Safeguarding & Support
At Mossgate Primary School, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the physical, mental and emotional welfare of every pupil. With regard to 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' (2024) and 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' (2023), we implement a whole-school preventative approach to safeguarding, ensuring that the wellbeing of all pupils is at the forefront of all action taken. We use the Continuum of Need to establish the level of support needed. Please see below:
As a school we also use the Lancashire CSAP (Children’s Safeguarding Assurance Partnership) website: https://www.safeguardingpartnership.org.uk/
Our whole-school approach includes:
- A broad and balanced curriculum which teaches children to be safe and manage risks on and offline through PSHEC, Computing, Science, RE and PE
- Safe and secure site and building
- Robust safer recruitment practices
- Regular and effective safeguarding training for all staff in school regardless of their role - based on the latest national and local guidance
- Clear and detailed induction procedures for staff and volunteers
- Effective procedures for raising low-level concerns, whistleblowing or serious allegations
- Strong safeguarding leadership from senior leaders and governors
- Effective partnership working with the local authority, police (including Operation Encompass - see below), NHS and other agencies
We recognise that no single professional can have a full picture of a child’s needs and circumstances. If children and families are to receive the right help at the right time, everyone who comes into contact with them has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action.
All adults will:
- Maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’ where safeguarding is concerned
- Be proactive to provide a safe and secure environment in which pupils can learn
- Ensure ALL children have opportunities to communicate and know that they are listened to
- Consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the pupil with a child-centred approach
- Contribute to, and maintain a high safeguarding ethos within the setting, with safeguarding pupils at the forefront of practice at all times
- Have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, including child-on-child abuse
Staff are particularly well placed to observe outward signs of abuse, changes in behaviour or failure to develop because of our day-to-day contact with children. Observations and concerns are logged electronically by all staff and shared with the DSLs. Parents should be aware, therefore, that where it appears to a member of school staff that a child may have been abused or neglected, we are required, as part of the nationally agreed safeguarding standards, to report any concerns to Lancashire County Council’s Children and Young People’s Services. Our ‘Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy’ can be found at the bottom of this page.
Key Concerns
If you have any safeguarding concerns about a child, you must act by reporting your concerns. If a child is in immediate danger, call the police straight away on 999. You can report concerns directly to Lancashire County Council by calling 0300 123 6720 or out of hours 0300 123 6722.
The NSPCC allows you to report concerns online, by phone and email. Their website also contains lots of information, including: Spotting the signs of child abuse, Keeping children safe online, Children's mental health, Sex and relationships and Talking about drugs and alcohol.
If you have any concerns about another adult (school staff, supply staff, coaches, visitors or volunteers), you must raise these with the DSL, Deputy DSL or senior leader in their absence. This includes low-level concerns which might not be severe in isolation but make you feel uneasy.
If you have concerns about the headteacher, you must refer it to the chair of governors and LADO.
Any concerns regarding the safeguarding practices at Mossgate, you must raise these with the headteacher or a senior leader following the whistleblowing procedures.
If you feel unable to raise your concerns with a senior leader, you should access other whistleblowing channels at LCC, see email and phone number below, or the NSPCC whistleblowing helpline (0800 028 0285).
Key Contacts
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Rob Smith
Deputy DSL: Helen Taylor
Safeguarding Governor and Chair of Governors: Nichola Buczynski
LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer): 01772 536694
MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub): 0300 123 6720
Whistleblowing: 01772 532500 - press 1 for financial matters and 2 any other concerns WhistleblowingComplaints@lancashire.gov.uk
What is Early Help?
Early Help means providing help for children, young people and families as soon as difficulties start to emerge or where it is likely that issues will impact negatively on children’s outcomes. At Mossgate, we follow the Lancashire County Council guidance and protocols in terms of the Early help offer.
Early Help…
- is for children of all ages and not just the very young.
- can be very effective in supporting a child, young person and/or their family to step down from statutory services as well as preventing the escalation of issues.
- is important because there is clear evidence that it results in better outcomes for children.
Lancashire County Council recognises that Early Help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of schools. https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/practitioners/supporting-children-and-families/
We follow the Working Well with Children and Families Guidance
https://www.lancashiresafeguarding.org.uk/media/19299/wwwcf-part-1-and-2-final.pdf
https://panlancashirescb.proceduresonline.com/pdfs/WWWCF_3_Lancs.pdf
Help and Advice for Parents/ Carers
As parents/carers, you want to make sure that your children develop healthily and thrive. We’re here to help you with advice on how you can build strong relationships with your children and keep them safe. Here is advice and resources for helping parents to keep their children safe, advice for parents on keeping children safe out of school, at home and online, when using the internet, social networking websites and playing online games, help and advice for creating a safe and nurturing environment for your children.
