“Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility“

Children have a right to be cared for and protected and protecting them is everyone’s responsibility. Here at Simonside Primary School, we have a duty of care to ensure that all users of the school are kept safe from harm. We are committed to provide a secure and supportive environment in which children can develop and grow into mature and responsible people. Safeguarding children is an essential part of our holistic approach to ensure that children are protected from abuse and neglect and that every child reaches their full potential. It is therefore important that all staff, volunteers, Governors and our community work together to safeguard our school community.

Our recruitment and selection processes are rigorous and comply with all relevant guidance. All Staff, including volunteers, are cleared by DBS. All staff receive training and are aware of safeguarding and child protection issues and responsibilities.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy which can be viewed on this page, or in the policies section of our website.

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 parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare, or we are advised not to.

As an Operation Encompass school, we work closely with the police where there have been incidents of Domestic Abuse in the family home.

We actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda to counter radicalisation and extremism. 

Key Contacts

Should you wish to speak to a member of the Safeguarding Team, please contact school on 0191 489 8315 and ask to speak to any of our key personnel:

How can you help?

Parents and carers play a role in safeguarding children in their community. If you have any concerns, no matter how small, you should report them to someone who you trust will listen. The school is required to have a designated child protection officer for this purpose. Parents and children should speak to a member of the safeguarding team if they have any concerns about a child or staff member.

If you think a child or young person may be in immediate danger, contact the police in the first instance by calling 999.

If you are suspicious, or would like further advice, please contact Children and Families Social Care using the link here.

Photographs and Videos

Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and videos of their children’s school life, we are very mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and this includes the use of photographic and video images.

As photographs or videos of school productions, sports days or other events are for the enjoyment of individual families, we kindly ask that parents, carers and relatives do NOT take photographs or video recordings containing other children. If photographs or videos have been taken and other children are visible, they must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This would include publishing images in any form of print or on the internet, including social networking sites. This is emphasised before events.

To ensure parents and carers have the opportunity to capture memories of events in school, staff take photographs and share these on our secure learning journal.

Occasionally, the local press will be invited to take photographs of school events and special achievements. We like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parent information meetings, newsletters and on our display screens around the school.

We understand that in some circumstances, a parent or carer may not wish their child’s image to be used in any way. This is respected and parents/carers have our full support in determining if and when their child’s image is used either within school or elsewhere.

Further information

For more information about Prevent and radicalisation, please visit this website. 

You can also access information designed for primary school children here.