Safeguarding Statement

"We are focused on safety; it is top of our list!" Staff

"The Safeguarding Team have really supported myself and my family to get through a very tough time. They were honest and caring and our family has benefitted hugely from their efforts." - MV Parent

"Safeguarding is the number one priority from a Personal Development perspective at Morley Victoria. It is everyone's responsibility and we must recognise that it could happen here." - MV Governor

"I feel really safe at school. I know there are lots of people who are here to help me if I need it." - MV Pupil

"I am being taught how to keep myself safe in school and at home. I am also learning how to be safe online." - MV Pupil

Our prime responsibility as a school is to ensure that all of our children are safe both at home and at school. At Morley Victoria we have a culture where we make safeguarding everyone's responsibility from the Senior Leaders to office staff, from volunteers to parents / carers and the children themselves.  Safeguarding can be defined as:

‘The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully’. 

Morley Victoria Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children.  To achieve our commitment, we will ensure continuous development and improvement of robust safeguarding processes and procedures that promote a culture of safeguarding among our staff, governors and volunteers. We also work closely with the local Children's Centre, the local Cluster and other outside agencies to support families.

We are committed to inspiring, challenging and safeguarding our pupils, enabling them to become:

• Successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve their potential.
• Confident, well-rounded individuals who are able to live safe, healthy, happy and fulfilling lives.
• Responsible citizens who will make a positive contribution, both socially and economically, to society.

This is best achieved when we all work together to support the development of the whole child. We pride ourselves on knowing not just about our children’s learning, but about them and their families; as individuals and valued members of our school and community.

If you need specific help, please also see our 'Need Help?' section under the Parents tab. Alternatively, please take a look at our A-Z of Support Services in Leeds in the blue box below - you might find what you are looking for. This is a really helpful document.

We educate children about safeguarding in class through the curriculum, via assemblies, through our 'Ask-it Baskets' and by having good relationships where children trust the adults around them. We actively support the Government's Prevent agenda to counter radicalism and extremism and we use BLAST to raise awareness of Child Sexual Exploitation, Child Criminal Exploitation and grooming. We teach about respect for oneself and others in a wide variety of contexts. We also promote awareness through a wide variety of other education to ensure safe and positive lifestyles which lead to making good choices, these include: online safety - including social media, water, rail, road and fire safety, drugs education and first aid for all children. In our PSHE lessons we follow the 'You, Me, PSHE' curriculum which encompasses many safeguarding topics and we follow the MindMate Scheme of Work to promote excellent social, emotional and mental health. We are an 'early adopter' of the new RSE Guidelines and following some staff training courses in 19/20 we have improved our teaching of RSE further. Since September 2020 we have included consent and contraception, peer-on-peer abuse and FGM into the curriculum for the older children.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead personnel for Morley Victoria Primary School are:

Mrs J Wood (Headteacher)

Mrs D Smith and Mr K Precious (Assistant Headteachers)

Miss J Northfield (Attendance and Safeguarding Lead)

Also qualified are Mr Shabbir and Miss Handley.

All adults who work in school have a responsibility to read and understand the key safeguarding documents and policies and to act within accordance of the policy at all times. This expectation is explained in the Staff Handbook and in the visitors' ‘Welcome’ leaflet. (Available at the school office) 

All adults in school are expected to read the DfE booklet: 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' and 'Annexe A'. This is revised and read on an annual basis. They also read the 'Safer Working Practice Guidance'; the school Child Protection Policy; the school Whistleblowing Policy; the Behaviour and Discipline Policy and the guidance on 'Children Missing in Education'. In 2020 there was  a new document released called 'When to call the Police' which all staff have read and understood.  In 2021 a new DfE document about Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment has also been included. We make it very clear who the Designated Child Protection Staff are and what their responsibilities are. Staff are required to sign to say they have read and understood these documents on an annual basis. Our staff are kept up to date on a regular basis through notices and one minute guides - the latest awareness is around Child on Child Abuse, Commerce as one of the 4 Cs of Online Safety, Domestic Abuse, Early Help Intervention and undressing.

Staff are very well trained in order to understand their key responsibilities. They undertake Child Protection Training every three years and we have recently purchased the local authorities safeguarding package to ensure all staff are fully up to date with all of the latest guidance and training.

The Designated staff undertake training courses each year to ensure that they keep their training up to date - someone also attends the annual Cape Conference.

Governors are asked to read the same documents and sign to say they have read them. They must also read Annexe C about Online Safety and the section regarding Safer Recruitment. The Designated Safeguarding Team in school present the Governors with updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education on an annual basis as part of their statutory duties. Several of our Governors are also 'Safer Recruitment' trained to support the school in the recruitment process. 

Further information about safeguarding children in Leeds can be found on the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership website: https://www.leedsscp.org.uk

The NSPCC website has a wealth of information that might help in a variety of situations. Please visit: https://www.nspcc.org.uk 

If you would like help and advice about a range of different issues including Online Safety including games and apps, Sex and Relationships Education, Parenting or Health and Wellbeing, please visit: https://parentinfo.org this website has a wealth of information.

If you have any worries or concerns about any of our children or our families, including your own family - we are here to help and support in a non-judgmental manner. Please don't wait, contact a member of staff confidentially as soon as possible, the door is always open. Remember, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Our school number again is: 0113 2535253.

If you would like to take your concern directly to Children's Social Work Services, you can call Duty and Advice:

Weekdays (9am-5pm) - 0113 3760336 (option 3).

Evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays, contact the emergency team: 0113 5350600.

Alternatively, if you feel that a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
 

Safeguarding events and training:

• CAPE Conference
• Domestic Violence Training
• Caring Dads
• Safer Recruitment Training
• Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Training
• Supervision Training
• Safer Working Practice
• Prevent Briefing - The Far Right
• GDPR Training
• Knife Crime Webinar
• Safeguarding and Prevent Strategy Webinar
• Teacher Workload Webinar
• Mental Health & Behaviour Webinar
• How to shape PSHE Provision Webinar
• Safeguarding Webinar
• Outstanding SMSC Webinar
• The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
• Anxiety Training
• Fire Extinguisher Training
• Child Protection Training for staff new to Morley Victoria
• CEOP Training
• LGBT Training
• Prevent Training
• Weapons Awareness 
• Protecting Children from Extremism
• First Aid training for some staff and all children from Nursery to Y6
• Bereavement Training
• A number of different National College webinars have been accessed by a range of staff

You may well be aware that the Government launched a new website, 'Educate Against Hate' The website is very informative with a particular section for parents. This can be viewed by clicking on the Educate Against Hate blue box on the left hand side and is well worth a look. If you have any concerns please contact the school.