For guidance, further details can be found from:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/44074704 - staying safe online
Operation Encompass
At Mossgate, we work hard to safeguard our children through our curriculum and close partnership working with different agencies. Operation Encompass is one tool we use to support us and the following explanation has been provided by the Operation Encompass team.
‘Operation Encompass is a unique Police and Education early intervention safeguarding partnership which ensures that a child/ young person's school/ college is informed, typically prior to the start of the next school day, that there has been a domestic abuse, vulnerable child or missing incident to which the child or young person has been exposed, and which might then have an impact on them in school / college the following day.
Each school/ college is informed of all such incidents, not just those where an offence can be identified or those which are graded as high risk. The partnership recognises that all domestic abuse, vulnerable child and missing incidents can be harmful to children and young people.
This information will be shared throughout the year, including holidays and weekends. Information will only be shared with the school / college by the police where it is identified that a young person was present, witnessed or was involved.
A nominated member of staff, known as a Key Adult, has been trained to liaise with the police. At Mossgate Primary School our Key Adults are Mr Smith & Mrs Taylor. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the school makes provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. The Key Adults will keep this information confidential and will only share it on a need-to-know basis, for instance, to teaching staff for the child or young person. It will not be shared with other school students.
This national initiative has been implemented across the whole of the Lancashire Police area. If you would like some more information about it, you can view it online at www.operationencompass.org.
Extremism & Prevent
Sadly, extremism, and particularly risks around use of the internet, are very much a part of today’s newspaper headlines. Our children are living in a rapidly changing and global environment which, as we know, can have both a positive and a negative impact on their development and opportunities.
Recent events in Isreal, Palestine, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq, highlight how children and young people can be influenced by matters outside the UK in addition to the hatred and the violence that can be found on the internet and through other outlets. Events in the media also demonstrate how schools can quickly and adversely be brought into the spotlight.
At Mossgate, we work within the government's Prevent Duty to tackle the problem of terrorism and extremism at its roots and prevent vulnerable children, adults and communities from being drawn into terrorism. This includes far-right extremism and some aspects of non-violent extremism. Prevent isn’t about spying on our communities. It isn’t targeted at religion – extremists can come from any background. It’s not about blame.
Prevent focuses upon early intervention and safeguarding approaches to extremism and potential vulnerability and operates in a similar way to how we would respond to concerns such as those around, physical abuse, drugs and sexual exploitation.
At Mossgate, we work with a range of partners including:
- police
- Lancashire County Council
- Educate Against Hate
- other schools and colleges
- faith leaders
- community groups
- voluntary services
All staff and governors undertake regular Prevent training relevant to their role. Our Risk Assessment and Action Plan is reviewed annually and can be downloaded at the end of this page. Our Prevent Lead is our Headteacher.
Report your concerns
Friends and family are best placed to spot the signs, so trust your instincts and report your concerns in confidence.
The police and other agencies can help if you act early. You won't be wasting their time and you won’t ruin lives, but you might save them.
To find out more about how to help someone close to you visit actearly.uk
For advice on preventing radicalisation or reporting concerns in Lancashire, email concern@lancashire.police.uk. You can also call the Prevent team for advice and support using (01772) 413398. If it's an emergency, you must call 999. Or you can call anonymously on 0800 789 321.
If you see online material promoting terrorism or extremism, you can report it online.
Safer Recruitment
At Mossgate, we have robust recruitment procedures to deter and prevent people who are unsuitable to work with children from applying for or securing employment, or volunteering opportunities in our school. Senior leaders and governors involved with the recruitment and employment of staff to work with children have received comprehensive safer recruitment training from the local authority which complies with 'Part Three: Safer Recruitment' of Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2024). The training is renewed every two years and covers:
• Understanding the principles of abuse.
• Safer recruitment processes and making the right decisions.
• Building a culture of vigilance in your school.
Our safer recruitment systems start with the advert and include visits to the school of potential applicants, completion of application forms, shortlisting of candidates, employment history and references, online checks, selection, pre-appointment vetting checks and interviews.
Through our rigorous induction, all adults will undertake safeguarding training which will cover:
- understanding what safeguarding and child protection are
- understanding their role in upholding our safeguarding culture and maintaining an attitude of 'it can happen here'
- identifying the relevant legislation and guidance for safeguarding in education
- recognising the different types, signs and indicators of abuse and neglect
- understanding how to respond to concerns and provide a response that’s best for the child or the children involved
- understanding the correct procedures for reporting concerns and know who to report to - including low-level concerns and our whistleblowing policy and procedures
- recognise the importance of recording your concerns and the principles of good recording
Updated: 2025 RS