"Pupils’ personal development and welfare are outstanding."
Ofsted
The statutory government guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (often abbreviated to KCSiE) is regularly updated to reflect safeguarding changes and advancements.
KCSiE 2022 comes into effect at the beginning of the new school year and it is our legal duty to have read the new guidance before the start of the academic year, so that we can ensure we adhere to the statutory guidance as outlined in KCSiE 2022. This guidance replaces Keeping children safe in education 202.
The guidance should be read alongside:
- Statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children;
- Departmental advice what to do if you are Worried a Child is Being Abused Advice for Practitioners; and
- Departmental advice Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment between Children in schools and colleges
As well as obeying statutory guidance we also follow Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership procedures to safeguard and promote the welfare of our children. In doing so, we are expected to consult the Norfolk County Council Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub’s (MASH) Children’s Advice and Duty Service (CADs) if we believe there is a possibility that a child may be suffering from abuse or neglect.
A referral to CADs is not intended to be an accusation of any particular action or against any particular person. It is the reporting of concerns which have come to the school’s attention. This is in accordance with Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board child protection procedures and the Bure Valley School safeguarding policy.
Children’s Advice and Duty Service
The Children’s Advice and Duty Service is made up of senior social workers, who provide advice and support to other professionals and ask key questions about the risks and strengths within families. They will then agree together who is best placed to meet the needs of a child. The service will no longer take written referrals
If you are a professional, i.e. working with a child or young person in a formal or voluntary setting and not a family member or member of the public, you can contact the Children’s Advice and Duty Service on their direct line: 0344 800 8021.
If you are a member of the public you can do this through Norfolk County Council’s Customer Services on 0344 800 8020.
For any call raising concerns about a child, the Children’s Advice and Duty Service will ask for:
- all of the details known to you/your agency about the child
- their family composition including siblings, and where possible extended family members and anyone important in the child’s life
- the nature of the concern and how immediate it is;
- any and what kind of work/support you have provided to the child or family to date;
- they will also need to know where the child is now and whether you have informed parents/carers of your concern.
In an emergency, call 999.
Both documents are publicly available and can be consulted by parents/carers.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is: Jamie Olney Head Teacher
The Alternate Designated Safeguarding Leads (ADSLs) are:
- Duncan Spalding Executive Headteacher
- Helen Pope Assistant Headteacher
- Helen Howard Assistant Headteacher
- Sally Fox Pastoral Leader
- The designated safeguarding governor is: Diane Scott
For updated information on safeguarding children in Norfolk, visit the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board website at:
Operation Encompass
Operation Encompass is a jointly run operation between Norfolk County Council, Norfolk Police and our school.
Encompass has been set-up to help schools to provide support to children who have been present at incidents of domestic violence. We know that children can be significantly physically or emotionally harmed when they are involved in, present or witness to domestic violence.
The school will receive a confidential phone call on the morning after any domestic incident where a child at their school has been involved in, present or witness to domestic violence, where the police have attended.
The school have designated Mr Jamie Olney, Ms Sally Fox, Mrs Helen Howard, Mrs Helen Pope and Mr Duncan Spalding as Key Adults.
We have received training from Norfolk County Council to allow us to use the information that has been shared, in confidence to make sure that the right support is available for children and their families, who have been involved in or witnessed a domestic violence incident.
We are keen to offer the best support possible to our students and we believe this is going to be extremely beneficial for all those involved.
If you have any concerns or questions then please contact one of the above Key Adults who will be happy to discuss this further.
