child protection and Safeguarding
Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. Safeguarding means: protecting children from abuse and maltreatment, preventing harm to children’s health or development.
Safeguarding is EVERYONE’s responsibility and we have a legal and moral obligation to keep children safe.
Designated Safeguarding & Child Protection Lead
The Designated Safeguarding & Child Protection Lead for Hampton Wick Infant and Nursery School is Michelle Boyce. The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Christina Chamberlin.
Key Documents:
Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy is written with due regard to the Department for Education’s statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education September 2021.
Reporting a Concern of Abuse or Neglect
With regards to concerns around child protection, the London Child Protection Procedures 2015 state that, ‘If a member of staff believes that a reported allegation is not being dealt with appropriately by the school, they should report the matter to the LADO’.
Local Authority's Designated Officer (LADO) - (SPA 020 8547 5008)
The Local Authority’s Designated
If you have concerns that a child you know is at risk of serious harm through Abuse or Neglect it is important that you report your worries to the correct agency.
The link below will direct you to Richmond’s Single Point of Access website. This team will use your information to make a decision about how they can best respond to your concerns.
The website will offer you the choice to complete an online form or to phone the team directly:
You can also report you concerns to the NSPCC who will offer you support and advice if you are feeling worried about a child’s safety:
Online Safety
Children and young people spend a lot of time on the internet. They may go online to research information for homework or to play games and chat with friends.
The internet holds a huge amount of useful information and is a great way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family. It can also be a very dangerous place so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online. The link to the website is below:
The NSPCC also offers lots of helpful tips and advice which parents can use to keep their children safe on the internet and social networks. The link below outlines the risks and dangers children face when using the internet:
How to Set Up Parental Controls
Parental controls can help keep your child safe. Even the most innocent searches online can bring up not so innocent results. Parental controls can be used to block upsetting or harmful content. They can also help to control online purchases or manage how long your child spends online. The NSPCC have made setting up parental controls really easy:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/
Helping your child stay safe online.
Below are some additional websites each with informative and valuable sources of up to date resources which we highly recommend:
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)