Safeguarding

The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) has responsibility for managing allegations against adults who work with children. 

This includes: those in paid employment, including temporary, casual, and agency staff; volunteers; individuals who are self-employed; prospective adopters, or adult members of the prospective adopters household. A useful test for deciding upon the applicability of the LADO procedures is to consider whether the individual subject to the allegation or concern occupies a position of trust.

Where the following threshold criteria apply, a referral to LADO should be made within 24 hours. An allegation relating to a person who works with children who has:

• behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child
• possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child
• behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children
• behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children

The allegation could be about physical, sexual, emotional, online abuse and neglect. The allegation can be recent and/or historical. It may relate to a single incident or be a cumulation of concerns. The suitability criteria may also cover other forms of behaviours and attitudes either at or outside of the work place, particularly where this calls into question the values that govern the person’s personal behaviour and/or area of work, or questions their ability to safeguarding children.

Consultations about whether an allegation reaches LADO threshold can be organised by contacting the LADO LADO.sp@stoke.gov.uk

If LADO advice is required, email the LADO and LADO will screen as soon as they are able to.

More information can be found at www.safeguardingchildren.stoke.gov.uk/professionals

A young carer is someone age 5 to their 18th birthday who regularly provides care and emotional support to a family member (parent, brother or sister, grandparent or other relative) who is physically or mentally ill, disabled or misuses alcohol or drugs.

The Carers Hub

The Carers Hub is a commissioned service by Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council. They work across the region providing a free of charge support service to adult and Young Carers (5-18 year olds).

The Carers Hub delivers a 6 week programme in school called ‘YouCan’. It is designed to help young people who have a caring role, to build self-esteem and better peer relationships within the school setting. The aim is not just to support young carers in the short term but to leave a legacy and give them skills and support-networks in school, so they feel able to manage their caring responsibilities.

Mrs Allen and Miss Smithson are Sandford Hill’s Young Carer champions. They support children who have been identified as Young Carers to ensure that the level of caring they are doing does not have a negative effect on them. They will also support the Young Carers of Sandford Hill whilst they access the ‘YouCan’ programme.

The statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) describes Early Help as:

‘Early Help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years’. 

‘Providing early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later’.

We work together with other agencies to support children and their families or are in need of early intervention.

Mrs Allen and Miss Smithson are Sandford Hill’s Early Help Champions.

We are an Operation Encompass school. This is a police and education partnership which ensures that the school is informed, prior to the start of the day, that there has been an incident of domestic abuse to which the child or young person has been exposed.

e Safety is an integral part of the curriculum at Sandford Hill Primary. Lessons, with a specific e Safety focus are delivered to all childern across the school each half term. These lessons are in line with the recommendations laid out in Education For A Connected World. Lessons are resourced through the school’s subscription to National Online Safety which offers a whole school community approach to e Safety with comprehensive training and resources for teachers, parents and children. Aas part of this, all staff recive e Safety training throughout the year.

e Safety messages are also regularly reinforced through school assemblies, the wider curriculum and through the school’s newsletter and  social media channels. As well as this, each year the school activley promotes and celebrates the national Safer Internet Day.

The specific e Safety curriculum provision at Sandford Hill follows the 8 strands of Education For A Connected World.

Our curriculum is designed to teach our children how to keep themselves safe, as well as ensuring that all children have the best outcomes throughout their lives. Our children are taught to understand what healthy relationships look like, how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy and how to live in the wider world.  Below is a table containing the whole school PSHE curriculum.

In this technology rich world in which we live, it is a priority at Sandford Hill that our children know how to stay safe online. 

Please find below information on the current issues in Safeguarding and the relevant national government information.

Child Sexual Exploitation Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a type of sexual abuse. When a child or young person is exploited they’re given things, like gifts, drugs, money, status and affection, in exchange for performing sexual activities.

County Lines County lines drug trafficking is the practice of trafficking drugs into rural areas and smaller towns, away from major cities. Traffickers recruit vulnerable children as drug dealers.

Domestic Abuse Domestic abuse is any type of controlling, bullying, threatening or violent behaviour between people in a relationship. It can seriously harm children and young people and witnessing domestic abuse is child abuse.

FGM Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a painful, non-medical, procedure undertaken on girls and young women which can seriously harm their long-term health. It is a form of child abuse and is Illegal in the UK.

Honour Based Abuse Honour based violence is a collection of practices, which are used to control behaviour within families or other social groups to protect perceived cultural and religious beliefs and/or honour.  Women, men and younger members of the family can all be involved in the abuse.

Child on Child Abuse This form of abuse occurs when there is any kind of physical, sexual, emotional or financial abuse or coercive control exercised between children. It includes bullying, cyberbullying, sexual violence, harassment and sexting.

Radicalisation The government’s Prevent Duty Guidance defines radicalisation as “the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies associated with terrorist groups”.

Up-Skirting Up-skirting is a colloquial term referring to the action of placing equipment such as a camera or mobile phone beneath a person’s clothing to rake a voyeuristic photograph without permission.

Staffordshire Safeguarding Board Please click on the link below to access the Staffordshire Safeguarding Board for more information.