Safeguarding
Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the physical, mental and emotional welfare of every student, both inside and outside of the school premises. We implement a whole-school preventative approach to managing safeguarding concerns, ensuring that the wellbeing of students is at the forefront of all action taken.
'The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders ensure that staff understand, and exercise, their safeguarding responsibilities well. Staff are well trained to be alert to the dangers that pupils may face. All staff understand how to report concerns about pupils who may be at risk of harm. They do so in a timely manner. Leaders manage information about safeguarding concerns appropriately. They work effectively with external partners to ensure that pupils and their families get the help that they need. Leaders have a secure understanding of what makes pupils feel unsafe. Leaders ensure that these areas are addressed through an effective personal development. Pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations, including when online.' Ofsted
Designated Safeguarding Leads
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Mr Paul Almond.
Our Deputy DSLs are: Mr A Duckworth, Mrs G Duckworth, Mrs C Lane, Mrs J Murphy and Mr T Sixsmith.
The Governor with responsibility for safeguarding is Mrs Kathleen Cooper.
They can be contacted via the office on 01772 600349 or email office@bishopr.co.uk.
Keeping Up to Date
We ensure that members of the Governing Body, the Headteacher and all staff understand their responsibilities under safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance, are alert to the signs of child abuse, and know to log concerns on CPOMs and refer to the DSL.
All staff have annual safeguarding and Prevent training at the beginning of each school year and are aware of the school policies and where they are stored. Staff that start working for the school part-way through the year also undergo safeguarding training as soon as they join the school by our DSL. This includes trainee teachers.
Empowerment and Recognition
We teach students how to keep safe and how to recognise behaviour that is unacceptable through regular conversations via their tutor group, year-group worship and weekly PSHE sessions. Internal and external speakers and agencies are often involved in these sessions which cover subjects such as drug and alcohol abuse, bullying, grooming, mental health and wellbeing, healthy relationships, domestic abuse, sexual health, consent, online safety, peer press and healthy lifestyles. Students are aware of who they can reach out to in school should they need to talk to anyone, or if they have any concerns about their friends or peers, and can be reassured that they will be taken seriously, be supported, and kept safe.
Online Safety
As a school, with a duty of care for young people it is essential we recognise the use of social networking, online gaming, live streaming and watching online videos among young people and the risks they may pose. Click here to learn more about online safety and how we can help to protect and educate our young people at Bishop Rawstorne.
The Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP) works with child protection partners across the UK and overseas to identify the main threats to children and coordinates activity against these threats to bring offenders to account. They protect children from harm online and offline, directly through NCA led operations and in partnership with local and international agencies. They are supported by the Police, Childline, and other organisations and charities. If you want to report something online you can report to them directly via their website http://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre or click on the button below:
Safer Recruitment
We adopt procedures that help deter, reject or identify people who might pose a risk to children by ensuring that all new staff, governors, contractors, agency staff and volunteers are only appointed when all the appropriate checks have been satisfactorily completed.
An enhanced DBS check with barred list information will be undertaken for all staff members who are responsible on a daily basis for the care or supervision of children, who regularly work in the school at times when children are on the premises or where they regularly come into contact with children under 18 years of age.
The Governing Body will ensure the appropriate pre-employment checks for all prospective employees, including internal candidates and candidates who have lived or worked outside the UK and for all governors, volunteers, and contractors. Following appointment, consideration will be given to staff and volunteers’ ongoing suitability – to prevent the opportunity for harm to children or placing children at risk. Pre-employment checks are carried out by the Senior Leadership Team.
The school will refer to the DBS anyone who has harmed a child or poses a risk of harm to a child, or if there is reason to believe the member of staff has committed an offence and has been removed from working in regulated activity. The duty will also apply in circumstances where an individual is deployed to another area of work that is not in regulated activity or they are suspended.
The school’s full policy and procedures for safer recruitment are outlined in the school’s Safer Recruitment Policy.
Operation Encompass
Our school is part of Operation Encompass. Operation Encompass is a national police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children who experience Domestic Abuse. Operation Encompass is in place in every police force in England and Wales, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. Children were recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act. Operation Encompass means that the police will share information with our school/college/nursery/setting about all police attended Domestic Abuse incidents which involve any of our children PRIOR to the start of the next school day. The notification informs us about the context of the incident and includes the Voice of the Child. Once a Key Adult (DSL) and their deputies (DDSLs) have attended either an Operation Encompass briefing or have completed the free National Online Operation Encompass Key Adult training they will cascade the principles of Operation Encompass to all other staff. All staff are encouraged undertake the online training.
