Children have a right to be cared for and protected, protecting them is everyone’s responsibility.
 

Here at Chipping Ongar Primary School we have a duty of care to ensure that all users of the school are kept safe from harm. We are committed to provide a secure and supportive environment in which children can learn and develop.  Safeguarding is an essential part of our approach to ensure every child reaches their full potential.

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding is the action taken to promote the welfare of young people and protect them from harm. 

Safeguarding means:

• Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
• Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
• Preventing harm to children's health or development
• Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care. 

What does Safeguarding cover?

Safeguarding covers a number of issues, many of which are interconnected, including:

• Preventing Radicalisation. In 2006, the government introduced Prevent – a strategy to help prevent terrorism and radicalisation. As part of this, we have a duty to recognise when somebody is vulnerable and at risk of radicalisation and targeting from extremist groups. 
   
• Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). This is a form of sexual abuse that occurs when an individual or group coerce, manipulate, or deceive a child or young person (under 18) into sexual activity.

• Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE). This occurs when a child or young person (under 18) is coerced, controlled, manipulated, or deceived into carrying out criminal activity (e.g. moving drugs from one area to another – known as county lines activity).

• Grooming. This is when someone builds an emotional connection with a child to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse, exploitation, or criminal activity. Grooming can happen online or in the real world. The perpetrator can be a stranger or someone the child knows, and can be any age and gender.

• Forced Marriage. This is a marriage in which one, or both, people don’t, or can’t, consent to the marriage. It’s a criminal offence and a serious abuse of human rights. Forced marriages could be decided in advance, years before the child is old enough to marry.

• Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). FGM is a traumatic procedure where the external part of the female genitals are surgically removed. It’s usually performed by someone who isn’t medically trained and doesn’t have a professional or sterilised blade. The procedure is often carried out in the first weeks of life, in mid-childhood (usually between the ages of 8 and 10), or before puberty. FGM has no medical purpose, so it subjects young women to physical and psychological trauma for no reason. It is an illegal practice in the UK.

• Bullying. Bullying can happen anywhere at any time, such as directly in the classroom or anonymously online. It can have damaging effects on a child’s confidence and, frighteningly, has even pushed children to suicide. Bullying becomes a child protection issue where there is ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.’

• Self-harm and self-neglect. These are distinct signs that something’s wrong in a young person’s life, for example, they may suffer from another type of abuse or depression. 

• Child on child abuse. Students are capable of abusing their peers, even at a young age. This can take many forms, such as acts of violence or sexual assault. If this causes significant harm, or a risk of harm, steps must be taken to deal with it.

Our school aims to ensure that:

• Appropriate action is taken in a timely manner to safeguard and promote children’s welfare
• All staff are aware of their statutory responsibilities with respect to safeguarding
• Staff are properly trained in recognising and reporting safeguarding issues.

Raising a concern 

At our school all staff are trained to look out for any signs of abuse: physical, emotional, sexual or neglect. All staff and volunteers are required to report these and any other concerns on the school’s ‘Child Protection Online Management System’ (CPOMS) and to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or another member of the safeguarding team.

The best interests of the children will always be our priority. As such, there may be occasions when we need to record and share information with external agencies. We will share concerns about our pupils with the child’s parents/carers before making any referrals, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would not be in the child’s best interest.

To ensure that all children are safe both inside and outside of school, we ask that if you have any concerns surrounding any pupil of Chipping Ongar Primary that you make contact with the School.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Hollingsworth-Turner (Senco & Inclusion Manager) who can be contacted via email:

[email protected] or via telephone through the main office on: 01277 363789

If the issue is urgent and occurs outside of school, please contact Essex Children and Families Hub.

Contact number: 0345 606 1212
Email:

[email protected]

If you believe that a child is in imminent danger you must contact the police by dialling 999.

Our Child Protection Policy

Keeping Children Safe Online

E-Safety is an essential element of our school’s Safeguarding commitment and the school recognises the crucial role it has in establishing the ground rules in school for using ICT equipment and the Internet as well as supporting parents and carers to keep their child safe online.

Please click on the link below to visit our E-Safety page for essential information on keeping children safe online and to view our regular E-Safety updates.

Further Safeguarding Information