Safeguarding children and young people is everyone’s responsibility.
Westroyd Primary School & Nursery is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. We believe all staff and visitors have an important and unique role to play in child protection.
At Westroyd Primary we believe:
Schools can contribute to the prevention of abuse.
All children have the right to be protected from harm.
Children need support which matches their individual needs, including those who may have experienced abuse.
Children need to be safe and feel safe in school.
Keeping children safe from all kinds of harm is priority at Westroyd. School has a crucial role to play in this and works closely with services and other agencies in the local and wider community to do this.
In addition we work pro-actively to support children and their families so that crisis points can be avoided and give help and support where it is needed.
For quick useful advice about children’s services in Leeds and a range of child protection issues, there are useful ‘One Minute Guides’ here.
To report a concern if you are a member of the public, you can call children's social work services on 0113 222 4403 Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm, or you can click here.
If you have an urgent concern about a child, or you need advice or information, you can call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you think a child is in immediate danger please call the Police on 999.
If you have any concerns about safeguarding at Westroyd, contact the local authority designated office on 0113 2478652.
Designated Safeguarding Team at Westroyd
Mrs Hollingshead Designated Safeguarding Lead
Miss Pashley Safeguarding Team Member
Miss Rayit Safeguarding Team Member
The Governing Board has appointed Jo Boyne as the named Governor for Child Protection
These members of staff are fully trained and will follow up on all issues that are brought to them in a timely fashion and in accordance with the child protection policy. They are trained to listen carefully and consider the best course of action based on the information they have. The team ensure that the staff have all of the training and support they need to ensure that safeguarding is a priority in the classroom and beyond. They also link to outside agencies who they can call upon to help and support.
Staff are expected to report any causes for concern to the Designated Safeguarding Staff using either a secure online system or a written pro-forma. Concerns may range from children being visibly upset to persistent lateness to children "disclosing" concerns.
Where the school has concerns about a child, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, will act as a source of support, advice and expertise to staff on matters of safety and safeguarding and when deciding whether to make a referral by liaising with relevant agencies. In general, we will discuss concerns with parents/carers before approaching other agencies, and will seek their consent to making a referral to another agency. Appropriate staff will approach parents / carers after consultation with the Designated Safeguarding Lead. However, there may be occasions when school will contact another agency before informing parents / carers, if the school decides that contacting them may increase the risk of significant harm to the child.
Child Protection information will be dealt with in a confidential manner.
Leeds Joint Agency Protocol for Domestic Violence and Abuse: School Notifications (DVA Notifications Process) has been established to support children who are resident in households where there are incidents of domestic violence and abuse. We know that children can be significantly physically or emotionally hurt by being either present in the house or directly witnessing an incident of domestic violence.
The DVA Notification Process has been designed to provide confidential notification to schools on any incidents of domestic violence and abuse which occur within a child’s household that might have an impact on a child whilst they are in school.
The process will ensure that a member of staff is trained to allow them to use the information that has been shared, in confidence, and ensure that school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have been involved in or witnessed a domestic violence or abuse incident.
We are keen to offer the best support possible to our pupils and we believe this is going to be extremely beneficial for all those involved.
If you would like further support or information about domestic violence and abuse please go to www.leedsdomesticviolenceandabuse.co.uk
General information about safeguarding-related policies and practices within our school can be found in the Policies section of the website.