Safeguarding

Article 19

"Children have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, in body or mind." 

  

Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy reflects our belief that every child has the right to feel safe and protected from harm. The school has the statutory duty to 'safeguard and promote the welfare of children' and will ensure the provision of a safe environment in which children can learn and develop. 

The school follows the child protection procedures set out by the Merton Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) and takes account of the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2024) that has been issued by the Department for Education (DfE). The school works closely together with the Merton Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) and other outside agencies where we believe a child's health or welfare is at risk.

If parents/carers have any concern about the health and safety of their child at this school, they should share this information with an appropriate member of staff straight away. 

Please read our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Covid-19 Addendum  to find out more about the safeguarding provision at our school.

Do you have concerns about a child now?

If you're concerned that a child is being abused or neglected you should report it so that the child can be protected. If you are a member of the public and think the child is in immediate danger or ina life threatening situation you should call the police on 999.

For all other less urgent concerns speak to somebody in the Children and Families Hub (formerly known as MASH). The trained professionals will listen to your concerns and make decisions about the next steps to ensure the child's safety and wellbeing. 

If your referral is urgent, please call on 020 8545 4226/4227 and ask to speak to a duty social worker. The Hub is open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday (working days only). Referrals received outside of those hours will not be considered until the next working day. The out of hours Children's Emergency Duty Team should be contacted on 020 8770 5000, outside of core working hours. 

Outside of term-time the safeguarding team at Dundonald can be contacted by email at safeguarding@dundonald.merton.sch.uk. This mailbox is regularly monitored. 

Online Safety

Whilst regulation and technical solutions are very important, their use must be balanced by educating pupils to take  a responsible approach. 

Dundonald Primary School has established and embedded a progressive online safety curriculum to raise awareness and promote safe and responsible internet use amongst pupils by: 

• Ensuring education regarding safe and responsible use precedes internet access. 
• Teaching across all age groups and progresses as puipils grow and develop.
• Including online safety in Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE), Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and computing programmes of study. 
• Reinforcing online safety messages whenever technology or the internet is used. 
• Teaching pupils to be critically aware of the materials they read and show them how to valifdate information before accepting its accuracy. 
• Supporting pupils in developing strategies for navigating the online world. 
• Incorporating national initiatives and opportunities such as 'Safer Internet Day', 'Anti-bullying Week' , ParentZone/Google virtual assemblies. 
• Supporting/complimenting internal provision with visit (on site/remotely) from external providers.

At Dundonald Primary School we recognise that online safety and broader digital resilience must be threaded throughout the curriculum. 

The school has adopted the cross-curricular framework 'Education for a Connected World' from UKCIS (UK Council for Internet Safety) which covers knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes across eight strands of a child's online life from early years right through to eighteen. Content from Project Evolve is used to support the curriculum work.   

Annual reviews of curriculum plans/schemes of work (including for pupils with SEND) are used as an opportunity to follow this framework more closely in its key areas of self-image and identity, online relationships, online reputation, online bullying, managing online information, health, wellbeing and lifestyle, privacy and security and copyright and ownership. 

The school also looks at trends and attitude reports from official sources like Internet Matters, Childnet and Ofcom when updating curriculum plans ans embeds 'The Be Internet Legends Scheme of Work' developed by Google in partnership with Parent Zone in the curriculum. 

The Acceptable Use Agreements are revised regularly with the children. 

Key Stage One Acceptable Use Agreement

Key Stage Two Acceptable Use Agreement

Parents/Carers can find advice on 'Online Safety at Home' here. 

The PREVENT Duty

From 1 July 2015 we have a duty, under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, to to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism; this duty is called Prevent Duty. Schools have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views. Our school fully supports the government's strategy as part of our ongoing safeguarding and child protection duties. We can provide a safe place for our pupils to discuss these issues so that they better understand how to protect themselves.

This was updated in 2023.

 

DFE Prevent Duty (2023)

Advice to parents and carers keeping children and young people safe against radicalisation and extremism

 

Early Help Strategy

At Dundonald  Primary School, we pride ourselves in knowing our children really well: we are alert to the  welfare of our children and are vigilant regarding any situation in which we can provide support.  Early help is the  support given to a child or their family when a problem first emerges.