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Designated Safeguarding Leads

Claire Wood
Designated Safeguarding Lead

Assistant Headteacher
c.wood@sharplesschool.co.uk
07903 193286

Ann Webster
Deputy DSL

Headteacher
a.webster@sharplesschool.co.uk
07718 111434

Lee Savage
Deputy DSL

Deputy Headteacher
l.savage@sharplesschool.co.uk
07715 206455

Safeguarding Leads

Lucy Edwards Edge
l.edwardsedge@sharplesschool.co.uk
07590 839197

Linda Harrison
l.harrison@sharplesschool.co.uk
07590 347970

Nick Sharples
n.sharples@sharplesschool.co.uk
07872 463825

Pam Paton
p.paton@sharplesschool.co.uk
07590 347964

Beth Chisholm
b.chisholm@sharplesschool.co.uk
07590 347974

Safeguarding Statement

Sharples School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, which includes –

  • Protecting children from maltreatment
  • Preventing impairment of children’s health or development
  • Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

All concerns are dealt with by staff trained to the same level as that of the ‘Designated Child Protection Lead Officer.’ The designated leads at Sharples School are:

  • Ann Webster, Head Teacher
  • Lee Savage, Deputy Head Teacher
  • Claire Wood, Assistant Head Teacher

All other staff receive annual basic awareness training and have completed Level 1 On-line Safeguarding training.

Should you have any concerns about your child or a child who attends Sharples School please do not hesitate to contact the Designated Lead Child Protection Officer.

Cause for Concern

All staff are asked to report any causes for concern to the staff trained to deal with such instances. Concerns will be shared with parents/carers as early as possible as there are often reasonable explanations for the concern.

Attendance

Absence and lateness is recorded by the attendance team. Reasons are sought for all absences. Concerns around attendance may be referred to the Designated Lead Child Protection Officer. Parents/carers will be notified of attendance concerns at the earliest possible point.

Support for Families/Multi Agency Working

Sharples School works collaboratively with external agencies to ensure that children are safeguarded and welfare is promoted. We actively work with families to secure positive outcomes for both children and families.

Current Key Themes

Whilst any cause for concern is dealt with appropriately, current key themes that staff are trained to deal with include –

  • Mental and health well-being of students
  • Supporting students outside of school, especially Mental and Health well-being, through Kooth (on-line support platform)
  • Female Genital Mutilation
  • Child Sexual Exploitation
  • Prevent – Protecting students from the risk of radicalisation which is now seen as part of schools’ wider safeguarding duties.

Talking to children about sexual abuse

The BBC features advice for parents on how to talk to their children about sexual abuse.

Advice for talking to young children includes: 

  • Have simple conversations with them
  • Teaching them that their body belongs to them and that they can say no if anybody tries to touch them
  • Tell them the difference between a “good” and a “bad” secret
  • Use the NSPCC’s PANTS acronym.

Advice for talking to older children includes:

  • Keep talking about sex abuse right through to university age
  • Talk about the dangers posed by smartphones and internet use but do not “shame” a child’s behaviour if they do something wrong online.

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass, a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing  domestic abuse.

Operation Encompass means that the police will share information with the Designated Safeguarding Lead at Sharples about all police-attended Domestic Abuse incidents, which involve any of our children, prior to the start of the next school day. This enables appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and  wishes of the child.

Children were recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Bill. Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience and can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by  enabling immediate support, making a child’s day better and giving them a better tomorrow.

Police Response

  • Police attend incident of Domestic Abuse
  • Record details of incident including details of all children present and the school they attend
  • Where possible speak with all children separately
  • Ensure immediate safeguarding is put into place
  • Complete required ‘Investigation’ Report
  • Complete and send email to relevant school

Information provided

  • Details of Children and schools they attend
  • Risk Grading of Incident – High / Medium / Standard
  • Complete brief summary of incident
  • Details whether the child witnessed or was involved in the incident.