of the child.

Photographs and Videos

Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and videos of their children’s school life, we are very mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and this includes the use of photographic and video images.

Any photographs or videos taken by parents, carers and relatives at school productions, sports days or other events are for the enjoyment of individual families. They must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This would include publishing images in any form of print or on the internet (such as social networking sites). This is emphasised before concerts and shows etc.

We understand that in exceptional circumstances, a parent or carer may not wish their child to be photographed or videoed in this way. You have the opportunity to let us know on the permissions form that we send out at the beginning of every school year.

Occasionally, the local press will be invited to take photographs of school events and special achievements. We like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parent information meetings and on our display screens around the school. If you do not wish photographs of your child to be used for these purposes, then please contact the headteacher.