Information for Parents:

At Foxton Primary School, we are committed to providing a range of information to explain more about what we are doing with regard to Safeguarding in order to support and protect the children at our school.

Please find below a link to the Cambridge and Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership Board.

Parents/Carers Safeguarding Information

Safeguarding and Child Protection:

At Foxton Primary School, we follow guidance from Cambridgeshire County Council regarding all Safeguarding and Child Protection matters.

Please find below the statement from the Education Safeguarding Team:

Safeguarding and Child Protection Statement
Cambridgeshire County Council, Education Safeguarding Team

We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.

The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’s procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.

Parents/Carers should know the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Parents/carers should know that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies.

Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk.

Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to share information.

In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.

Schools will contact Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.

Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding promoting the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.

* The word ‘school’ is used throughout but this would include all educational settings e.g. Academies, Pupil Referral Units, Further Education establishments and Independent schools.

Operation Encompass:

At Foxton Primary School, we are working in partnership with Cambridgeshire Police and Cambridgeshire County Council to identify and provide appropriate support to pupils who have experienced domestic abuse in their home; this scheme is called Operation Encompass. ‘Encompass’ has been set up to help schools and colleges provide support to children who have been present at incidents of domestic abuse and violence. We know that children can be significantly physically or emotionally harmed when they are involved in, present at or are a witness to domestic abuse.

The school will receive a confidential, secure email from Cambridgeshire’s Education Safeguarding Team who will share police information of all domestic incidents, where one of our pupils has been present, with the Designated Safeguarding Lead(s) (DSL)/Domestic Abuse (DA) Lead. On receipt of any information, the DSL/DA Lead will decide on the appropriate support the child/ren and their families may require.

The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information. If you have any concerns or questions, then please contact the school office to request a conversation with a Designated Safeguarding Lead and we will be happy to discuss this. Further information can be found below (Operation Encompass Protocol) and is available from the school office on request.

Operation Encompass Protocol