SAFEGUARDING & ONLINE SAFETY, INC SAFER SCHOOLS APP AND OPERATION ENCOMPASS.
Safeguarding
Giffards is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children, staff and visitors and promoting a climate where children and adults will feel confident about sharing any concerns which they may have about their own safety or the well-being of others. We aim to safeguard and promote the welfare of children by protecting them from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in our school is the responsibility of the whole school community. All adults working in this school (including visiting staff, volunteers and students on placement) are required to report instances of actual or suspected child abuse or neglect to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who is a member of the school’s leadership team.
The latest Keeping Children Safe in Education document is saved here for your information.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead is: Mrs V Teager and she can be contacted at senco@giffardsprimary.thurrock.sch.uk
The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are: Mrs N Haslam-Davis and Miss James
The Designated Safeguarding Lead is also the first point of contact for external agencies that are pursuing Child Protection investigations and co-ordinates the school’s representation at CP conferences and Core Group meetings (including the submission of written reports for operation conferences).
Online Safety
Please click here to see our latest Online Safety Newsletter
Wake Up Wednesday Snapchat - info that may be useful for parents/carers
Previous newsletters from this academic year can be found below:
Online Safety Newsletter November 2024
Online Safety Newsletter October 2024
Online Safety Newsletter July 2024
Online Safety Newsletter June 2024
Online Safety Newsletter May 2024
Online Safety Newsletter April 2024
Online Safety Newsletter March 2024
Online Safety Newsletter February 2024
Online Safety Newsletter January 2024
Online Safety Newsletter December 2023
Online Safety Newsletter November 2023
Online Safety Newsletter October 2023
Online Safety Newsletter September 2023
We hope you find them useful, please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like any further information, support or guidance around internet safety.
The internet is amazing. Children can play, learn, create and connect – opening up a whole world of exciting possibilities. But with the digital world changing all the time, how can you make sure your child’s staying safe?
We do lots of work in school around internet safety, the school has a monitoring and filtering system in place to ensure that the children cannot access any inappropriate material. Their internet usage is monitored closely and any attempts to access inappropriate sites are reported to us immediately.
The NSPCC has some useful information and guidance for parents around keeping children safe online, please do have a look. If you have any queries around keeping your child safe then please contact the school office.
Whether you’re a mum, dad, carer, auntie, uncle, granny, grandpa or just a close family friend it’s important for you to understand what children are doing online, so you can
help make them safer. We have access to a Safer Schools App that is really useful and sends alerts as necessary. Please click for information on how to download and access the app
Operation Encompass
At Giffards Primary School we are working in partnership with Essex Police to identify and provide appropriate support to pupils who have experienced domestic violence in their household. This scheme is called Operation Encompass.
The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in or witness to a domestic abuse incident. Domestic abuse impacts on children in a number of ways. Children are at increased risk of physical injury during an incident, either by accident or because they attempt to intervene. Even when not directly injured, children are greatly distressed by witnessing the physical and emotional suffering of a parent.
Encompass has been created to highlight this situation. It is the implementation of key partnership working between the police and schools. The aim of sharing information with local schools is to allow ‘Key Adults’ (the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) where possible) the opportunity of engaging with the child and to provide access to support that allows them to remain in a safe but secure familiar environment.
In order to achieve this, Essex Police will share information of all domestic incidents where one of our pupils has been present, with the DSL/Key Adult. On receipt of any information, the DSL will decide on the appropriate support the child requires. All information sharing and resulting actions will be undertaken in accordance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). We will record this information and store this information in accordance with the record keeping procedures outlined in these regulations.
The purpose and procedures in Operation Encompass have been shared with parents and governors. Further information can be found by clicking on the following link www.operationemcompass.org
