Safeguarding & Early Help

"Pupils said that the staff are kind and encouraging. This helps pupils to feel safe... Pupils appreciate the extra support that they can receive when they are going through difficulties or feeling upset. Pupils explained to inspectors that, adults always put children before themselves." - Ofsted, March 2022

At Chapelford we have a very strong team who are responsible for the leadership of safeguarding. The Designated Safeguarding Leads are Mrs Hewson, Mrs Tottie, Mrs Stewart and Mrs McDavid. They are supported wider by Mrs Norman, Mrs Buckley, Miss Hackney and Mrs Ogden.

If you feel that any child is at risk, please contact them.

We also have a designated governor, Mrs Worrall, who is responsible for the monitoring of all safeguarding procedures each half term.

Our Strategic Safeguarding Lead is Mrs J Malone, who is responsible for the monitoring of all safeguarding across the Multi Academy Trust.

In line with our Mission Statement, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children - ensuring that all pupils, staff and visitors are safe at all times. Safeguarding children – the action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from hard – is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play.

At Chapelford Village Primary School we aim to provide the best possible learning opportunities by having a friendly, healthy and safe environment that caters for and respects all our children’s physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.  In safeguarding children we are committed to ensuring that:

• The child’s needs are paramount;
• All professionals who come into contact with children and families are alert to their needs and any risks of harm (actual or potential) posed to the children;
• All professionals share appropriate information in a timely way and can discuss concerns about an individual child with colleagues and local authority children’s social care;
• High quality professionals are able to use their expert judgement to put the child’s needs at the heart of the safeguarding system so that the right solution can be found for each individual child;
• All professionals contribute to whatever actions are needed to safeguard and promote a child’s welfare and take part in regularly reviewing the outcomes for the child against specific plans and outcomes;
• All safeguarding/child protection policies and procedures follow the Warrington Local Safeguarding Children Board’s Warrington Safeguarding Partnership guidance and DfE guidance (Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018; Keeping Children Safe in Education, 2022)

Early Help refers to the offer of any information, advice or support to children, young people and their families as soon as possible in their lives, or when issues emerge, to help prevent problems from escalating.

Listed below are some of the services the school can offer you:-

• Mrs McDavid is available to talk to parents/carers to discuss any concerns you may have regarding behaviour, learning or any other support you require. You can book an appointments with her email chapelford_sendco@omegamat.co.uk
• Support to complete forms and other paperwork such as high school admissions.
• Meetings with class teachers are available to meet with parents/carers to discuss any concerns you may have regarding your child’s behaviour or learning.
• Referrals to outside agencies such as: the Family Outreach Team, parenting courses, our School Health Advisor, St Joseph’s Family Centre, Play/Art Therapy and local children’s centres.
• Common Assessment Framework (CAF) which involves listening to you to find out what help you need and talking about what is working well in your life. Based on what you say and what help you would like, a plan is put together so that professionals can work together to make sure you get the right sort of help.
• At Chapelford Village Primary School, our Safeguarding Team meet each half term to identify any children and families who would benefit from early help. It allows them to access services in the school and beyond to support identified vulnerable pupils.

In Warrington, we know that children, young people and their families have different types of needs and sometimes they may require extra support. One way this extra support can be provided is through an Early Help Assessment.

An Early Help Assessment can be completed by any professional, from any service, who is working with a child, young person or family.

The Early Help Support Team's role is to provide information, guidance and support to professionals who are working with children, young people and their families.

An Early Help Assessment benefits a child, young person or family because it:

• helps to identify needs at an early stage;
• is strengths- and evidence-based;
• is personalised and;
• is multi-agency in its approach.

An Early Help Review/Closure Plan complements the assessment by ensuring the correct level of support is provided for an individual/family at the right time. This allows for service provision to be regularly reviewed to ensure it continues to meet need and prevents needs escalating.

e-Safety at Chapelford Village Primary School

At Chapelford Village Primary, we appreciate the importance of the internet as a learning tool for children today. It provides them with fantastic opportunities to access a wide range of educational tools, communicate with friends and investigate the world around them. However, there is also content available that is not suitable for children and there are risks that children face when they are accessing the internet. We hope that the information provided on these pages will help to keep your children safe and ensure they use technology, including mobile phones responsibility.

Weekly e-Safety lessons

All children at Chapelford Village Primary School have weekly E-safety lessons as part of our computing curriculum. They cover topics such as creating strong passwords, how much time we spend online, our digital footprints and cyberbullying. Every year all children participate within Safer Internet Day which falls on the second Tuesday in February. This offers the children the opportunity to re-visit previous e-safety topics and to promote discussion about how to use the internet and technology safely and responsibly. 

As a school we are working towards the SWGfL Online 360 Safe Quality Mark. See our current certificates below:

KidSafe UK Accredited School

Chapelford Village Primary is proud to be a KidSafe accredited school. Children in Year 1 are introduced to the KidSafe training by their teachers who deliver the fully inclusive safeguarding program. The program covers a wide range of topics including understanding feelings and cyber safety through games, scenarios and meeting 'KS' the monkey puppet. The program aims to promote children's resilience, to reinforce that speaking out is the right thing to do and to feel empowered to speak out if they feel sad, scared or worried. Parents are informed when these lessons begin and the content of these to support further discussions at home. 

Warrington Voluntary Action - Food Support Map

Bread and Butter Thing - Food redistribution service

Cost of Living Support - cost of living support provided by Warrington Borough Council

My Life Warrington