At Foundry Lane Primary School, we take our safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. Everyone working in our school has successfully completed the necessary application, interview process, and appropriate checks required to work with our children.

We recognise that children can be vulnerable to various forms of abuse and may be exposed to social factors that negatively impact their lives, such as domestic violence, substance misuse, bullying, mental health issues, and radicalisation. We are aware that safeguarding incidents can occur anywhere, and we remain vigilant in identifying potential concerns.

Meet the Safeguarding Team

	Ros Middleton   Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
	Marie Loftus   Desigated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
	Em Ervine   Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead         (DDSL)

Our Designated Safeguarding Leads communicate and hold regular meetings with the pastoral team and phase leaders to discuss any concerns raised and how best to support children and families in need. They work directly with families, as well as engaging external partners and agencies who can provide additional resources or expertise to address the unique needs of each situation.

All DSLs and DDSLs have completed up-to-date safer recruitment training.

Who Can I Contact with a Safeguarding Concern?

Situation	Who to Contact
Immediate danger	Call 999
A concern outside school	Southampton Children's Services: 023 8083 3004
Mental health	Southampton CAMHS: 0300 123 6617
Something else	Contact the school office and ask to speak to a DSL, or email DSL@foundrylaneprimary.co.uk

Teaching Children to Stay Safe

Our curriculum is designed to teach children how to stay safe and happy. Through our relational practice approach, we help children understand that any concern or worry they have is valid, and we encourage them to share their concerns with one of their High-5 trusted adults in school, a trusted adult at home, or through Childline.

We capture children's voice as a strategy to give children the opportunity to celebrate the things going well, and to problem-solve the things they wish they could change. For our younger children, this is often done through play.

Whistleblowing and Staff Conduct

We expect all staff to share any concerns they have about staff conduct with the Headteacher. As in all schools, concerns about the conduct of the Headteacher are shared with our Chair of Governors. Our staff Whistleblowing Policy has been reviewed and adopted by all staff. All staff attend annual safeguarding training, including a review of our Safeguarding, Child Protection, and Whistleblowing policies, and the Prevent Duty. Volunteers and students are interviewed as part of our safeguarding processes to assess their suitability for working with children.

We follow procedures set out by Southampton's Local Safeguarding Children's Board. 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 legal safeguarding duty may also include consulting with, and taking advice from, the Police and/or Children's Social Care services. We ensure that concerns about children are discussed with their parents or carers first, unless we have reason to believe this would be contrary to the welfare of the child.

Our filtering and monitoring systems and processes are in line with statutory requirements.

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass shares information about children affected by domestic abuse incidents directly with local schools, allowing staff to safeguard and support children in a timely, efficient manner, without delay. Sharing under Operation Encompass deals exclusively with risks identified as a result of domestic abuse incidents; it is not intended to encourage investigation of potential offences, but to enable more effective and timely safeguarding and support for those who need it.

By working closely together, both with staff and with partner agencies, we firmly believe 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 important 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.

The Prevent Strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists, or supporting terrorism, fundamentalism, or extremist behaviours. It responds to the ideological challenge posed by terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat from those who promote these views. It provides practical help to prevent people being drawn into terrorism, ensuring they receive appropriate advice and support, and works across a wide range of sectors, including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online platforms, and health.

All school staff have attended training on the Prevent Strategy.

E-Safety

E-safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Foundry Lane. We have extensive security measures in place to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material, and 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 in partnership with parents to ensure our e-safety messages are consistent. It's important that parents speak to their children about how to stay safe and behave appropriately online, and to be realistic: banning the internet or technology outright doesn't work, and can make a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.

We have a dedicated page on our website with useful e-safety information, and we support parents further by regularly sending home literature and tips through our parent newsletters.