Safeguarding
Safeguarding at White Laith, a whole school approach.
E-Safety for Parents
“100% of our yr 5 and yr6 pupils say they feel safe in school”
“Pupils say that they feel well looked after and cared for in school.”
Every person who works with our children understand their responsibility in keeping children safe and should be confident in how they will do that.
“There is a strong culture of safeguarding within school.”
Our school community has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of our pupils. This means that we have Safeguarding and Child Protection policies and procedures in place. All staff, including our volunteers and supply staff, must ensure that they are aware of our procedures.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will always ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with their parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that this is not in the child’s best interests or a child is at significant risk or in immediate danger.
In March 2025 we requested a Safeguarding Audit led by staff from the Leeds Safeguarding team. We wanted to ensure that all our systems are robust and we are very pleased with the outcome of the audit. Our practice is judged to be exemplary with many features judged to be outstanding!
“All the children stated that they felt 'safe' in school and that they have not seen any bullying. They were able to tell the auditor about different types of bullying and the impact this can have..” Safeguarding Audit March 2025
What is Safeguarding?
protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
preventing harm to children’s health or development
ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
Who to speak to
If you have any concerns regarding the welfare of a pupil, please report it to a Designated Safegurading Leader (DSL) or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader (DDSL).
Our Policies
White Laith Child Protection Policy
Keeping Children Safe in Education
Working together to safeguard children
Prevent Strategy
As part of our ongoing safeguarding and child protection duties we fully support the government’s Prevent Strategy. All staff have received ‘Prevent’ training and understand about and how to deal with any issues they may see inside or outside school.
Official government document about Prevent
Reporting Concerns
CEOP: The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command
Has someone done something online that has made you or a child or young person you know, feel worried or unsafe? Make a report to one of CEOP's experienced Child Protection Advisors:
Worried about a child?
Everyone has a responsibility to refer a child when it is believed or suspected that a child:
Has suffered significant harm and /or;
Is likely to suffer significant harm and/or;
Has developmental and welfare needs which are likely only to be met through provision of family support services (with agreement of the child’s parent).
Making a referral
If it is out of school hours and you are unable to speak to a Designated Safeguarding Lead about concerns you have about a child then you could use the following contacts:
Where there are significant immediate concerns about the safety of a child, you should contact the police on 999. For child protection, call the Children's Social Work Services on 0113 222 4403 during office hours or the Duty and Advice Team on 0113 376 0336. If the issue can't wait until the next working day, contact the Children's Emergency Duty Team on 0113 535 0600.
You can also use the Universal Referral form to report concerns.
The Curriculum
One of our key priorities is teaching children to keep themselves safe. This is done through the curriculum.
Our teaching includes:
Online Safety (e-safety)
Food Safety
Water Safety including swimming lessons
Road Safety
Sex and relationships education
Visits from Community Police and Fire services
Stranger danger
MindMate
Zones of Regulation
CPOMS
At Athelstan we want our safeguarding to be as effective as possible to that end we operate CPOMS in school. CPOMS brings together all safeguarding and pastoral care concerns to one place, alongside the necessary tools to analyse each child’s situation simply and thoroughly.
A common challenge in safeguarding practice is information or communication “falling through the gaps” as staff often have a raft of information relating to a huge number of children.
CPOMS brings together all the tools needed for safeguarding to one place. An appropriate member of staff can see a pupil’s full Safeguarding chronology, alongside anything a school wishes to log that it feels is appropriate.
Reports can then be produced from the gathered information to be shared, when needed, with the relevant agencies, such as social care, police, the child’s next school, or any specialist visiting school.
Importantly, ‘Actions’ taken in response to an incident can be recorded and monitored so schools can ensure all safeguarding concerns in school are currently being looked into or resolved.
The tailored access for different staff means the most sensitive information is kept incredibly secure and available only to those who legally have the right to see it.