The Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust and all its Local Governing Bodies take seriously their responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; and to work together with all stakeholders to ensure arrangements within our schools identify, assess and support those children and young people who are suffering harm. DCAT expect all staff, employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
All DCAT schools academies have their own Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy, which can be found on the individual school’s website. All DCAT schools report safeguarding concerns through either MyConcern or CPOMS. Strategic overview and management of safeguarding is led by the Trust Centre staff with reports shared at Trustee level.
The Trust’s Designated Safeguarding lead is: Mark Talbot, Chief Executive Officer.
The safeguarding trustee is: Nick Taunt.
If you have a query about safeguarding, please contact your school in the first instance or if this is not appropriate, please ring 01273 425001 or email: contact@dcat.academy
Further Information is available to download at the bottom of this page:
DCAT Safeguarding Statement of Intent
Keeping Children Safe in Education (2022) -DfE guidance on safeguarding
At The March C of E Primary School, we regard the safeguarding of children as our main priority. We believe that everyone has the right to be happy, to be safe and to learn.
We will ensure that:
Areas of Safeguarding
Our safeguarding policies cover all areas of school life and include:
Members of Staff Responsible
We are all responsible for ensuring that each child remains safe, however the designated lead for Safeguarding is Mrs Nicky Metcalfe (Head Teacher)
Safer Recruitment
We follow strict procedures to ensure that everyone who works with our children is vetted, keeping our children as safe as possible. Ongoing checks and ‘whistle-blowing’ are in line with current policy.
Staff Training
Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
All staff have an up-to-date understanding of safeguarding children issues and are able to implement the Child Protection policy and procedures appropriately. Policies are in line with current guidance and procedures.
Staff are able to respond appropriately to any:
All staff are aware of the need to maintain privacy and confidentiality.
Information Sharing
We have an obligation to obtain necessary information from parents in advance of a child being admitted to school, including:
Written parental permission is requested, at the time of the child’s admission to the provision, to the seeking of any necessary emergency medical advice or treatment in the future.
PARENTS & CARERS MUST TELL US OF ANY CHANGES TO THESE DETAILS.
We take confidentiality very seriously. Any information which we hold is treated as confidential and shared on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.
Links with External Agencies
Because our first concern must be the well-being of the child, there may be occasions when we have to consult other agencies before we contact you. The procedures we have to follow have been laid down in accordance with the local authority child protection procedures.
We are fortunate to be supported by a range of external agencies which can be called upon to support the work we do in school. These include School Nurse, Health Practitioners, Educational Psychology, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services, Behaviour Support, Social Services and Specialists in supporting SEND.
Reporting Concerns or Complaints
Further to the above procedures, we have in place a concerns and complaints policy. This enables children, staff and carers to report anything they feel is of concern.
Concerns should be raised in the following order.
Contact details are available from the school office or by visiting the contact us section of our website.
Review of Policy and Practice
In order to ensure that best practice is maintained, our policies are reviewed regularly to incorporate the latest statutory guidance emerge.
Who else can I contact?
If you think a child or young person is at IMMEDIATE risk, you should treat this as an emergency and call 999 to report your concerns to the Police.
Children Services Improvement Updates – Integrated Front Door
What has changed?
We are introducing a single front door for all Children, Families and Partners wishing to contact Children Services in West Sussex.
Currently all telephone enquiries for social care are received through our customer service centre and then sent to our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for processing. For Early Help, enquiries are reviewed via locality teams. All referrals and general email enquiries are received directly into the MASH.
In the new way of working all enquiries/referrals for both Social Care and Early Help will come through our single front door referred to as the Integrated Front Door (IFD), this will be the only public contact point for Early Help and Children’s Social Care. The IFD for West Sussex Children Services will ensure that all enquiries and referrals are triaged upon receipt and directed to the appropriate service to support with the query, providing a seamless process with children receiving a service proportionate to their needs in a timely way.
This expertise of the team comprises of qualified Early Help specialists, qualified Social Care specialists, qualified managers, Customer Service Centre Agents and social care referral advisors.
Telephone number: 01403 229900
Email address: WSChildrenservices@westsussex.gov.uk
Why have we changed?
The Integrated Front Door model will allow Early Help and Social Care team to provide a holistic view at the front door of the child/family. Children’s Services would create one pathway to support and publicise one number for all worries relating to children regardless of risk and complexity. This will simplify the process for the public and professionals and potentially reducing unnecessary social work interventions as we shift the focus to ask if the child’s needs can be met by Early Help.
Children will only enter the MASH system of triage if the threshold is not clear from the initial screening. The aim is to move children more quickly to the right level of support without the need for extensive checks, delays and multiple contacts.
By having a dedicated triage team (IFD) focussing on the enquiries and referrals at first point of contact we can become more effective and efficient with the services we deliver.
What does is mean for me?
All enquiries and referrals will be triaged by the dedicated IFD team ensuring support from the appropriate service is provided swiftly.
What does it mean for the children, families and partners?
Children, families and partners will receive the right level of support for their needs as and when they need it within a timely way.
Operation Encompass
West Sussex School are working with West Sussex Police Constabulary on a joint initiative called Operation Encompass.
All schools in West Sussex we will be using this system as from 16th April 2018 . We have been asked by WSCC to provide you with the following information.
The aim of this initiative is for the police to report to the school, prior to 9am on the next school day, when a child or young person has been exposed to or involved in any domestic incident. This disclosure will include risk information affecting the child or young person, not all information obtained by the police at the incident. This information is already being shared with school but there are often delays. The new process improves this by supplying ‘live’ information to the school allowing appropriate support to be put in place to assist in mitigating these issues. This will support the long term wellbeing of children affected by domestic abuse.
The information shared will be received by a dedicated member of the school staff, known as a Key Adult, who is appropriately trained to manage this information. Mrs Metcalfe and Mr Jackson will take on this role. This allows us to liaise with the police and to use the information that has been shared in confidence. This enables the school to implement support and safeguarding for children and young people affected by these incidents.
We are keen to offer the best support possible to all children and young people and we believe this will be extremely beneficial for all those involved. If you would like to know more about Operation Encompass please visit www.operationencompass.org
CEOP is a part of the National Crime Agency and is dedicated to tackling the sexual abuse and exploitation of children and young people. CEOP helps children and young people under the age of 18 who have been forced or manipulated into taking part, or are being pressured to take part, in sexual activity both online and offline. The CEOP Safety Centre offers information and advice for children and young people, parents and carers and professionals. You can visit the CEOP Safety Centre and make a report directly to CEOP by clicking the Click CEOP button.
Childline: Childline is a free, private and confidential service where you can talk about anything. Whatever your worry, whenever you need help, we’re here for you online, on the phone, anytime by calling 0800 1111 or click on the Childline button.
NSPCC: The NSPCC provide therapeutic services to help children move on from abuse, as well as supporting parents and families in caring for their children. We help professionals make the best decisions for children and young people, and support communities to help prevent abuse from happening in the first place. You can contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.
For Whistleblowing purposes around adults, if you do not feel that the ODBST team has taken your concerns onboard, or you do not feel able to raise them with us, then you can contact NSPCC directly on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk