Safeguarding

At Lilycroft Primary School, we are committed to maintaining a very high standard of safeguarding for all members of the school community.

If you have any concerns about a pupil at Lilycroft Primary School, please come and talk to one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) who will be able to help you.

Designated Safeguarding Lead:  Leah Florence (Headteacher)

Deputy Safeguarding Leads:

• Holly Whyte (Deputy Headteacher)
• Aleks Atanaskovic (SENDCo)
• Leanne Holdsworth (Assistant Headteacher)
• Nabila Akhtar (Assistant Headteacher)

Please note – the staff will only be available to help between 8:00am and 4:00pm, Monday to Friday.  We cannot guarantee we will be able to respond to concerns during the holidays.  If you have a concern and the staff are not available to support, please contact Bradford Children’s Social Care Service on 01274 433999.

If you have concerns about a pupil but you would like to remain anonymous, you can contact Bradford Children and Young Families Trust who will be able to help you.  Further information can be found here. 
If you have immediate concerns that a child is at significant risk of harm, please contact the police.

Lilytcroft Primary School will strive to ensure that all pupils remain safe and free from harm.  The school is committed to playing a full and active part in the multi-agency approach to child protection concerns.  Additionally, the school has a legal duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and to have a child protection policy and procedures in place, which should be shared with parents, to address concerns about the safety and protection of children.  Our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy can be viewed here.

Through their day-to-day contact with pupils and direct work with families, staff who work in schools have a crucial role to play in noticing indicators of possible abuse or neglect.  Parents should be aware therefore, that where it appears to a member of staff that a child may have been abused, the school is required, as part of the local child protection procedures to report their concern to Children’s Social Care immediately.  To avoid any misunderstandings therefore, parents/carers of children who sustain accidental injuries outside school, with results in cuts/bruises/fractures should inform the school without delay and explain the cause.

Principles

• Children have a right to be safe
• Parents/carers have a right to be informed
• Children are best protected when parents/carers and school work together

Partnership
School will inform parents/carers of any concerns about their children (providing it does not compromise a child’s safety) and will help and support them as necessary.

Prevention
School will take positive action to prevent children suffering abuse and neglect through the development of an open culture that informs children of their rights and encourages them to speak about any concerns.  The school will also address the issue of children’s safety through the curriculum.

Responding to concerns

• School will refer all allegations or concerns that a child has been, or is likely to be, abused or neglected to Children’s Social Care within the Children’s Services Department.
• School will consult with other agencies when it has concerns that a child may have been abused or neglected.
• School will discuss with parents/carers any concerns they have about their children.
• Parents/carers will be kept informed about what has happened.

Child/Child abuse
Physical and emotional abuse of children by other children will be dealt with, initially, through the school’s anti-bullying policy.  Parents/carers will be kept informed.  All concerns about possible sexual abuse will be referred immediately to Children’s Social Care.

Child protection strategy meetings and conferences
Members of school staff will attend strategy meetings and conferences when required and will provide information about children and families.  This information will be shared with parents/carers beforehand if possible.  School will keep confidential child protection records separately from a pupil’s academic and other school records.

Confidentiality
Information from any source, including parents/carers, about possible child abuse cannot be kept confidential.

Information and records about children who are the subject of a Child Protection Plan will be given only to those people who need it and this information will be kept strictly confidential by them.