Safeguarding at Manston Primary School

At Manston Primary, keeping children safe is our top priority. We are fully committed to providing a secure, nurturing environment where every child feels safe, supported, and ready to learn.

We follow the latest Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance and work closely with families and external agencies to promote the welfare and wellbeing of all pupils.

“Pupils are looked after by caring staff who know them and their families well.”
– Ofsted, October 2022

Read our Safeguarding policy here:

Safeguarding and Welfare

How We Keep Children Safe

Our approach to safeguarding includes:

• A strong culture of vigilance across all staff

• Clear systems for reporting and recording concerns

• Safe recruitment of staff and regular training

• A curriculum that teaches pupils how to stay safe (including online)

• Support for children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health

• Effective working relationships with social care and other agencies

External Support and Guidance

If you're looking for more advice about keeping children safe or need help as a parent or carer, the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) provides information, support and resources for families:

🔗 Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership – Support for Families

This site includes guidance on:

• What to do if you're worried about a child

• Help with parenting challenges

• Online safety

• Emotional well-being and more

Below are links to further sites for support and information.

What To Do If You’re Worried

If you're worried about a child, please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of the safeguarding team. Any concerns shared will be taken seriously and handled with sensitivity, care and discretion.

You can also contact Children’s Social Work Services directly:
📞 Leeds Duty & Advice Team: 0113 376 0336

                                                                                          CEOP                               ChildLine 

                 MindMate                             NSPCC

The school governor who is responsible for safeguarding is Darren Scotland.

Safeguarding at Manston Primary is summarised as:

• protecting all children and learners from harm, neglect or maltreatment,

• preventing impairment of children’s and learners’ health and/or development,

• ensuring that children and learners are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care, 

• ensuring that appropriate actions are taken, in a timely manner, to safeuard and promote children's welfare, all throughout childhood and adolescence,

• all staff are aware of their statutory responsibilities with respect to safeguarding, and 

• all staff are properly trained in recognising and reporting safeguarding issues in order for our children to be happy and safe.

Safeguarding is an essential part of our school life, and it is our duty to ensure that our children are safe in and out of school, as well as online. Safeguarding involves every member of the school community in some way, and is our responsibility to make sure that we have a sharp eye on the particular circumstances and needs of all pupils, especially those who are the most vulnerable.

Leadership and management make safeguarding a main priority across all aspects of school by implementing:

• Strong training procedures for all staff and other adults, through our Safer Recruitment and Whistleblowing Policies. We also hold a Single Central Record listing of every adult who comes into contact with children in our school which makes sure that we have done the relevant safety checks to ensure everyone is safe to work with children. This is checked by the responsible Governor. 
• Various policies and procedures in place for: Attendance, Behaviour, Anti-bullying, Safeguarding and Child Protection, Intimate Care, Health and Safety and especially Online Safety.
• Safeguarding and child protection arrangements are accessible by everyone, so that our families, as well as our adults in school, know who they can talk to if they are worried.

We learn about safeguarding in school by:

• a curriculum that is flexible, relevant and engages pupils’ interest,
• that is used to promote safeguarding by teaching pupils how to stay safe, how to protect themselves from harm and how to take responsibility for their own and others’ safety,
• having staff that have strong working relationships with extended services, such as the fire brigade, Police and other Early Help organisations, which help us to be safeguarded outside of school and in our local community.

NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe. online programme

This year, our pupils took part in the NSPCC'S Speak Out, Stay Safe online programme. This consisted of an online assembly and supporting classroom based activities.

Speak out, Stay safe is a safeguarding programme available to all primary schools in the UK and Channel Islands. It aims to help children understand abuse in all its forms and to recognise the signs of abuse in a child friendly way. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline.

If you would like to know more about the Speak out. Stay safe. programme you can find information on the NSPCC website www.nspcc.org.uk/speakout. 

Our staff safeguard us effectively in school by:

• ensuring that a high priority is given to staff training in the field of child protection and safeguarding, and that weekly staff meetings or briefings have a standard agenda item for Safeguarding.
• Robust safeguarding arrangements for site security, which all staff are aware of, understand and are then implented by staff and pupils. These are then reviewed and monitored by designated safeguarding leads, leadership and management to make sure that all children, staff and visitors are safe at all times.
• Strong communication systems are established with up-to-date information that can be accessed and shared by those who need it, including a safe and secure record keeping system (CPOMS).

The Department for Education has commissioned the NSPCC to establish a dedicated independent helpline for people who have experienced sexual abuse in educational setting. 

The helpline went live on 1 April, and will provide both children and adults who have experienced sexual abuse in schools with support and advice, including onward action such as contacting the police if they wish to. The helpline will also provide support to parents and professionals. Anyone who gets in touch through this dedicated helpline will also be signposted to other relevant support services available, including Childline, which provides ongoing support and counselling to children and young people.

The dedicated and confidential NSPCC helpline – Report Abuse in Education can be reached on 0800 136 663 or by email at help@nspcc.org.uk.

Reporting Safeguarding Concerns

f you are a member of the public and wish to make a referral, you can call Children’s Social Work Services on 0113 222 4403, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, except Wednesday's when they are open from 10am. If you think a child is in immediate danger please dial 999 and ask for the police.

If you have any concerns about safeguarding at Manston Primary, contact the Local Authority Designated Officer on 0113 2478652.

If you are involved with a child or family in a professional capacity you can call the Duty & Advice team on 0113 376 0336, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

You can also discuss your concerns with someone who works with children and families, such as your health visitor, social worker, school nurse or teacher (all schools have a teacher responsible for child protection).

If the issue can’t wait until the next working day please contact the Children’s Emergency Duty Team on 0113 376 0469 and provide them with as much information as possible. You can also email the Emergency Duty Team: childrensedt@leeds.gov.uk.

One minute guides

Children’s Services is a broad, varied and complex area of work and it can be difficult to make sense of the support available and know who does what.

Leeds City Council have developed a library of ‘one minute guides’ that aim to provide straight-forward information about the different work professionals and agencies do and who is involved. The guides are for everyone to use and they’re regularly adding to them with new topics and information. Please find a sample of ones below; more can be found by following this link. 

Road Safety

Crossing Church Lane

Please may we encourage parents to remind their child/children to use the Green Cross Code when crossing busy roads – even if they are with an adult. NB this includes Church Lane outside school. For your reference the latest 2018 version is: -

1. Think! Find the safest place to cross.
2. Stop! Stand on the pavement near the kerb.
3. Use your eyes and ears.
4. Wait until it is safe to cross.
5. Look and listen. When it is safe, cross sensibly.
6. Arrive alive. Keep looking and listening as you cross.

Railway Safety

With Crossgates railway station not far away from our school we regularly speak to pupils about the dangers of railways and how to keep themselves save. The video below has been shared by Network Rail to help inform our pupils.