Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.

Safeguarding means:

  • protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
  • preventing harm to children’s health or development
  • ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
  • taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
Safeguarding children and child protection guidance and legislation applies to all children up to the age of 18.

Poole High School is committed to providing the highest possible standards in all safeguarding issues.

All our Level 3 trained safeguarding staff are detailed in the contacts document, but the key personnel are:

Headteacher: Mr P Gray

Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mr A Bousfield (Director of Behaviour & Safeguarding).

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads: Sue Orchard, Victoria Stillman, Michelle Kelly, Sam Bury, Kerry Dewsnap, Joe Curtis, Steve Hicks

Looked After Children Teacher: Mr S Bury (Director of Behaviour and Culture)

Prevent Lead: Mr A Bousfield (Director of Behaviour & Safeguarding)

Antibullying Ambassador: Mr S Bury (Director of Behaviour and Culture)

Safeguarding Governors: Rosie Knapper

Child Confidentiality

Members of staff have a professional responsibility to share relevant information about the protection of students with other professional agencies. This can include social care, Early Help services, police and other agencies that may support your child. A member of staff must, therefore, never promise confidentiality.


Safeguarding and Child Protection Enquiries: Out of Hours

Please be aware that during any half terms or school closures (whether INSET days or unplanned closures), you will need to contact the following services if you have any concerns or require advice for your family or another:

  • Where there is an immediate risk or concern for a child please contact the police on 999.
  • For concerns about a child or where you have ongoing concerns, please contact BCP Childrens' Social Care on 01202 123334
  • If your enquiry is outside normal office hours (Mon-Fri, 8:30am – 5:15pm), please contact Social Care on 01202 738256
  • If the child resides in the Dorset area, please contact Dorset Children’s Social Care on 01305 228866
  • Any arranged meetings such as Child in Need or Child Protection that have been arranged during holidays and agreed upon with families will still go ahead and a school representative will attend.
  • If a meeting is held during any school holidays or closures when school representation is not possible, the school will aim to provide a written report in advance of the conference.
  • If you would like any further advice or require support outside of school hours, please see the information around the Early Help team or family information directory.
  • For more information on BCP Childrens Social Care and Children’s First Response Hub please visit Concerns about child abuse or wellbeing | BCP (bcpcouncil.gov.uk)
  • If you have concerns about any of our students during the school holidays then a member of the safeguarding team can be contacted during normal school hours on 07475 511781

PREVENT Statement

Poole High School is fully committed to the safeguarding of our students. As a school, we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is no different from safeguarding against any other vulnerability. PREVENT is the name given to a national strategy that aims to stop people from becoming involved with violent extremists or supporting terrorism. The PREVENT duty is carried out under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, which legally requires us to take steps to prevent students from being drawn into terrorism. We take this duty seriously and carry out the four main actions: risk assessment, working in partnership, staff training and IT Policies. If we assess a student as a risk, we will refer them to the Channel Partnership, which focuses on providing support at an early stage.

In terms of internet safety, we ensure suitable filters (including keyword and phrase monitoring) are in place to keep students away from extremist materials.

We recognise that we play a vital role in keeping people safe from harm, including from the risks of extremism and radicalisation, and in promoting the welfare of students in our care.

Updated: 13/12/2024 208 KB

Below are links for further guidance and information:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance/revised-prevent-duty-guidance-for-england-and-wales

https://educateagainsthate.com/

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass. This is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse. Operation Encompass means that the police will share information about Domestic Abuse incidents with our school PRIOR to the start of the next school day when they have been called to a domestic incident.

Our Key Adults are:

  • Adam Bousfield – Designated Safeguarding Lead
  • Sue Orchard – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Our parents are fully aware that we are an Operation Encompass school.

The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information.

The key adult has also led briefings for all school staff and governors about Operation Encompass, the prevalence of domestic abuse and the impact of this abuse on children. We have also discussed how we can support our children following the Operation Encompass notification.

The Safeguarding Governor will report on Operation Encompass in the termly report to Governors. All information is anonymised for these reports.

The key adult has used the Operation Encompass Toolkit to ensure that all appropriate actions have been taken by the school.

Keeping Children Safe in Education & Working together to Safeguard Children

Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)

The LADO is the person who must be informed of concerns and allegations made against staff or volunteers in school. Please note it may also be appropriate to contact the LADO if an allegation is made against someone who is closely associated with a staff member.

The individual may have:

  • behaved in a way that has harmed 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 he or she would pose a risk of harm to children.

The LADO works in children’s services and gives advice and guidance to anyone who has concerns about the behaviour of an adult who works with children and young people.

In the BCP area they can be contacted via:

Principal Telephone: 01202 817600

Email: LADO@BCPcouncil.gov.uk

WWW:https://www.fid.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/family-information-directory/directory/health-and-wellbeing/family-services/keeping-safe/lado-local-authority-designated-officer-service-bcp-council

As always, where there is an immediate risk or concern for a child, please contact the Police via 999 or contact Children’s Social Care on 01202 123334.

If your enquiry is outside of normal office hours (Mon-Fri 8.30am – 5.15pm), please contact the ‘Children’s Out of Hours Service’ on 01202 738256.

If the child resides in the Dorset area, please contact Dorset Children’s Social Care on 01305 228866

 

Helpful Websites and Resources for Parents and Students