Everyone has a Responsibility to Keep Children and Young People Safe.
Every school must have a Child Protection Policy – often referred to as the school’s Safeguarding Policy. The aim of the policy is to ensure that our school has effective measures in place to safeguard your children from the potential risk of harm and that the safety and wellbeing of the children are of the highest priority in all aspects of our school’s work. Having the policy in place ensures that all members of your school community:
Are aware of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and child protection
- Know the procedures that should be followed if they have a cause for concern
- Know where to go to find additional information regarding safeguarding
- Are aware of the key indicators relating to child abuse
- Fully support the school’s commitment to safeguarding and child protection.
At Westfield we believe that child should be able to go to school and feel safe so that they can achieve their very best. Anybody who works or volunteers at Westfield will be asked to complete a DBS to make sure they are safe to work with children and then trained to identify child abuse and what to do if they are concerned.
For more information on how you can support the school with any safeguarding please refer to our Safeguarding leaflet or speak to the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead, Miss Adele Flanagan who is contactable via email on dsl@westfield.e-sussex.sch.uk. Mrs Katie Battisson and Mrs Cat Atkinson are Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads.
Online safety
Online -safety is an important aspect of keeping our pupils safe at Westfield. We have thorough procedures in place to safeguard our children from potential dangers and unsuitable material. Online-safety in an integral part of our Computing curriculum taught to all year groups.
As part of our partnership with parents we encourage parents to speak to their children about how the can keep safe and behave appropriately online. It’s essential to be realistic – banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. This means that education around safe use is essential. Please refer to the following links for support with this.
The 4 big internet providers in the UK – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media – provide their customers with free parental controls which can be activated at any time. They have come together to produce these helpful video guides to help you to download and set-up the controls offered by your provider. (Visit the help guides here)