Oakley Vale Primary School believes that it is of the upmost importance to have good systems for protecting children and safeguarding their welfare. This means that all those who work with children in the academy must be alert to possible concerns about every child and report these appropriately.

In order to protect our pupils, we aim to:
  • Create an atmosphere where all our pupils can feel secure, valued and listened to
  • Recognise signs and symptoms of abuse
  • Respond quickly and effectively to cases of suspected abuse.

Our academy will support all children by:
  • Encouraging self-esteem and self-assertiveness whilst not condoning aggression or            bullying
  • Promoting a caring, safe and positive environment within the academy.

Everyone working with our pupils should be aware that:
  • Their role is to listen and note carefully any observations which could indicate abuse
  • They should not attempt to investigate once the initial concern is raised
  • They should involve the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) immediately
  •  A disclosure of abuse or harm can be made at anytime (lesson times, break times, after school etc)
  • Before outside agencies are invited into the academy to work with our pupils or to carry out work on the premises, staff are required to ensure that all relevant DBS checks and identification has been seen.

The Brooke Weston Trust policy for safeguarding children is to;

• Protect children from maltreatment;
• Preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
• Ensure that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
• To take action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Our full Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy can be found by clicking here.

Reporting a Concern

Please refer to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead to report a concern. Details of who to contact are below:

Designated Safeguarding Lead:

Frances Dunn: fdunn@oakleyvaleprimary.org

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads:

Emma Goodwin: egoodwin@oakleyvaleprimary.org

Sarah Sanders: ssanders@oakleyvaleprimary.org

Becky Annetts: bannetts@oakleyvaleprimary.org

Claire Johnson: cjohnson@oakleyvaleprimary.org

 

Other Safeguarding Agencies

The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)

MASH can advise on whether a family needs early help or whether they meet the threshold for statutory child protection. Telephone: 0300 126 7000 Option 1. 

Out of Hours Service

Should you need to contact Children's Social Care urgently during the evening, at night or at the weekend, phone the out of hours team on 01604 626938. An operator will answer the phone and take details of the problem and your contact details. They will then pass this information over to the duty social worker.

Helpline for victims of sexual abuse in schools

Sexual abuse in any form is unacceptable.

A dedicated helpline is now open to support anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse. 

The helpline is run by the NSPCC and will provide victims of abuse with the appropriate support, advice and onward action, including on contacting professionals or the police if they wish. The helpline will also provide support to parents and professionals too.

Telephone 0800 136 663, or email help@nspcc.org.uk.

Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)

    E-mail
    You can e-mail your query to ladoreferral@nctrust.co.uk please include as much detail as

    possible as this will enable the LADO to give you clear and accurate advice.

    Phone

    You can also call the Designated Officer on 01604 362993 if you are looking for advice.

 

Operation Encompass 

Oakley Vale Primary School is part of a jointly run operation between Northamptonshire County Council, Northamptonshire Police and our school, the national name for this process is Operation Encompass. Operation Encompass has been set-up to help schools to provide support to children who may have been affected by incidents of domestic abuse. We know that children can be significantly physically or emotionally harmed when they are involved in, present or witness to domestic abuse.  

Under this scheme the school will receive notification from the County Council following any domestic incident that a child at their school may have been affected by. 
This information will be received by our Designated Safeguarding Leads.

They have received guidance from Northamptonshire County Council to allow them to use the information that has been shared, in confidence to make sure that the right support is available for children and their families.