Safeguarding

At St Bernadette’s RC Primary, Safeguarding is extremely important and everybody’s business, all of the time. Our school is totally committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to give our children everything they need to ensure they all reach their full potential.’ Where there is a barrier to well-being, health or success, we will do everything we can to overcome these barriers and try to remove them.

We review our child protection policy and procedures on a regular basis, with updated training provided for all school staff in order to offer a consistent, high quality approach to child protection and safeguarding. Our school has recruitment procedures that support the safeguarding of young people, as laid out in the Local Authority Safe Recruitment guidance.

Keeping Children Safe in Education

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 document

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023

Click here to see our Safeguarding and Child Protection policy.

Click here to see our Safeguarding – Low level Concerns Policy

Click here to see our Managing Allegations of Abuse Made Against Staff Who Work With Children

The Safeguarding Team at St Bernadette’s

Mrs K ay Mills – Deputy Headteacher and Lead Designated Safeguarding Leader
Mr Dave Proctor – Headteacher and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader
Mrs Tina Stevenson – Assistant Headteacher and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader
Mrs Gemma Moynihan – UKS2 Lead and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader
Miss Suzanne Tran – TA /After School Club Manager and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader
Mrs Heather Birkett-Rothwell – SENCO and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader
Mrs Lynn O’Meara – Safeguarding Governor

There are posters displayed around school to ensure all members of the school community know who the Designated safeguarding leaders are.

What to do if you are concerned

If you are concerned about a child’s wellbeing, please share your concern with Mr Proctor, the Head teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead, at the earliest opportunity. Contact him on 0161 766 6098 or contact the school office: stbernadettes@bury.gov.uk

If your concerns relate to the actions or behaviour of a member of staff or volunteer in school, then you should report this to the Headteacher who will consider what action to take and seek relevant advice.

If the concern relates to the Headteacher, refer the matter to the Chair of Governors: Mrs Jenny Redmond.

Safeguarding Training and Policies

We update our Safeguarding/Child Protection Policy annually. This ensures that any new learning is incorporated into our policy and it can respond to the most up-to-date thinking regarding child protection. All of our staff take part in very comprehensive Safeguarding training, ensuring that Safeguarding is seen as everybody’s business and everybody is equipped with the tools they need to protect our children. Regular updates keep our training refreshed and current. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead ensures that safeguarding updates are communicated to staff on a regular basis.

Safeguarding Procedures for School Staff

Teachers and Support staff monitor the wellbeing of children on a day to day basis. If they, or any other member of the team, have any concerns relating to the safeguarding of a child they report this to a Designated Safeguarding leader within school. They also log all safeguarding issues on CPOMS which is the school’s central safeguarding system. The designated safeguarding leaders then look at this information and decide on the appropriate course of action. We regularly work with a range of agencies locally who can help us to ensure the best outcome for the children in our care.

Safeguarding Procedures for Parents

If parents have any concerns relating to the wellbeing of their children or any other children, they can report it to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who will decide what action to take.

Should you ever have urgent concerns for the immediate safety of a child, you should contact the police, in the case of an emergency, or you can make a direct referral to MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) on 0161 253 5678.

Early Help Guidance

The new Early Help delivery model has been developed through our multiagency Children Trust Partnership, and came into effect on Monday 7 October 2019.

There are 3 new locality Early Help teams based in Bury, Radcliffe and Whitefield and support all five neighbourhoods
The teams are working with children and young people, age 0-19, and their families
The teams are linked to the schools, so that every school in the borough has an Early Help contact
Similar pathways to support are being developed for pre-school children and post-school
The Early Help teams link with partner organisations to ensure a joined up approach
A new Early Help assessment, the Story So Far, replaces the previous Early Help Family Support Plan and is already being successfully used by schools and other agencies

Whitefield Locality Team (including Prestwich)

Telephone Number: 0161 253 5077

Operation Encompass

Bury Encompass

The purpose of Bury Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been exposed to Domestic abuse. This 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 address 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 opportunity of engaging with the child and to provide access to support that allows them to remain in a safe but secure familiar environment.

Please see the 2 links below for the Encompass Handbook and the Encompass Letter to parents.

Encompass Handbook

Encompass Letter to Parents