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Safeguarding

Sacred Heart School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the physical, mental and emotional welfare of every pupil, both inside and outside of the school premises. We implement a whole-school preventative approach to managing safeguarding concerns, ensuring that the well-being of pupils is at the forefront of all action taken.

Safeguarding children in our current climate encompasses many areas: child protection, online safety, the security of our school as a site, health and safety, behaviour, our anti bullying policy, radicalisation, racism and discrimination,child on child abuse and contextual safeguarding amongst others. Please read our safeguarding policy for more of an in depth understanding of our safeguarding roles. We also have a child friendly version which we share with pupils each term.

 

Our Safeguarding Team 

Designated Safeguarding Lead- Sandra Byrne (Headteacher Mon & Tues) (Deputy Headteacher Wed & Thurs)) 

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead- Geraldine Porter (Headteacher Wed-Fri)

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead- Andrea Lynch (SLT)

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead- Moya Wright (SLT)

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead- Emma Trevette (EYFS Lead)

Nominated Governor for Safeguarding- Tony McMahon 

Safeguarding Sub Committee- Sandra Byrne, Geraldine Porter, Tony McMahon (Chair of Governors), Chris Sheils (Vice Chair of Governors)

What to do if you have a safeguarding concern:

In an emergency:

If you are concerned that a child may be at imminent risk of significant harm, please contact the Police on 999. 

If it is not an emergency, contact a member of staff responsible for safeguarding:

  • Miss Sandra Byrne (Headteacher/Deputy Headteacher) is the Designated Safeguarding Lead - 
  • Mrs Geraldine Porter, Andrea Lynch, Moya Wright and Emma Travette are the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads

To contact a member of the Designated Safeguarding Team, please call 020 8445 3854

All members of the Safeguarding Team are contactable via: office@sacredheart.barnetmail.net

Outside of school hours, including school holidays

If you have a concern about a child outside of school hours, including during the school holidays, please call  the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH):

  • Office Hours: 020 8359 4066 (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm)
  • Out of Hours: 020 8359 2000 (out of hours)
  • Email: mash@barnet.gov.uk

The local authority school safeguarding lead is Liam Foote - 020 8359 4997

If you have a safeguarding concern about a member of staff working or volunteering in the school, contact the Headteacher - Miss Byrne (Mon &Tues) Mrs Geraldine Porter (Wed-Fri)

If you have a safeguarding concern about the Headteacher, contact the Chair of Governors - Mr Tony McMahon. 

Or you can contact Mr Rob Wratten, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). You can contact Mr Rob Wratten by phone (via Mash) on 020 8359 4066 or by email LADO@barnet.gov.uk

Keeping Children Safe in Education is the key information from the government around safeguarding and all our staff read Part 1 and its updates at the beginning of the school year. We provide regular updates and reminders throughout the year to make sure training is current. We ensure that everyone who works in our school has undergone the relevant DBS checks and are legally entitled to work in the UK. Any adult working with children will receive appropriate safeguarding training.

Prevent Duty

As part of our safeguarding and child protection duties we are fully behind the government’s Prevent Strategy and Educate Against Hate initiatives. From 1 July 2015 all schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent Duty for Schools. We build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values.  The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training to equip staff to identify pupils at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. The Home Office has developed a core training product for this purpose –Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP) which staff have completed.

Operation Encompass

We are working with the Metropolitan Police Service as part of Operation Encompass. This is the notification to schools that a child (under 18) has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic incident. This will ordinarily be done by the start of the next school day. Operation Encompass will ensure that a specially trained member of the school staff, known as a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), is informed. The DSL can then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to ensure the wellbeing of the child. 

Keeping Children Sfe in Education 2026 

NSPCC

Sacred Heart Child Protection Policy 2025-26

Sacred Heart Child Friendly Safeguarding Policy

Online Safety Policy

Emotional Well-being and Mental Health 

 

Class Watsapp Groups

As we begin the school year, please can I take this opportunity to remind new and existing parents about class watsapp groups. To aid communication between parents and carers many of our classes or groups of parents have set up WhatsApp groups, which OPERATE INDEPENDENTLY of the school. We know these offer a great way to support and communicate with each other. Please see below Guidance for Parents regarding Watsapp groups

 

Class / parent group WhatsApp Groups

We understand that parents and carers find WhatsApp groups a really useful way of communicating with and supporting each other.

The messages in the WhatsApp groups come from parents in their personal capacity. The school does NOT post directly on any WhatsApp parent/carer groups.

At Sacred Heart Primary School, we believe it is important to

  • Work in close partnership with parents to support their child’s learning and development
  • Create a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for pupils, staff and parents / carers
  • Model appropriate behaviour for our pupils at all times.

 

Code of Conduct

Parents should adhere to the following guidelines when using class WhatsApp groups:

 

  1. The group should never be used as a platform to air views/grievances regarding a teacher, child or parent in the class or school
  2. The group is not a political platform for airing opinions on current affairs
  3. The group should not be used for private conversations with anyone else using the group
  4. The group should be used keeping in mind mutual respect and cultural sensitivity between all its members
  •  

We expect parents, carers and other visitors to:

  • Respect the ethos, vision and values of our school
  • Work together with staff in the best interests of our pupils
  • Treat all members of the school community with respect – setting good examples with behaviour and speech
  • Seek peaceful solutions to all issues
  • Approach the right member of school staff to help resolve any issues of concern

 

Raising Concerns

If you are concerned about inappropriate comments on a class WhatsApp group, in confidence, please contact our Senior Leadership Team by emailing the school office at office@sacredheart.barnetmail.net or follow our Raising a concern procedure.sacredheart. barnetmail.net 

If the school suspects, or becomes aware, that a parent has breached the code of conduct detailed above, the school will gather information from those involved and speak to the parent about the incident.

Depending on the nature of the incident, the school may then:

  • Send a warning letter to the parent
  • Invite the parent into school to meet with a senior member of staff
  • Contact the appropriate authorities (in cases of criminal behaviour)
  • Seek advice from our legal team/the local authority’s legal team regarding further action (in cases of conduct that may be libellous or slanderous)

 

The school will always respond to an incident reported through and take the necessary action.

We kindly remind parents that posting comments about staff, pupils, or other families that are abusive, defamatory, misleading, or that share personal information may breach UK law. Sharing confidential or sensitive information—especially about children—is strictly prohibited and may be treated as a safeguarding concern.

If you have a question or concern about school matters, please contact the school directly using our official communication channels.


Thank you for helping us maintain a respectful and safe school community.

 

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