Safeguarding and the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. At Brookside we take our responsibilities in this area very seriously and have robust systems and procedures in place to ensure that our children are safe, happy and well looked after.

• Mrs Rachel Clark is the Designated Safeguarding Lead person (DSL) for child protection & safeguarding issues.
• Mr Gary Kenny is the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead person (DSL) for child protection & safeguarding issues.
• Mrs Reesha Armstead and Mr Lewis James are the lead governors for Safeguarding and Child Protection.

If you have a concern or a member of staff has a concern it can be reported confidentially to either of the designated people. All staff have a valid DBS certificate, recorded in our Single Central Register, which is kept in the office. Staff are re-checked every 3 years. All Governors also all have valid DBS certificates. Should a child disclose anything that causes you to have a concern about their  welfare please report it immediately to any teacher or designated person. Do not engage the child in discussion on this issue yourself.

The School Policy for Child Protection is updated in line with Local Authority Guidance and Regulations. Our policy and procedures for safeguarding are also reviewed and approved by Governors on an annual basis.

• All staff receive regular training around safeguarding from the local authority.
• Designated persons receive updates to training every 2 years.

Additional policies that relate to pupil welfare and safety, such as Child-on-Child Abuse, Internet & Online Security, Anti-Bullying and Pupil Behaviour can be found here.

If you have an urgent safeguarding issue outside of school hours you are able to contact the Nottinghamshire Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 0300 500 8090 or 0300 456 4546

Useful links for online safety information

Parents and Carers – UK Safer Internet Centre

Information for Parents:

Bullying

No-one deserves to be bullied and the problem cannot be ignored.  The Anti-Bullying Association offers lots of support and advice for schools and parents/ carers.  Kindly click here for access.

NSCPP- Pants

The NSPCC have some fantastic resources for talking to your child about keeping safe from abuse.   The programme is followed within school, it can also be followed at home.  Click for access.

Barnardos

Helps all kinds of families to cope with a wide range of issues including poverty, abuse, and homelessness.
tel: 01268 520224
website: www.barnardos.org.uk

Internet Matters

Helping parents to keep children safe online.  Click for access.

Kidscape

Gives information for parents on a range of ways children can be bullied including cyber bullying and gives advice on keeping children safe online.
tel: 020 7730 3300
website: www.kidscape.org.uk

Missing Person Helpline

Whether you are missing yourself, or have been affected by the disappearance of a loved one, you can contact the missing person helpline whenever and however you want.

phone or text: 116000 (24 hours)

NSPCC

Offers some helpful information for parents and carers on a range of issues, such as internet safety, protecting children at home and positive parenting tips.

tel: 0808 800 5000
website: www.nspcc.org.uk

Women’s Aid Federation

The key national charity working to end domestic violence against women and children. Support a network of over 500 domestic and sexual violence services across the UK.
tel: 08457 023 468
website: www.womensaid.org.uk

Prevent Strategy

What is Prevent?

Prevent is part of the Government’s strategy to stop people becoming radicalised or supporting terrorism. Prevent focuses on all forms of terrorist threat, e.g., international terrorism and far right extremism.

The Government’s Prevent strategy can be found at the following address: www.homeoffice.gov.uk

Three key themes

Three key themes exist within the Prevent strategy:

  • Safeguarding vulnerable individuals through the provision of advice and support and intervention projects.
  • Working closely with institutions such as Universities, Schools, Prisons, Health, Charities and faith establishments.
  • Challenging terrorist ideology by working closely with other local and national agencies, partners and our communities

How you can help?

It is important that we all work together, so that we can protect our communities. There are many ways you can help:

  • You can get in touch with your local neighbourhood or Prevent team for advice and support, if you are worried about someone you know who you believe may be vulnerable to radicalisation.
  • You can speak to your local officers or Prevent contact about helping run community events to bring people from different communities together.
  • You can become in engaged in events that nurture community well-being.