Safeguarding at Eastfield Infant & Nursery

Nothing is more important to us than the safety and welfare of our pupils. We take rigorous steps to ensure that children stay safe and do not come to any harm. We work closely with parents and carers and a range of professional external agencies in order to secure this.

If you have any concerns, no matter how small they may seem, about the safety or welfare of any child, please contact the school’s Designated Safeguarding Team.

Our Safeguarding Governor is Hannah Duarte.

Eastfield Infant & Nursery School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Please read our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy below:

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) 2023:

Statutory Duties

Under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (as amended), *the Education (Independent School
Standards) Regulations 2014, the Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015,
and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (as amended) to have
arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and
valued.
The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Cambridgeshire and
Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’s procedures to ensure that children receive
appropriate and effective support and protection.

Parents/carers should know that the law 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.
Parents/carers should know that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They
should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including
referrals to other agencies.

Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility
for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless
seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for
example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes
allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be
reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk.
Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains
‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to
share information.

In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is
shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed
necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right
service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.
Schools will contact 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 shown
to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility
for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding
Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of
all children.

Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is
reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding promoting the child’s
welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social
Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.
* The word ‘school’ is used throughout but this would include all educational settings e.g. Academies,
Pupil Referral Units, Further Education establishments and Independent schools.

What is Safeguarding?