Safeguarding

Safeguarding at Balliol

At Balliol Primary School, safeguarding of all of our children is paramount and our team are fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare and safety of our children. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and we implement a range of initiatives in school to promote our children, staff and families well-being and happiness so that everyone has the opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential. Children within our school know how to seek support and feel that they are listened to with supportive action taken by staff within our school. Safeguarding at Balliol is about ensuring that everyone is safe from harm and that we all feel safe in our environment – so if you are ever concerned about the safety or well-being of someone within our school community, please talk to us. 

The safeguarding team within our school is:

Mrs Youngman is the Designated Safeguarding Lead for the School

Mrs Anderson is the Family Worker and Deputy Safeguarding Lead

Mrs Smedley is the SENDco

Roger Stokes is the governor responsible for Safeguarding

To report an allegation against a person in a position of trust, please contact the LADO

• Bedford Borough: 01234 276 693 or via secure email: Lado@bedford.gov.uk

Within our school all staff and Governors are trained annually on our safeguarding procedures and are fully aware of the key documentation to promote safeguarding within our school, such as our  Child Protection Policy and' Keeping Children Safe in Education'.

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/balliol-school/UploadedDocument/9dad49fb-d209-4208-b1fa-e2b1c5fb6e47/child-protection-and-safeguarding-policy-2022-23.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1101454/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2022.pdf

We also actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism and have a range of policies and procedures in place which enhance our contribution to safeguarding within our school.

Working in Partnership

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 pupils are discussed with parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a discussion would be contrary to the child’s welfare. We work hard to ensure highly effective and productive professional relationships with external partners to ensure the best interests of each learner. Leaders work strategically with services such as Children's Services, Health Services and the Police to support our learners. Safeguarding is also woven into our curriculum through our PSHE lessons, computing lessons, assemblies and through special events and external visitors.

We have strong relationships with our families and have a detailed, in-depth knowledge about our community to ensure that our support and actions are proactive, prompt and in line with what our children and families need. 

Evaluating our Work

The Senior Leadership Team meet weekly to review the safeguarding work of our school with a focus on process, practice and performance. We are open to scrutiny by our partners and share practice and ideas with other schools. Our Safeguarding Governor has a strong, experienced school governor background which ensures rigour around questioning practice and impact. Our safeguarding practice and process are agenda items at our Full Governing Body meetings.