At Saltney Ferry CP School the safeguarding of all children is of paramount importance. Parents send their children to school each day with the expectation that school provides a secure environment in which their children can flourish. As a school we therefore must ensure that this expectation becomes reality; we want all of our pupils to be happy and safe during their time with us.  

Safeguarding is an umbrella term and covers many more aspects than just 'child protection'. 

Child Protection is protecting children from identified risks - originally focused on abuse at home, now a wider concept to include bullying, abuse through new technology etc.

Safeguarding extends child protection to include preventing harm and promoting the wellbeing of children.

Safeguarding (2004 Children's Act) is:

• Protecting children from maltreatment;
• Preventing impairment of a child's health or development;
• Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provisions of safe and effective care;
• Create opportunities to enable children to have optimum life chances in adulthood.

Saltney Ferry Primary School recognises its statutory duties to operate in a way that takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of learners. At our school we therefore make safeguarding arrangements to:

• create and maintain a safe learning environment for learners
• identify where there are wellbeing concerns and take action to address these, where appropriate, in partnership with other agencies
• develop the children’s understanding, awareness, and resilience through the curriculum.

In achieving this we will:

• prevent unsuitable people from working with learners
• promote safe practice and challenge poor and unsafe practice
• identify instances in which there are grounds for concern about a learner’s wellbeing arising from home, community, school or college, and initiate or take appropriate action to keep them safe
• contribute to effective partnership-working between all those involved with providing services for learners

The school's policy applies to the whole of the school's workforce, along with volunteers, governors and any contractors working on the school site. In particular staff recruitment and selection - ensuring that all staff (volunteers etc.) have been appropriately DBS checked for their suitability, using the Safe Recruitment procedures.

Parents should be aware that the school will take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of its pupils. Through their day-to-day contact with pupils and direct work with families, staff at the school have a crucial role to play in noticing indicators of possible abuse or neglect and referring to the appropriate bodies.

In cases where the school has reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill-treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse, staff have no alternative but to follow County Child Protection Procedures and inform Children’s Social Services of their concern. The school will follow the All Wales Child Protection Procedures (2008) and follow guidance from Flintshire Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB).

Designated Safeguarding officers in school are:

• Mr N. Martin - Acting Head teacher, Child Protection training -Level 3
• Mr Gareth Lloyd - Child Preotection training  - Level 3

Our Governor in charge of Safeguarding is Mrs Ann Montagu who can be contacted at sfsafeguarding@gmail.com.

In the event of a concern being raised about the Headteacher the chair of governors Vicky Lindley can be contacted at sfsafeguarding@gmail.com. 

Flintshire Children’s Services:

• Contact for Duty Team at Children Services –01352 701000
• Contact for Emergency Duty Team at Children Services – 0845 0533116

We also ask parents to sign a consent form to allow video and photographs of their child to be used by school. These may be used for press releases, on our school website or displays. The form will explain all available options and it lasts for the time that your child attends our school. We allow parents to photograph and film providing they follow certain guidelines. Parents are discouraged from putting photographs of pupils and identifying them on Social Networking Sites.

If you would like further information or a full copy of our safeguarding policy please contact the school or visit the policy section of our school website.