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 (Deputy Headteacher)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead- Geraldine Porter ( Headteacher)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead- Andrea Lynch(SLT)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead- Chandni Vyas (SLT)
Nominated Governor for Safeguarding- Tony McMahon
Safeguarding Sub Committee- Sandra Byrne, Geraldine Porter, Tony McMahon (Foundation Governor), Chris Sheils (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 (Deputy Headteacher) is the Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Mrs Geraldine Porter (Headteacher) is a member of the Designated Safeguarding Team
- Mrs Chandni Vyas (SENCO) is a member of the Designated Safeguarding Team
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 - Mrs Geraldine Porter
If you have a safeguarding concern about the Headteacher, contact the Chair of Governors - Mr Chris Sheils
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 Safe in Education 2024Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024
Sacred Heart Child Protection Policy 2024-25
Sacred Heart Child Friendly Safeguarding Policy
Emotional Well-being and Mental Health
- Young Minds Website for Parents – https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/
- Healthy Sleep Tips for Children – https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/healthy-sleep-tips-for-children/