Designated Safeguarding Leads:
- Mrs J. Ward- Executive Head Teacher
- Mrs K. Brown- Deputy Head Teacher
- Mrs A. Steele- Head of School
If you have any safeguarding concerns regarding any child or adult in school then please ask to speak to one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads. However concerns may also be reported to any member of staff who will pass on your concern and arrange for one of our Designated Safeguarding Leads to get in touch with you to discuss.
At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, we regard the safeguarding of children as our main priority- the single most important thing that we do. We believe that we all have the right to be happy, to be safe and to learn. We all have the responsibility to make this happen.
We will ensure that:
- the welfare of the child remains paramount;
- all children whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs and/ or sexual identity have the right to be protected from harm;
- all suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately;
- all staff and volunteers working at our school have a responsibility to report concerns to the designated leads for Safeguarding:
- We foster a culture of ‘It could happen Here’ and safeguarding is our number one priority.
- Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility
Review of Policy and Practice
In order to ensure that best practice is maintained, our policies are reviewed at least yearly to incorporate the latest statutory guidance as it emerges. If you would like more information on safeguarding, please contact the school for all our policies or view our School Policies section on our website.
In all Safeguarding matters we work closely with our independent safeguarding consultants from Clennell Education Solutions.
Operation Encompass
What is Operation Encompass?
The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in a domestic abuse incident. Following an incident at home, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset and unprepared for the day.
Sunderland City Council, Northumbria Police and nominated Key Adults in school will be working together to make sure that school staff are made aware of an incident early enough to support pupils in school.
Operation Encompass was initially launched in Plymouth in February 2011 to address a shortcoming in the early sharing of information with schools and has proved to very successful in providing appropriate support in a timely manner.
Sunderland City Council, Northumbria Police and all schools in the city are part of the scheme, this helps to provide support which will benefit children and young people in Sunderland and improve multi-agency sharing of information.
How does it work?
Schools across Sunderland have nominated two members of staff who are known as Key Adults. All Key Adults have attended specific training to the role. At St. Cuthbert’s this is the Executive Head Teacher (Mrs Ward) and Deputy Head Teacher (Mrs Brown).
Each morning a police officer will review all domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of school but which might have had an impact on a child attending school the following day. Where children were present, witnessed or involved in a domestic abuse incident and aged between 4 and 16 years old, the officer will send this information to the Council’s Initial Contact and Referral Team who will then send this information in a secure format to the named Key Adults in the child’s school. The Key Adult will check their emails every day and the staff in contact with those pupils will then be in an informed position to support them in a way that is right for the child.
This information will be shared on school days during school term and, when incidents occur on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or over a holiday period, the police will contact the Council the following Monday.
For more information about Operation Encompass, please contact your school or visit the Operation Compass website.
