What to do if you have a concern about a child or something else about the school:

At St Mary's our designated leads for Safeguarding are:

Mr Lobb

Mrs Chapman

The door is always open - please come in to speak to either of us.

Keeping children safe - and teaching them how to stay safe - is a very important role within any school.

Defined for the purpose of this guidance as

• Protecting children from maltreatment;

• Preventing impairment of children’s health or development;

• Ensuring children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and

• Taking action to enable all children to have the best life chances

More information is available in the pdf of the school's Child Protection/ Safeguarding Policy below.

IN LESSONS

Over the course of the year, children will be taught how to stay safe online and how to stay safe while 'out and about'.  The NSPCC come in regularly to support deliver some lessons to the children on how to stay safe.

• Create a culture of sharing at home so it becomes just part of home life that parents are interested in what their children are doing on the computer/internet.
• Keep the computer in a family room.
• If children wouldn't normally do it in the real world then it's not acceptable in the virtual world either.
• Put time restrictions on children's computer/internet use.
• Install the Safety Dolphin to home computers.
• Set preferences to Google Strict Search for Google Images.
• Any webcams should only be attached to a computer in a family room.
• A friend online is not the same as a friend in real life.
• Take an interest in your children's online friends, just as you would do with their friends in real life.
• Internet Safety is about behaviour and not ICT, just as Road Safety is about behaviour around roads and not about the traffic which drives on them.
• Don’t go home and unplug the internet! Remember the internet is a brilliant resource but it does reflect the best and worst of human nature. We cannot eliminate every risk to children but we can minimise the risks to an extent that children remain as safe as possible – again very similar to road safety.