Mercia Learning Trust online safety hub

Our school is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare, safety, and wellbeing of every pupil.

All staff receive regular training to ensure they understand how to keep pupils safe, recognise signs of concern, and follow consistent, effective procedures.

We foster open, supportive environments where pupils feel confident to share worries and know who to turn to for help.

Robust policies, a strong safeguarding culture, and clear guidance help ensure that pupils are protected and supported at all times.

Our aim is that families, staff, and pupils work together to maintain safe, caring school communities where pupils can thrive.

Reporting a safeguarding issue

During school hours

Contact the school on 0114 232 2338 and ask to speak to someone in the safeguarding team. In our school these people are:

  • Mrs E Scott – Designated Safeguarding Lead
  • Miss L Whitfield – Designated Safeguarding Deputy
  • Ms P Lamont – Designated Safeguarding Deputy
  • Miss K Crossley – Designated Safeguarding Deputy
  • Mr E Abdulqader – Designated Safeguarding Deputy
  • Ms A Scholey – Designated Safeguarding Deputy
  • Mrs C Mann – Designated Safeguarding Deputy
  • Miss E Davis – Designated Safeguarding Deputy

If school is closed

Our school’s opening times are 8.00am until 3.30pm Monday to Friday. Outside these times, you may not be able to contact the designated safeguarding lead or deputies, but any messages left will be responded to when we return to school.

If you have any concerns about the welfare of a pupil or young person when the school is closed, please contact the Sheffield Safeguarding Hub on 0114 2734855.  If you think a pupil or a young person is in immediate danger, please call 999 and ask to speak to the police.

Child protection

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and schools have a duty to report any concerns that a pupil may be experiencing ill treatment, neglect, or abuse.

The school may refer these concerns to social care or other agencies – not as an accusation, but to ensure that the pupil and family receive any support needed.

All staff, volunteers, and partners are expected to follow strong safeguarding practices guided by these key principles:

  • Every pupil has the right to be safe
  • Early help is vital
  • Effective protection relies on co-ordinated work between agencies
  • Staff receive regular training
  • Safeguarding is overseen by the headteacher, designated safeguarding lead, trained deputies, and a named governor
  • Policies follow local and national guidance, are reviewed annually, and are tailored to the school’s context to ensure best practice in keeping pupils safe

Essential contact information

MIND (mental health issues helpline)

0300 123 3393

Family Intervention Service (FIS)

0114 2037485

NSPCC (24 hour pupil protection helpline)

0800 800 5000

Pupilline (24-hour helpline for under 18s)

0800 1111

Recruitment

Only adults who are safe to work with our pupils may be employed or volunteer at our school.

We undertake thorough checks including DBS checks, references, ID and full employment history. We keep a single central record of all this information, and it is regularly monitored.

Visitors, volunteers and site contractors are rigorously checked in much the same way as staff before they can have any unsupervised access to our pupils. This checking includes any teaching material to be delivered to pupils within the classroom. All adults in school must wear an ID badge and coded lanyard.

Attendance

Pupils come to school to learn, and good attendance is vital if they are to gain as much as possible from their time in school. When pupils miss lessons, it is harder for them to reach their full potential.
Poor attendance and punctuality can:

  • lead to pupils feeling unsettled at school
  • affect friendships
  • reduce confidence
  • lead to academic problems, reducing the long-term life chances of pupils

Please support us in making sure your child comes to school regularly. This is a parents’ legal responsibility. Pupil attendance at school is monitored daily and notable absences or patterns of absence are followed up by the attendance team and, in more serious cases, are referred to the local authority.

How we teach children to be safe and happy

We ensure a secure and encouraging environment where pupils feel safe and supported. We develop every pupil’s spiritual, moral and cultural understanding through the delivery of our whole school curriculum, including our religious education and personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) curriculum. Through all of these areas we continually promote British values.

Keeping safe online

We know that many pupils at our school enjoy a range of media, including computers, tablets and games. These are great fun, but it is important to be aware of the risks involved in each of these.

Within our curriculum, we teach online safety to all our pupils. However, it is vital that parents have an overview of what technology pupils are using and what risks these may pose.  If you believe a pupil is at risk online, you should contact the school to discuss this. If you believe pupils are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police.

Useful websites

Mercia Learning Trust online safety hub

Sheffield Safeguarding Hub

Safer Derbyshire

thinkuknow This is the education programme from NCA-CEOP, a UK organisation which protects pupils both online and offline.

NSPCC

CEOP  Pupil Exploitation and Online Protection Command