Safeguarding Information
At Masham Church of England VA Primary School, we are committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for all our pupils. We believe that every pupil has the right to feel safe and protected and we take this duty very seriously.
Safeguarding is about keeping children safe by protecting them from harm, supporting their development and making sure they grow up in a safe environment
Our Child Protection policy and procedures will be reviewed at least annually to be alert for possible signs of abuse; ensuring staff are appropriately trained and, where appropriate, sharing information and working in partnership with other agencies.
Safeguarding Procedures at Masham Church of England VA Primary
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibilities
Report your concerns
Should you have any concerns, no matter how small, please contact a member of our safeguarding team as soon as possible.
If you believe a child is in immediate danger, please call 999
Multi Agency Screening Team (MAST)
NYCC MAST consists of:
- Social Work Team Manager
- Social Work Practice Supervisor
- Early Help Casework Practitioner
- Social Worker
- Business support
- North Yorkshire Police; detective sergeants, detective constables, intelligence
management officer and administrator. - Harrogate District Foundation Trust (HDFT) Specialist Nurse Child Protection.
Click here to find out more and how to contact them.
Mr J Davies
Executive Headteacher
Designated Safeguarding Leads
Mr M Boyle
Head of School
Designated Safeguarding Leads
Catherine Lang, Senior Teacher and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Safeguarding governor: Emma Phillips – admin@masham.n-yorks.sch.uk
Should you have any concerns outside of school hours, then you should report them to the North Yorkshire Multi Agency Safeguarding Screening Team, please call 0300 131 2131. Additional information about making a referral can be found on their website by clicking here.
We follow the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (NYSCP) procedures and use CPOMS to record concerns and disclosures.
Parents and carers can also visit the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership website for more advice and information: NYSCP (safeguardingchildren.co.uk).
Or call NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.
For pupils, the NSPCC Childline number is 0800 1111.
We aim to maintain a positive relationship with all parents. The school will, in most circumstances, endeavour to discuss all concerns with parents about their children. However, there may be exceptional circumstances when the school will discuss concerns with Social Care and/or the Police without parental knowledge (in accordance with Child Protection procedures)
Masham Church of England Primary School is part of a project that runs jointly between schools and North Yorkshire Police.
Operation Encompass is the reporting of police attended domestic abuse incidents to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, where there are children in the home.
Operation Encompass will ensure that a member of the school staff, who is also a safeguarding leader, known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead, is trained to allow them to liaise with the police and to use the information that has been shared in confidence, while ensuring that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have experienced a domestic abuse incident.
How you can help
If you’re a parent or carer concerned about a child affected by domestic abuse speak to the designated safeguarding lead at the child’s school.
Anyone from a school or education organisation can register for access to a free, online training package on the Operation Encompass website.
If you’re interested in signing your school up to Operation Encompass, or would like more information, email the Operation Encompass team.
Helpline
The Operation Encompass Professionals’ National Advice and Guidance helpline is available on 0204 513 9990, Monday to Friday, 8am-1pm.
It offers free advice to teachers from educational or clinical psychologists on how best to support individual children. They can also discuss whole school policies and practices about supporting children experiencing domestic abuse.
More information
You can find more information at the Operation Encompass website. All materials and resources are free for schools to use.
Child Protection
Prevent Duty
As part of Masham CE Primary School’s ongoing safeguarding and child protection duties, we are fully behind the government’s Prevent Strategy. From 1 July 2015 all schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent Duty for Schools.
At Masham CE Primary School, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values and enabling our pupils to challenge extremist views. The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent Awareness Training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas, and we constantly participate in training, so our knowledge is up to date.
Our school is part of Operation Encompass.
Operation Encompass is a national police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse, and which is in place in every police force in England and Wales.
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 about all police attended Domestic Abuse incidents which involve any of our children PRIOR to the start of the next school day.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead has completed the Operation Encompass Key Adult training and they will cascade the principles of Operation Encompass to all other school staff and governors.
North Yorkshire Duty Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)
The North Yorkshire Duty LADO can be contacted on 01609 533080 should you wish to speak to somebody in relation to managing an allegation against a member of staff or a volunteer who works in North Yorkshire with children. please contact the relevant area LADO. For more information go to NYSCP (safeguardingchildren.co.uk)