Safeguarding

At Katherine Warington School, we take a whole-school, child-centred approach to safeguarding. We believe that every child deserves to feel safe both in and out of school so that they have the opportunity to learn and develop.

Safeguarding includes our commitment to safe recruitment of staff, security around the building, child protection, anti-bullying, online safety, the PREVENT duty and many other areas. We make sure all policies are reviewed regularly. Our Child Protection (and all other relevant policies) can be accessed on our website.

At Katherine Warington School we keep students safe by:

ensuring all staff are fully trained in being vigilant to signs that a student is experiencing difficulties in or outside of the school environment.
all staff with pastoral management responsibilities (e.g Heads of Years/Heads of Key Stage) are DSL trained and there is always someone available to deal with child protection issues.
having dedicated pastoral staff (including our Mental Health Team) trained in pastoral care, and working closely with external agencies to provide specialist support when needed.
encouraging all students to identify ‘safe people’ that they feel comfortable to talk to when issues or concerns arise. We also provide key reminders to both staff and students that ‘it could happen here,’ therefore, students remember that it is every member of staff’s responsibility to safeguard children at Katherine Warington.
ensuring that the curriculum gives students information, opportunities to explore and learn about all aspects of welfare and safety, both inside and outside the classroom.
ensuring the security of our site is reviewed regularly by the senior leadership team.
all staff have access to and have read the DfE guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023.’ If you would like this document in another language, please go to the following website www.national.lgfl.net/digisafe/kcsie/kcsietranslate.

If you wish to read more about our approach to child safety please follow this link to our Child Protection Policy. We also produce a child friendly version of this document so that students can access key information too.

Key Staff and Contacts:

Organisation / Role	Name	Contact details
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Assistant Headteacher	Sarah Hobson	01582 314777 s.hobson@kwschool.co.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) Student Family Liaison	Jo Bifolco	01582 314777 j.bifolco@kwschool.co.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) Acting Headteacher	David Martin	01582 314777 d.martin@kwschool.co.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) Head of KS3	Garry Jones	01582 314777 g.jones@kwschool.co.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) Head of KS4	James Ellershaw	01582 314777 j.ellershaw@kwschool.co.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) Assistant Headteacher	Christopher Laing	01582 314777 c.laing@kwschool.co.uk
Designated Teacher for Children Looked After (DT for CLA)	Sarah Hobson	01582 314777 s.hobson@kwschool.co.uk
Mental Health Lead	Sarah Hobson	01582 314777 s.hobson@kwschool.co.uk
Prevent Lead	Sarah Hobson	01582 314777 s.hobson@kwschool.co.uk
Chair of Trustees	Jenny Howarth	01582 314777 j.howarth@kwschool.co.uk
Vice Chair of Trustees	Simon Laing	01582 314777 s.laing@kwschool.co.uk
Link Safeguarding Trustee	Sally Pearson	01582 314777 s.pearson@kwschool.co.uk

Organisation / Role	Name	Contact details
Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)	Duty LADO	LADO.Referral@hertfordshire.gov.uk lado_referral_form.docx (live.com) Strictly for professionals use only
Hertfordshire County Council Children’s Social Care	Customer Service Centre	Children’s Services includes SOOHS (Out of Hours Service-Children’s Services) – 0300 123 4043
NSPCC Helpline	N/A	Call: 0808 800 5000 Email help@NSPCC.org.uk.
Police	N/A	Emergency 999, non-emergency 101
Channel Helpline	N/A	020 7340 7264

What if I have a concern?

If you have any concerns about your own child or any other child, please do not hesitate to contact us at school on 01582 314777. If you have concerns about a child that does not attend Katherine Warington School and would prefer to speak to Children’s Services personally, please call 0300 1234 043 or the police on 101. Please note that information of a safeguarding nature may not be able to be kept confidential.

Site Safety

The safety of your child whilst they are on our site is paramount. Students are expected to be in school from 8.30am – 3.30pm. However, the site is open from 7.30am – 4.30pm so that they can use the facilities and attend extra-curricular activities. Students must be either in the canteen or at an extra-curricular club at these times. There is no general supervision for students after 3.30pm and the school can not accept responsibility for them after this time, unless they are taking part in a supervised club or activity. Any student waiting to be collected by a parent or carer after 3.30pm or 4.30pm must wait in the Canteen or Main Reception.

Safety in the School Holidays:

During the school holidays, staff are unavailable to handle queries regarding safeguarding. However, the safe@kwschool.co.uk mailbox is monitored intermittently by the Safeguarding Team so we may be able to respond regarding non-urgent queries. If you have a concern regarding your own child’s safety or another child’s safety please consider if it is an emergency and contact the relevant service.

Prevent

Prevent is about safeguarding individuals from being drawn into terrorism, ensuring those vulnerable to extremist and terrorist narratives are given appropriate advice and support at an early stage. Prevent is no different to any other form of safeguarding against harm.

We work hard to raise awareness in PSHE and form time/assemblies. In addition, we have an Equality and Diversity Lead who works hard to ensure that conversations are open and inclusive. We aim to promote healthy discussion and provide support if a student is struggling with varying opinions.

Appropriate action will be taken if we feel a student’s views may be a danger to them or others.

Important Links and Resources