Safeguarding

At St Richard Reynolds, we are fully committed to comprehensive safeguarding practices aimed at ensuring children and young people are safe in both school and at home. We believe that all children and young people have the right to be happy, to be safe and to learn. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility: all Staff, Governors and Volunteers should play their part in keeping children safe. Please find below a copy of our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy 2023-24 to which each member of staff adheres to.

We work within government legislation: Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023-4 in conjunction with Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2023. These documents highlight current significant national issues including preventing Radicalisation in line with the ‘Prevent’ Strategy (part of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism) and with the internet available to every child in today’s modern society an increased awareness of issues such as Grooming and Child Sexual Exploitation. We work alongside external agencies including Health, Social Care, and Police to ensure all our children are kept safe in our care.

It is important to remember that, however small a concern may seem, it may be one of a number raised by different adults. Recording such concerns therefore enables the school to take the appropriate action to ensure that all our young people’s needs are being met.

Key contacts:

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

College – Mrs Eileen Wilson e.wilson@srrcc.org.uk

Primary School – Dee Forsdick d.forsdick@srrcc.org.uk

Deputy Safeguarding Leads

Mr Matthew Butcher m.butcher@srrcc.org.uk

Ms Kayleigh Hayles (KS3/KS4) k.hayles@srrcc.org.uk

Ms Siobhan Thompkins (SEN) s.thompkins@srrcc.org.uk

Ms Anna McMullen (Primary) a.mcmullen@srrcc.org.uk

Chair of Governors – Luke Parker l.parker@srrcc.org.uk

It is important to remember that, however small a concern may seem to you, it may be one of a series of concerns raised by different adults and therefore, recording such concerns enable the school to take the appropriate action to ensure that all children’s needs are being met.

All details are treated confidentially and will only be shared if there are concerns that a child is at risk. It is always our aim to share our concerns transparently with the child’s parent or guardian before making a referral. However, we reserve our right to refer without consent if we are sufficiently concerned about a child’s safety or we are unable to contact the parent/guardian after reasonable attempts have been made.

Single Point of Access (SPA)

You can also tell Richmond or Kingston Children’s Services about a child, young person or parent/carer that needs support in some way by contacting their Single Point of Access Team (SPA).

Richmond SPA (Single Point of Access)

Call on 020 8547 5008 during office hours.
Call the out of hours Duty Team (evenings and weekends) on 020 8770 5000

In an emergency

If you think a child is in immediate danger you should call 999.
If you need to speak to someone urgently outside of office hours, please call 020 8770 5000.

The following is a summary of our safeguarding procedures at St. Richard Reynolds:

All staff are DBS checked as part of the recruitment procedures and are made aware of our safeguarding policies and procedures during their induction.
All staff attend full safeguarding training annually (at the relevant level) and receive regular safeguarding updates at staff meetings. This training includes Prevent training.
When conducting each recruitment process, one member of the leadership team who has attended the Safer Recruitment training will be on the panel.
All visitors are signed in at the College office and are shown our Safe Working Practice Agreement for visitors and volunteers.
The DBS details and identification of visiting professionals and supply staff are obtained prior to entering the College.
All permanent members of staff have photographic ID for swipe-card entry to buildings and sign in and out daily.
During the hours of 8:30am and 3:00pm, entry into the school is safeguarded with self-locking security doors and can only be opened with staff swipe-card entry.
The PSHE curriculum teaches children how to look after themselves and to keep safe and identifies safe adults beyond the family to speak to if they have any concerns.
E-Safety is taught as part of the Computing Curriculum and we complete assemblies through the year on E-safety. Safer Internet day is covered in school and information and support provided for parents.
The system ‘Safeguard my School’ is used across the College to log any safeguarding concerns about pupils.
A phone call is made home by the Attendance team if parents haven’t informed the school of their child’s absence.
Volunteers complete an induction process and adhere to our Safe Working Practice Agreement.
Our Medical Coordinator liaises with Medical professionals to complete care plans to ensure all staff are aware of any medical needs.

Thank you for your invaluable support with safeguarding our children.

Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy

Covid-19 policy addendum

LADO:

The LADO is the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for Safeguarding. Every local authority has a statutory responsibility to have a (LADO) who is responsible for co-ordinating the response to concerns that an adult who works with children, may have caused them or could cause them harm. In Achieving for Children there is a LADO service which provides this role and support, across Richmond and Kingston.