Safeguarding
Concerned?
Acting quickly can make all the difference.
If you think a child might be suffering neglect or abuse, it can be difficult to know what to do. But your action is vital in making sure that child gets the help they need.
If you are concerned about a child you can call the NSPCC 0808 800 5000 or you can contact Kent County Council's Safeguarding Team through the Safeguarding Portal: Kent Children's Portal
If you think the child is in immediate danger, you should call the police.
Safeguarding Statement
St Augustine's’s Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy which can be viewed in both the ‘Safeguarding’ section and ‘Policies’ section on our website.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child's welfare.
We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.
Designated Safeguarding Leads
St Augustine's Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Our Designated Safeguarding Leads are:
Mrs Thompson (Headteacher)
Mrs Flaifil (Senior Leader).
If you have any concerns please contact either of them for further support regarding child protection and safeguarding.
The Governance Committee member with responsibility for safeguarding in our school is:
Mrs Annabel De Sousa
Contact details for Kent County Council’s Education Safeguarding Team (EST) and Local Authority Designated Officers (LADOs):
LADO Team: kentchildrenslado@kent.gov.uk
Telephone: 03000 41 08 88
Photographs and Videos
Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and videos of their children’s school life we are very mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and this includes the use of photographic and video images.
Any photographs or videos taken by parents, carers and relatives at school productions, sports days or other events are for the enjoyment of individual families. They must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This would include publishing images in any form of print or on the internet including social networking sites. This is emphasised before concerts and shows etc.
When a child joins our school community, GDPR forms are completed to ensure permissions (or decline of permissions) are obtained for Information & Images. If your circumstances change and these permission arrangements need to be adjusted, please notify the school office immediately.
We like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parent information meetings, newsletters and on our display screens around the school. These permissions are all gathered in our GDPR agreement for each pupil.
Online Safeguarding
There are many ways parents can help to ensure their children are safe online:
- Know what your children are doing online and who they are talking to.
- Ask them to teach you to use any applications you have never used.
- Keeping the computer in a family room means that you can share your child’s online experience – and that they are less likely to act inappropriately (i.e. via webcam).
- Help your children to understand that they should never give out personal details to online friends – personal information includes their TikTok ID, email address, mobile number and any pictures of themselves, their family or friends. If your child publishes a picture or video online, anyone can change it or share it.
- Remind them that anyone may be looking at their images and one day a future employer could!
- If your child receives spam/junk email and texts, remind them never to believe them, reply to them or use them.
- Do not open files that are from people they don’t know. They won’t know what they contain – it could be a virus, or worse – an inappropriate image or film.
- Help your child to understand that some people lie online and, therefore, it’s better to keep 'online friends' online, or not have these at all.
- Keep communication open for a child to know that it’s never too late to tell someone if something makes them feel uncomfortable.
Please see the below a selection of websites that may be useful to you. They are rich in content with useful guidelines and other extremely important and legal information and procedures all parents and pupils should be aware of.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre)
The child exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the ‘real world’ and the ‘e-world’. Young people and parents can get support on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and bullying on-line. They can also report abuse or anyone who is acting inappropriately online.
Think you know
The think U know website is divided into 5 areas:
- 5-7’s
- 8-10 (KS2)
- 11-16 (KS3)
- Parents
- Professionals
Website and hotline where members of the public can report images of child abuse (from anywhere in the world), criminally obscene content hosted in the IK, and criminally racist content hosted in the UK.
A partnership of leading children’s charities who work with the government and child protection agencies to promote public education and prevent child sexual abuse.
A helpful guide for parents about children's use of social media
Accessible information and resources for Parents, Children and Young people: