Safeguarding
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their family network4 through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children
taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework.
Child protection is part of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and is defined for the purpose of this guidance as activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suspected to be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. This includes harm that occurs inside or outside the home, including online.
(Working together to Safeguard Children 2023)
Keeping children safe
Here at Southfield, we take keeping children safe, a priority. We do this in a number of ways, including:
- Premises security – During the school day access to school is only via the Reception which has a security door, all external gates are locked between 8.30am and 5.00pm.
- All staff and volunteers are DBS (Disclosure and Barring) checked before being allowed to work with children.
- All staff receive Safeguarding training so that they know the signs to look for and the action to take. It may be helpful to parents to know that staff are required to report any obvious or suspected cases of child abuse – which include non-accidental injury, severe physical neglect, emotional abuse and/or sexual abuse. This procedure is intended to protect children at risk and schools are encouraged to take the attitude that where there are grounds for suspicion it is better to be safe than sorry. This does mean that we risk upsetting some parents by reporting a case, which on investigation proves unfounded. In such circumstances, it is hoped that parents, appreciate how difficult it is to carry out this delicate responsibility and accept that we are acting in what we believed to be in the child’s best interests.
- Internet or Online Safety – The School IT network has filtering in place. Staff are trained to incorporate online safety into the children’s learning.
- All teaching staff receive at least half termly training and information about the latest safeguarding issues.
- Please read our Early Help offer below.
There is a lot of help and guidance for parents available within a couple of clicks! We recommend you visit:
Please see our Child Protection Policy on the policies page, for further details.
If you have any concerns about the safety or the welfare of a child, please contact a member of our Safeguarding Team immediately.
Southfield School Safeguarding Team
Designated Safeguarding Lead
Angela O'Rourke, Headteacher - head@southfield.herts.sch.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads
Sarah Lettis, Director of Operations - sarahlettis@southfield.herts.sch.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads
Laura Claxton, Pupil Champion - laura-annclaxton@southfield.herts.sch.uk
If you cannot contact us, please see below other important telephone numbers:
Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership 0300 123 4043. Call anytime if you are a child or young person being abused or mistreated.
You can also call Childline 0800 1111, or visit their website https://www.childline.org.uk/
Alternatively, if you are an adult worried about a young person call 999 or if you are in immediate danger or a crime is being committed.
There is further information and other helpful numbers on the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership website click here.
Early Help
What is the early help?
Early help is providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life. Early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later.
Early help can include advice, identifying emerging problems, liaising with the designated safeguarding lead, sharing information with other professionals to support early identification and assessment and, in some cases, acting as the lead professional in undertaking an early help assessment.
What support is offered at Southfield?
Mental Health Lead: Sarah Lettis is the Level 2 Mental Health lead for the school and a trained Mental Health First Aider. Sarah has provided level 1 training to staff to spot the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues, provide support and reassurance and guide the child or adult to seek the professional support they may require.
Mental Health Support team: The MHST is an early intervention service, working with mild to moderate mental health difficulties and challenging behaviours. This is part of a national programme to offer early interventions in settings. The Mental Health offer includes;
Group sessions/workshops with children
Group sessions/workshops with parents/carers
Guided 1-1 sessions with parents
Whole school approach to understanding and improving mental Health
Hertfordshire’s wellbeing service: The wellbeing service offers free and confidential talking therapy and practical support for Hertfordshire residents experiencing a wide range of mental health problems such as; worry, low mood, stress and insomnia.
We also provide support for carers, people who are struggling with the reality of living with long term physical health conditions or who are experiencing low mood and anxiety during or after pregnancy.
Families First: Families First is the term used in Hertfordshire for the services that work together to support families who need extra help. These are known as early help services. We all experience difficulties at some point. Families First can help you find early help and information to prevent issues from getting worse. If you need more help than your usual support network - for example health visitor, school, doctor or family centre - we can work with you and your family to create a package of support.
SENDIASS: (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service): is a free confidential and impartial information, advice and support service on issues related to Special Educational Needs and disability. They provide unbiased information and advice about what the law says, the local authority’s policies and procedures and about the policy and practice in local schools and other settings.
Hertfordshire Local Offer: Every local authority must identify education, health and social care services in their local area provided for children, young people and families who have SEN or disabilities. These services are then put together in an information directory called the Local Offer. It is essentially the services and support that are offered to families who have children or young people with special educational needs and disabilities, from across the county. If you have a child or young person with SEND, then think of the Local offer as all of the services and support available to them, and to you as a parent or carer.
Attendance: Every child’s attendance is important to us and as a result we monitor attendance very carefully. If your child’s attendance drops below 95% supportive formal attendance meetings are carried out to identify barriers and support. Should attendance not improve we will involve the Educational Welfare Officer in order to improve attendance.
Protective Behaviours: Protective Behaviours (PB's) is a safety awareness and resilience building programme which helps children and adults to recognise any situation where they feel worried or unsafe, such as feeling stressed, bullied or threatened; and explores practical ways to keep safe.
PSHE and British Citizenship: Our schools delivers Personal, Social and Health Education and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) programmes as well as British Citizenship.
On-line Safety: Every child is taught to keep themselves safe online through the curriculum and it is further highlighted as we participate in the National e-safety week. Southfield signposts to other agencies hosting e-safety workshops/training sessions for parents and carers.
Child Sexual Exploitation: All staff at Southfield have been trained to identify early indicators of potential cases of sexual exploitation through annual safeguarding training and further online courses.
Female Genital Mutilation: All staff at Southfield have received training on FGM. Staff know how to recognise if a child maybe at risk and how to refer following the schools safeguarding procedures.
Prevent Training: All staff have been trained through online training and is regularly refreshed. All staff can identify the early stages of radicalisation and what to do.
School Nursing: The School Nursing Team works closely with education, social care and other health professionals, to help children and young people to remain healthy and to ensure that any health needs are met. School nurses provide annual medical training to all staff.
We are here to help – you are not alone.
Please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Lettis on 01707 276504 or SarahLettis@southfield.herts.sch.uk
