Safeguarding /eSafety

Colney Heath School is determined to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to protect children and young people from harm.

Every child and young person who participates in the organisation’s activities should be able to participate in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from harm. This is the responsibility of every adult involved in the organisation.

The school recognises that child abuse can be an emotive subject. It is important to understand the feelings involved and not to allow them to interfere with judgment about any action that needs to be taken.

Colney Heath School recognises its responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and young people by protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect and bullying.

Our policy is written in accordance with Hertfordshire’s Safeguarding Children Board’s Procedures.

The school will ensure that;

The welfare of the child remains paramount.
All children whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs and/ or sexual identity have the right to be protected from harm.
All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
All adults (paid/ unpaid) working in the organisation have a responsibility to report concerns to Mr Rose or Mrs Clark.

Prevent Strategy

As part of our duty to keep children safe within school, we have a duty to follow the Prevent Strategy. This is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. The Prevent Strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, violent religious groups and other causes. This statutory guidance makes clear that schools should assess the risk of children being drawn into terrorism, including support for extremist ideas that are part of terrorist ideology.

This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from drugs or gang violence. Importantly, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues so they better understand how to protect themselves.

Many of the things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy.

These include:
· Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity.
· Challenging prejudices and racist comments
· Developing critical thinking skills and a strong, positive self -identity.
· Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy

We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the internet to make sure they can’t access extremist and terrorist material, or by vetting visitors who come into schools. Different schools will carry out the Prevent duty in different ways, depending on the age of the children and the needs of the community.

Please see the Risk Assessment below to see some of the actions we are taking to ensure children are safe.

Prevent Strategy Risk Assessment

Prevent Risk Assessment.pdf

Keeping your children safe online is essential. Through our computing curriculum we teach your children about the dangers and how to keep themselves safe. Every year we support Safer Internet Day.

Remember the key message is: Have an open blame free relationship with your child. Good communication is the key.

http://www.esrb.org will provide you with information on the ratings of computer games and a description on content.

If you need to report anything please use the link provided: https://www.ceop.police.uk/Ceop-Report/