The school's Safeguarding leads are: Mrs B Nesbit, Mr T Hoyes, Miss J Hodby and Ms S Wells,

Safeguarding is the cornerstone of all of our practice at St Francis Xavier. Safeguarding the is responsibility of all staff, whatever their role in our school. Through the implementation of robust safeguarding procedures, we provide a caring, positive safe and stimulating environment, which promotes the social, physical and moral wellbeing of every child. We implement a 'child first' approach to safeguarding, the needs of the child are at the forefront of all safeguarding practices. 

When appointing new staff, we follow rigorous safer recruitment procedures: every member of staff undergoes a full DBS check and must be provided with references. This process is applied to visiting artists, regular volunteers, supply teachers and governors.

All staff receive a full safeguarding briefing as part of their induction to the school. Every member of staff also receives a full safeguarding briefing from a safeguarding lead at the start of each academic year as well as weekly updates/reminders through our 'one minute guides' in weekly staff meetings. 

We have policies and practices that focus on ensuring the health and well-being of the children, for example: risk assessments before every class trip, a regularly updated health and safety policy and staff presence at the school entrance at the start and end of every day.

We have well-established ways of monitoring and responding to incidents of concern, for example: unexplained absences, difficult behaviour and significant changes in physical or emotional appearance.

At St Francis Xavier we are clear that safeguarding is everybody’s business and we have a strong commitment to safeguard all our children ensuring their health, safety and well-being in all areas of our practice.

We have clear procedures and key personnel in place to ensure safeguarding in all aspects of school life.

All of our staff work together to ensure that:

• Our children feel listened to, valued and respected
• Our staff are aware of indicators of abuse and know how to share their concerns appropriately
• All our paid and unpaid staff, including governors and volunteers, are subject to rigorous recruitment procedures
• All our paid and unpaid staff, including volunteers and governors, are given appropriate support and training

Teachers and all support staff in our school play a crucial role in helping to identify where there are welfare concerns, and indicators of possible abuse or neglect, at an early stage. St Francis Xavier is committed to referring those concerns via the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)  to the appropriate organisation, and, where appropriate, to ongoing action to meet those needs. It is vital that parents and carers understand the responsibility placed on the school and staff for child protection.

In order to ensure that our children are adequately protected, we will ensure that:

• We have a strategic safeguard lead
• We have a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and two deputy safeguarding leads who will attend multi-agency training to ensure that they are fully up-to-date with all new developments and practices in safeguarding and to meet any new legislative requirements as it emerges.
• At St Francis Xavier our Strategic lead is the Executive Headteacher, Mrs Bernadette Nesbit. The DSL is the Head of School, Mr Tom Hoyes, and DDSL's are the Inclusion Manager Miss Jessica Hodby and the HLTA Ms Sheree Wells.
• All staff are trained in Child Protection awareness at least annually.
• All staff have signed a record to show that they have read and understand the DFE Guidance
• 'Keeping Safe In Education'  2022 (Part 1) has been read and understood by all staff.
• All children and their families and/or carers have access to this Safeguarding Policy via our website. Paper copies will be made available on request.

The safeguarding policy is reviewed on an annual basis by the DSL and the Governors

Key Areas of safeguarding responsibilities:

Safeguarding encompasses the following:

• Staff recruitment, vetting, appointment and training
• All aspects of child protection
• Site security and safety, including fire procedures
• Risk assessment of all activities, day trips and residential stays
• E-safety teaching, learning and procedures
• Medical and first aid procedures
• Behaviour, bullying and restraint
• Equalities and discrimination including preventing radicalisation and extremism

Separate policies and procedures are in place to fulfil our responsibility to these duties e.g. e-safety, anti bullying, whistle-blowing

Equalities and Discrimination, Radicalisation and Extremism
Children are explicitly taught that any form of discrimination on grounds of race, religion, sexuality, disability is wrong and there is a zero tolerance approach. All children and staff should be treated with care and respect. The school is vigilant in ensuring children and staff are protected from any form of extremism or indoctrination. In line with the Prevent duty, staff are trained and kept informed to recognise vulnerability and mitigate the risks. The school’s Catholic Social Teaching Education reinforces our commitment to equalities and includes the values of tolerance, respect, equality and kindness. Our RE curriculum dedicates a minimum of two weeks of each school year dedicated to the studying of other faiths; this promotes reflective thinking and questioning, freedom and openness as well as respect and tolerance for all faiths, within our multicultural community.

Prevent Strategy

Nothing is more important to us than the safety and welfare of our pupils.  We take rigorous steps to ensure that children stay safe and do not come to any harm.  We work closely with parents/carers and a range of professional agencies in order to secure this. Useful links for parents/carers: 

https://www.webwisekids.org/

 
Prevent is part of the Government’s strategy to address terrorism.  The main aim of Prevent is to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.  Prevent focuses on all forms of terrorist threats.  The Government’s Prevent strategy can be found at the following address:  www.homeoffice.gov.uk
 
How can you help?

It is important that we all work together, so that we can protect our communities. There are many ways you can help: Get in touch with your local neighbourhood or Prevent team for advice and support, if you are worried about someone you know who you believe may be vulnerable to radicalisation; You can speak to your local officers about helping run community events to bring people from different communities together; 
 
St Francis Xavier Prevent Strategy

All schools are required by law to teach a broad and balanced curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral and cultural development of children and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. We aim to protect children from harm and to ensure that they are taught in a way that is consistent with the law and British Values. To this end, it acts to: Raise Awareness Provide information Enable learners to make a positive contribution Safeguarding young people        Advice for Parent on Extremism and Radicalisation At St Francis Xavier, pupils participate in a curriculum that promotes active learning and questioning enables the pupils to explore social and emotional aspects of learning throughout the curriculum. We celebrate our own uniqueness and challenge prejudice of any kind. We are working in partnership with our Family of Catholic schools to further improve our work through SMSC. 

 
Extremism

Something which is clearly not part of any British or European value is extremism.  It is important to remember that whilst the threat from so-called Islamic State has been a focus in the Counter Terrorism and Security Act, the Prevent Duty is clear that extremism of all kinds should be tackled too.  In England, far right groups such a Britain First and the English Defence League need to be tackled too.  Extremism is not a new topic in education, but schools have a relatively new statutory duty to pay ‘’due to regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’’.

Read the government’s   Prevent duty guidance and its guidance for schools

It could be a good way to prepare yourself when supporting your child in any difficult discussions. 
 

We are delighted to share that St Francis Xavier recently received a Spotlight on Safeguarding Star Award:

How can families help with keeping children safe?

• Make sure all addresses and contact numbers are up to date;
• If someone different is picking your child up, please let us know;
• Be at school on time every day at 8:45am and 3.20pm;
• Notify the school about your child’s absence – unexplained absences are a key trigger for concern;

Keeping Children Safe in Education