Safeguarding
Ranelagh Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils. We believe that:
- All children have the right to be protected from harm
- Children need to be safe and to feel safe in school
- Children need support which matches their individual needs, including those who may have experienced abuse
- All children have the right to speak freely and voice their values and beliefs
- All children must be encouraged to respect each other’s values and support each other
- All children have the right to be supported to meet their emotional, and social needs as well as their educational needs – a happy healthy sociable child will achieve better educationally
- Schools can and do contribute to the prevention of abuse, victimisation, bullying, exploitation, radicalisation, extreme behaviours, discriminatory views and risk taking behaviours
- All staff and visitors have an important role to play in safeguarding children and protecting them from abuse
Safeguarding is defined as:
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Preventing impairment of children's health or development
- Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best life chances
Ranelagh Primary School will fulfil their local and national responsibilities as laid out in the following documents:
- Working Together to Safeguard Children
- Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory guidance for schools and colleges
- The Procedures of Newham Safeguarding Children Board
- The Children Act 2004
- The Education Act 2002 s175 / s157
- Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools: Departmental Advice (DfE 2016)
- Prevent Duty 2023
Our Safeguarding polices can be seen below.
The Team
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Shella Lawrenson | Executive Head Teacher : Safeguarding and Child Protection |
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Leigh Welburn | Head of School: Safeguarding and Child Protection |
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Sehnaj Patel | Designated Safeguarding Lead and Child Protection |
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Tania Chowdhury | Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and Child Protection |
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Monya De Villiers | Attendance & Health and Safety Lead |
Domestic Violence (Operation Encompass)
What is it?
| We are proud to be working with the London Metropolitan Police as part of ‘Operation Encompass’. This is a programme, which provides the trained staff within the School with appropriate information that will help up put in suitable and sensitive support to a child/children who may have witnessed or been involved in any domestic violence incidents at home. |  |
What can the school do?
IIf needed, we can provide children with breakfast, give them school uniform or just a space to talk to teachers without fear.
Families who face possible difficulties can also be signposted to relevant outside agencies such as Victim Support or Social Care.
What is domestic violence?
· The definition of Domestic Abuse is: any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional
· Controlling behaviour: Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.
· Coercive behaviour: Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.
Online safety
At Ranelagh we have an internet filtering system which protects our children; this is managed by an organisation called the London Grid For Learning ( LGFL)
Below you may find some useful websites which will help you gain a better understanding to protect your children at home and school.
As a result of our recent Online Safety Week it has been bought to our attention that some children have accounts on the the social network music.ly - this social network operates a strict 13+ policy and the school recommends that you do not let your child have an account even with the privacy settings set to the highest. There have been verified reports in the media recently of adults getting round these settings - in these cases your children might be in at risk. Please ensure that you are aware of the websites/apps that your children have accounts on. If you want to know if a website is safe for your child you can check at webwise.ie or speak to your child's teacher.
For further information about keeping your children safe online you can visit Think U Know.co.uk by clicking here as well as the NSPCC Net Aware website by clicking here.
Female Genital Mutilation
Please refer to the below documents.
Child Sexual Exploitation
Mental Health and Well being Support
Click on the link to access free Mental Health Support for you or a member of your family. If you are concerned about the Mental Health of your child, speak to your child's class teacher, who will give you further advice.
