Safeguarding

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.

We have 5 designated safeguarding leaders at Hextable Primary. Please ask to speak to one of us if you have any concerns regarding the safety or well-being of any pupil.

Designated Safeguarding Lead:

Mrs. S. Hall - headteacher@hextable-primary.kent.sch.uk

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads:

Mrs S Hammond -hammond@hextable-primary.kent.sch.uk

Mrs. C. Grosse- easton@hextable-primary.kent.sch.uk

Mr. T. Purton - purton2@hextable-primary.kent.sch.uk

Mrs E. Stone - stone@hextable-primary.kent.sch.uk

If your concern is about a member of staff and you feel uncomfortable about speaking to one of our school DSL's you can contact our safeguarding Governor, Mrs Anna Udi anna.udi@hextable-primary.kent.sch.uk or you can phone the LADO at Kent Social Services team direct on 03000 41 08 88 or email kentchildrenslado@kent,gov.uk

If you have a concern about a child and for any reason are unable to speak to school staff or Kent Safeguarding services, the following numbers can be used:

Childline - 0800 11 11 or online contact or chat at: www.childline.org.uk/get-support/contacting-childline/

Childline insist that no problem is too big or too small. Their service is free, and will not appear on any telephone bill

NSPCC - 0808 800 5000

It is a requirement that schools be fully engaged, involved and included in safeguarding arrangements (Working Together to safeguard Children 2018), and they must set out how they will work together with any relevant agencies (Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022). Please click here for the government guidance.

Hextable Primary has strong relationships with health, children's services, the police and legal services (these partners are defined in section 16E of the Children Act 2004). To safeguard our children, we will attend meetings, and share relevant information. We are required to follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, but these are not barriers for justified information sharing to keep children and young people safe.

Operation Encompass

Hextable Primary is part of Operation Encompass, which provides schools with information if any child who attends there is involved in an incident of domestic abuse (even if they are not hurt, but witness another harmed). Information will only be provided to Mrs Hall, and will only be used for support of the child involved. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the school office and ask for Mrs Hall.

Need online safety advice? Click here for our E-safety and computing page where you can find some excellent e-safety links to help stay safe online.

Use of Images

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.

We understand that in some circumstances a parent or carer may not wish their child to be photographed or videoed in this way. If this is the case then please check with the office to see if you have completed the Non Consent Form for Photography.

We like to use photographs of our children on our website, Class Dojo, in school documents, on our school social media accounts and in newsletters. Consent letters regarding the schools' use of images of children are sent out upon admission to the school however if you require more information regarding this then please contact the school on 01322 663792.

Please note that Hextable Primary School has CCTV, which we use to monitor conduct on our premises.

Our Safeguarding Training 2023-24

DSL Training
Senior Mental Health Lead Training
Whole School Safeguarding
Safer Recruitment
FGM Training
Prevent Training
Online Safety Training
Safeguard my School
Governor Safeguarding Training

Prevent Strategy

As part of our commitment to safeguarding and child protection, we fully support the government's Prevent Strategy, and take guidance from Teaching Approaches to help build resilience to extremism.

What is the Prevent Strategy?

The Prevent strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

It:

responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views
provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support
works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health)

Please click here for a link to the official government document.