Newsletter

Well done to Julia Donaldson class for having the best attendance this week in KS1. In KS2 this week, Lewis Hamilton class achieved the best attendance so well done to them too. We know that many of the children have caught various colds and other bugs but as soon as they are well enough, they should be back to school.

Safeguarding pupil voice

Our safeguarding team at PEPA:

• Mrs Rimmer - Safeguarding lead

• Miss Heard - Deputy safeguarding lead (DSL)

• Miss Theobald - DSL

• Mrs Drogomirecki - DSL

• Mrs Dyke - DSL

At different points throughout the year we ask a small group of children in every year group questions around feeling safe and happy in school. Each time, we ask different children from each class so as to get a good range of answers. We would like to share our findings with you and equally how we use this feedback for any next steps.

Question 1: Do you feel happy at school?

90% said Yes and 10% said No as they said the work was too hard.

Question 2: Do you feel safe at school?

100% said Yes.

Comments: 'We have adults to trust at school'.

Question 3: What do we teach you at school to keep you safe?

Comments: 'We have to look after our ipads and we don't drop them or spill anything on them.'

'Online safety and online bullying.'

'We know how to keep ourselves safe online with Mrs Drobka.'

'Keeping safe on the road, stop, look and listen and don't run into the road. Use kind hands and calm feet. Don't be mean to others as they won't have a good time at school.'

'Going on trips - we wear hi-vis. We know not to cross a road without an adult with us.'

'E-safety - if you post something on the internet, you can't take it down and others might take a picture and post it somewhere else and make you feel sad.'

'Have kind hands, good language and don't push anyone'.

Question 4: Do you feel safe in the playground?

90% said Yes. 10% said Sometimes - 'If we fall over it will hurt and sometimes children are mean to each other.'

Other comments:

'Everyone supports me.'

'I have lots of teachers out there with me.'

Question 5: Who do you go to speak to if you ever feel unhappy or unsafe in school?

Comments: ' I would talk to my friend or my teacher. I could tell my parents.'

'Teachers, Mrs Rimmer or someone you can trust. Your friends might be able to help you.'

'Mrs Rimmer, friends, family members, teachers, TAs or Mrs Jacobs.'

The rest of the comments were also very similar.

Question 6: What do you do if there is a fire in school?

'Exit the classroom quickly, line up outside and have the register taken on the playground.'

'Get up sensibly, no shouting and get outside quickly.'

'If you hear the fire alarm, get up, drop everything and line up at the door as quickly as you can and get outside. If you were in the toilets, get out as quickly as you can.'

'I'll get into a 5s line, don't talk and leave my stuff where it is. We go outside and we don't say 'here' for somebody that is missing from the register that day. '

The rest of the comments were also very similar.

Question 7: Do you learn about online safety? If so, what have you learnt?

'We shouldn't give names or addresses out online. We learnt about this on our Chromebooks and we watched a video.'

'Mrs Drobka teaches us. If we don't know what to press then tell an adult, if there is no adult, tell someone you trust. Don't pay for things online and don't put your name or address online.'

'We have online safety assemblies. Don't talk to strangers online and don't give out personal information'.

'Don't trust anyone that you don't know online, don't accept games from people you don't know online but let a trusted adult know.'

'My teacher tells me and sometimes they put a video on to teach us. They teach us about online bullying too and we know how to keep safe. If I was playing Roblox, I wouldn't give out my password.'

Some of the younger children were a bit more unsure about what online safety was.

Question 8: Do you know what bullying means?

'Repeated actions of being unkind.'

'Somebody being mean or hurting people's feelings and doing it all of the time.'

'Bullying is something that happens everyday and it doesn't stop.'

'If they hurt your feelings every single day and it's over and over again.'

'I would tell a trusted adult and I could tell Mrs Rimmer.'

Our younger children were less able to be able to explain what bullying was.

Question 9: What do you do if you are being bullied or you think that somebody else is?

'I would tell a teacher or an adult in school.'

'Don't get involved, just tell your teacher and we can tell our parents.'

'If my friend was being bullied, I would tell a teacher.'

'Tell Mrs Dyke, a family member or teacher/TA.'

The other comments were very similar.

Question 10: If your friend tells you something they are worried about, what would you do?

'I would still need to tell a teacher.'

'Tell my family and also tell an adult in school. We only keep a secret if it is a good secret.'

'We couldn't keep a secret as we are just kids so we need to tell an adult as they know more than us.'

'I would tell a trusted adult or I would tell my mum.'

The other comments were very similar.

I'm sure you would agree that overall, our children have a great understanding of keeping safe in school. Our next steps will be to ensure that our younger children understand in a more child-friendly way about online safety and bullying.

We also want all of our children to feel both safe and happy in school and so this will be fed back to the staff team so we can build on this in the future.