Safeguarding and Child Protection

Nethersole CE Primary Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. 

Under the Education Act 2002 (Section 157 for academies), schools must make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.  Parents/carers should know that the law (Children Act 1989) requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse.  Staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with the parent/carer and discuss the need to make a referral to Children’s Social Care if that is considered necessary.  This will only be done where such discussion will not place the child at increased risk of significant harm or cause undue delay.  The school will seek advice from Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.  Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later found to be unfounded.  Parents/carers will appreciate that the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead carries out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acts in the best interests of all children.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) at the Nethersole Academy is Asilah Deakin.

The Deputy DSLs are:

Kelly Byrne

Laura Satchell

If you have any safeguarding concerns regarding a member of staff, speak to Miss Deakin (Deputy Head teacher) immediately.

Important Safeguarding documents:

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022

What to do if you are worried a child is being abused 

Nethersole is an Operation Encompass school. This means we are taking part in a jointly run operation called Operation Encompass in partnership with Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Police. Many other schools in Warwickshire will also be participating in the scheme. Operation Encompass is a way of working initially developed in south-west England that is already operating successfully in a number of other Local Authority areas. Its objective is to help schools provide support to children who are affected by incidents of domestic violence and abuse. There is a great deal of research evidence that children can suffer significant physical and/or emotional harm when they are present during, witness or are directly involved in incidents of domestic violence and abuse. 

The Operation Encompass process is simply that after any incident of domestic violence or abuse attended by the Police, the Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead at the school attended by any child in the household will receive a confidential and secure Email on the morning of the next school day. 

The Email will only inform the Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead that the Police have attended an incident and will request that the school is mindful of that in their care and responses to the child throughout the school day. The school will not be informed about the specific details of the incident. The only exception would be when Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Police deem the incident to be a child protection matter that requires further investigation. Information would then be shared with the school as part of Warwickshire County Council’s child protection checks and investigation, which is current practice and will not be changed by Operation Encompass. 

The Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead have entered into a formal agreement with Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Police to use the information shared to make sure that the right support is available for children who are present during, witness or are directly involved in an incident of domestic violence or abuse. This means that the school will also be in a position to offer parents and carers support as appropriate. 

The confidential information shared securely with the school will be managed and stored with the utmost sensitivity and discretion. We want to assure all parents and carers that only the nominated Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Headteacher will see the information shared with the school. We will then use the notification discretely to ensure that teachers and other staff directly in contact with affected children support them with due kindness, care and sensitivity.