The Key Adults have led training for all staff and Governors about Operation Encompass, the prevalence of Domestic Abuse and the impact of this abuse on children. As a school we have also discussed how we can support our children who are experiencing Domestic Abuse on a day-to-day basis and particularly following the Operation Encompass notification.
We have used the free Operation Encompass Handbooks to inform our policy thinking.
We are aware that we must do nothing that puts the child/ren or the non-abusing adult at risk.
The Safeguarding Governor will report on Operation Encompass in the termly report to Governors. All information is anonymised for these reports.
We have used the Operation Encompass Key Adult Responsibilities checklist to ensure that all appropriate actions have been taken by the school/college/nursery/setting.
When the Head Teacher, DSL or DDSLs leave the school and other staff are appointed, they will ensure that all Operation Encompass log in details are shared with the new Head Teacher /Key Adults and that the new member of staff will undertake the Operation Encompass online training.
For more information click here: https://www.operationencompass.org/
Child on Child Abuse
The school has a zero-tolerance approach to child-on-child abuse, defined as the abuse between children. All staff are aware that child-on-child abuse can occur between students of any age and gender, both inside and outside of school, as well as online. Staff are aware of the indicators of child-on-child abuse, how to identify it, and how to respond to reports and recognise that even if no cases have been reported, this is not an indicator that child-on-child abuse is not occurring. Staff will speak to the DSL if they have any concerns about child-on-child abuse and they understand the importance of challenging inappropriate behaviour between peers - this type of behaviour will not be tolerated as “banter” or “part of growing up”. Further information on this can be found in the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy. Where child-on-child abuse occurs, the school will carry out a risk assessment and may issue a sanction or will report the incident to the police if appropriate.
PREVENT - Preventing Radicalisation in School
Here at Bishop Rawstorne, we ensure we provide a safe and supportive environment where our students can discuss controversial issues, providing them with both the knowledge and confidence to be able to challenge extremist beliefs and ideologies. Building resilience in our young people, and the promotion of fundamental British values, is at the heart of preventing radicalisation.
Our Christian ethos, which is an integral part of our school life, as well as our teaching and learning, helps our students understand values of mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. These values are embedded across the curriculum; however, they are taught explicitly through content and skills building within PSHEe, citizenship and humanities.
As a school we have a legal duty, in accordance with the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, to take steps to prevent students from being drawn into terrorism. This is a duty we take very seriously and involves four main actions, namely: risk assessment, working in partnership, whole school staff training and via our information technology policies. If we assess a child as ‘at risk’, our named Prevent officer, Mr Paul Almond, will refer to the Channel Programme, which focuses on providing support at an early stage to people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.
Our staff undergo ongoing training to ensure we continue to comply with our legal duty. With regards to internet safety, we ensure suitable filters are in place to keep students from being exposed to extremist materials, in keeping with Lancashire Local Authority guidelines.
Procedure once a concern has been raised
If we have a concern about a particular student we will follow the school’s normal safeguarding procedures, including discussing with the school’s designated safeguarding lead and Prevent officer, and where deemed necessary, with children’s social care. In Prevent priority areas, the local authority will have a Prevent lead who can also provide support. In urgent cases, we may also contact the local Lancashire police.
Reporting Safeguarding Concerns
If you are concerned about a child at Bishop Rawstorne or have any safeguarding concerns they should be reported immediately to the DSL.
If the concerns are about the Headteacher, please inform the Chair of Governors or any other nominated safeguarding teacher / governor.
If the concerns are about a professional, please contact the LADO on 01772 536694 or go to lado.admin@lancashire.gov.uk.
If you are concerned about a child out of school hours:
Please contact Lancashire Children’s Social Care on 0300 123 6720, or any of the following numbers:
Lancashire Police 101 or 999 in an emergency
LCC Emergency Duty Team: 0300 123 6772
LCC Out of Hours: 0300 123 6722
NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000
Safeguarding Policies and Documentation
Further Information and Support
https://www.lancashiresafeguarding.org.uk/
https://bishopr.co.uk/support-and-wellbeing/further-information-and-support
