Safeguarding / Prevent

At Foundry Lane Primary School we take our Safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. This means that we ensure that everyone working in our school has successfully completed the necessary application and interview process alongside appropriate checks to enable them to work with our children.

It also means that we have trained senior staff members who are the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and Deputy DSLs within school. Our DSL is Mr Taylor, Headteacher, and the Deputies are Miss Aldred, Deputy Headteacher, Ms Ervine, Assistant Head for Inclusion, and Jacqui Dowdell, Parent Partnership. All have completed up-to-date safer recruitment training. We also have Designated Safeguarding Leads for our before and after school care (Tiger club). These are Claire Dear and Claire Porter. All of our DSL’s are Level 3 trained and attend regular local updates throughout the year.

We expect all our staff to share any concerns they have about staff conduct with the Headteacher. As in all schools, if there are concerns about the conduct of the Head, then these are shared with our Chair of Governors. The staff ‘whistle blowing’ policy has been reviewed and adopted by all staff. All staff attend annual safeguarding training which includes reviewing our Safeguarding, Child Protection and Whistleblowing Policies and the Prevent Duty. Volunteers and students are interviewed as part of our Safeguarding processes to assess suitability for working with children. 

We follow procedures set out by the Southampton Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB). We have robust and timely systems in place to share concerns regarding children’s welfare with our Designated Safeguarding Lead, with parents and with relevant external agencies. Part of our Safeguarding legal duty may also include us needing to consult specifically with, and take advice from, the Police and / or Children’s Social Care services. We ensure that concerns about our children are discussed with their parents / carers first unless we have reason to believe that this would be contrary to the welfare of the child.

By working closely together both with staff and with partner agencies, we firmly believe that we provide a safe environment for all our children to learn and grow.

Please take the time to read our policies and do not hesitate to contact the school should you have any questions about this very serious issue.

Prevent Strategy

As part of Foundry Lane’s commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the Government’s Prevent Strategy, and take guidance to help build resilience to extremism. Mr Taylor and Miss Aldred have received Home Office approved PREVENT training and are accredited to provide whole staff training using the Government Prevent materials.

What is the Prevent Strategy?

The Prevent Strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists, supporting terrorism, fundamentalism or extremist behaviours.

It responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views. It provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensures they are given appropriate advice and support. It works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health).

All school staff have attended training around the Prevent Strategy.

E-Safety

E-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Foundry Lane Primary School. We have extensive security measures in place to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material. E-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure that the E-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online. It is essential to be realistic, as banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.

We have a page on our website dedicated to useful information on E-safety and we also support parents by regularly sending home literature and providing tips in our parent newsletters.