Minworth Junior and Infant School

If you have a concern about a child during periods of school closure, please email the secure email address detailed below and a school safeguarding leader will respond promptly. The address is only accessible to DSLs and will be frequently monitored.

safedsl@minworth.bham.sch.uk

Safeguarding at Minworth Junior and Infant School

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. We expect all staff and volunteers to share in our commitment in creating a safe and secure environment where our pupils can thrive and reach their full potential.

How We Ensure Safeguarding

Comprehensive Policies: We have robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place to protect all children in our care. These policies are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure they reflect the latest best practises. Parents are able to read the policy here or request a copy from the school office.
Highly Trained Staff: Staff at Minworth Junior and Infant School have annual training with regard to safeguarding and keeping children safe, complimented by termly updates. All newly appointed staff, governors and volunteers are also thoroughly and appropriately vetted in line with national safer recruitment guidance and regulations. As part of their induction, they are also given sufficient safeguarding training.
Open Communication: We encourage open communication between staff, parents, and pupils to ensure that any safeguarding concerns are addressed promptly. Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.

Our Procedures:

All visitors must sign in on arrival at the School Office. Every adult in school must wear a lanyard and badge, including staff. They must be worn and visible at all times. If visitors have a checked DBS, they will be issued with a Green Lanyard. A Blue Lanyard indicates that a visitor should be supervised. Our children are encouraged to challenge adults who are not following those guidelines.
Mobile phones are not to be used whilst on the school site. Should a mobile phone need to be used, adults are asked to use it in the Staffroom.
Photographs are not to be taken unless by prior agreement.
All adults are expected adhere to the school ethos and be a good role model to our pupils by acting in a respectful, fair and considerate way to others.
All visitors are informed of our safeguarding procedures and Safeguarding Leads. We ask all visitors to report to staff any unacceptable behaviour and if they have a safeguarding concern to report this immediately to a designated safeguarding lead (DSL)
When concerns are raised to the DSL, they will then decide on the correct course of action, following our safeguarding policy. In most cases, parents will be informed if we have a concern about a child. However, sometimes we do not gain consent before discussing a case with other agencies as we believe that this could put a child at risk of significant harm.
If staff and visitors have a safeguarding concern about a member of staff, they should discuss with the Headteacher.
If staff and visitors have a concern about the Headteacher, they should report this to the Chair of Governors, via the school office. The Chair of Governors will report this directly to the Local Authority Designated Officer. (LADO)

The persons responsible for safeguarding in the school are as follows:

Miss K. Lickley Mrs B. Bishop Miss K. Jordan Mr O. Bennett Mrs T. Miller

Deputy DSL Deputy DSL Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Deputy DSL Deputy DSL

Emergency out-of-hours

Child abuse can happen to any child regardless of gender, culture, religion, social background, ability or disability. We all have a responsibility to keep children (under the age of 18) safe, both at home and in school. Harm is identified in four ways:

Emotional - when a child is made to feel frightened, worthless or unloved. It can be when children see their parents, or visitors to the home, fighting or using violence.
Neglect - when a child is not being taken care of by their parents/guardians. It can be poor hygiene, poor diet, not keeping appointments for additional support, not coming to school or being left home alone.
Physical - when a child is deliberately hurt or injured.
Sexual - when a child is influenced or forced to take part in a sexual activity. This can be a physical activity or non-physical. E.g. being made to look at an inappropriate image.

If you:

have a serious concern about the safety of a child or young persons;
think a child or young person is being harmed or is at risk of being harmed;
are worried that a child is living in circumstances where they are treated badly and not cared for properly

Then contact:

Children's Advice and Support Service (CASS)

Monday to Thursday: 8:45am to 5:15pm
Friday: 8:45am to 4:15pm

Telephone: 0121 303 1888

Report a concern to CASS here

Whistleblowing

If staff are unhappy with how a safeguarding concern has been handled, they are expected to follow it up with the DSL and if still not satisfied, can call the NSPCC Whistleblowing hotline (0800 028 0285) for further advice and follow the Birmingham LA Whistleblowing policy available on the policies' page.

Staff are also reminded that although it wouldn't ordinarily be the procedure to do so, any individual can make a safeguarding referral where concerns arise with regard to a child's safety and/or well-being therefore if they remain dissatisfied with the action taken or response of a DSL, this should be the next course of action.

Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board

The Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board has a statutory duty to co-ordinate how agencies work together to safeguard and promote the well-being of children and young people in Birmingham and to ensure the effectiveness of the safeguarding arrangements.

The BSCB are currently running a campaign to Keep Children Safe. View the video here.