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Safeguarding at Meadlands

2018 - 2019

Designated Safeguarding Lead & Designated Teacher for Looked After Children (LAC) & Post LAC Children: Mrs McGeoch

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead: Miss Mace

Governor Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Fiona Stewart

Governor Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Annabelle Hughes

SG Newsletter Autumn 2018

Keeping Safe

What to do if you are concerned about a child - ‘The welfare of the child is paramount’

At Meadlands, keeping children safe and ensuring that every child reaches their potential underpins everything we do. Occasionally, things go wrong for our children and their families and we take our responsibility for the children in our care very seriously and we are here to help, support and guide as best we can. You can read our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and our Online Safety Policy and our most recent Safeguarding Audit on our policies page here.

can tell us about a child, young person or parent/carer that needs support in some way by contacting our Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs McGeoch via the School Office. You may be concerned about the child's developmental needs, issues that the parent or carer is experiencing, or you may suspect a child is being neglected or subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.

Our duty is outlined in detail within the document ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, 2018, HM Government here. In essence we have a duty to record and report concerns and work alongside local agencies to ensure children are adequately safeguarded from harm.

All details are treated confidentially and will only be shared if there are concerns that a child is at risk. It is always our aim to share our concerns transparently with the child’s parent or guardian before making a referral. However, we reserve our right to refer without consent if we are sufficiently concerned about a child’s safety or we are unable to contact the parent/guardian after reasonable attempts have been made.

Single Point of Access (SPA)

You can also tell Richmond and Kingston Children’s Services, managed by Achieving for Children, about a child, young person or parent/carer that needs support in some way by contacting their Single Point of Access Team (SPA).

Richmond and Kingston SPA (Single Point of Access)

Call us on 020 88547 5008 during office hours.
Call the out of hours Duty Team (evenings and weekends) on 020 8744 2442.
Report your concerns online

In an emergency if you think a child is in immediate danger you should call 999.

If you need to speak to someone urgently outside of office hours, please call the Duty Social Worker 020 8744 2442.

Our safeguarding priority this year, (2018/2019), is online safety. Online safety is priority in both our computing and safeguarding policy, please see below a set of guidelines for parents on commonly used websites, these are particularly useful for parents who have children in upper key stage 2.

Safeguarding Outreach work

Each year we hold a safeguarding event for parents 'In Safe Hands'. In Safe Hands is a community safeguarding initiative created by Mrs Colclough and recognised by the NSPCC and leading Child Protection law firm Farrer & Co as an example of innovative practice. In Safe Hands seeks to ensure that the whole community, including the children themselves, understand what safeguarding children is. Secondly, it seeks to ensure that parents and professionals become well-networked, in order that children, young people and their families seek help and support early so they know where to find help and support if they are experiencing difficult times. The model is now being disseminated across Richmond and Kingston and beyond with the most recent events at Hollyfield and Ham Youth Centre. This year at Meadlands, our event welcomed Ted Talk Speaker and Vlogger Tom Boon amongst others to discuss digital resilience and keeping our young people safe online.