Child protection and Safeguarding

School staff are ideally placed for observing changes in appearance and behaviour which may indicate a child is subject to abuse. Staff are legally obliged to report such changes to the designated safeguarding lead, who must follow Local Authority (LA) procedures. Such procedures are not intended to be accusatory. The school’s designated lead for child protection is Mrs Rachel Edwards and Mrs Lisa Austin is the governor for child protection. 

St Martha’s Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are an Operation Encompass school.

Operation Encompass is a unique police and education, early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who may have been exposed to domestic abuse.  It is a system which provides an early notification to key adults within a school when a pupil may have been affected by domestic abuse. In response to this notification, schools are able to ensure the appropriate support is available for that child.

The school child protection policy is available to all staff, visitors and parents. It is reviewed annually and is based on the LA model policy.

 

Policy for Personal Relationships

Reflecting upon and learning how to develop relationships is an essential part of the life of our school. Teaching about the human body and about reproduction in nature will occur at various times throughout a child’s school life as part of the National Curriculum studies. All personal relationships will be taught with reference to the moral implications and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Parents will receive detailed information about the content of the lessons and have the right to withdraw a child from these lessons. The policy is available in school for perusal by arrangement with the Headteacher. It illustrates the developmental approach which underpins all teaching on personal relationships at St. Martha’s.

 

RHSE

RSHE explores what good relationships with friends and family are like, how to care for and respect themselves and others. They talk about their bodies and in KS2 move on to looking at changes and puberty. All of this is planned by our teachers through Ten Ten Life to the Full scheme which has been approved by the Bishop to ensure we are teaching our children in line with our Catholic faith and ethos.

You can find further details on our RHSE by following this link.