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Child Protection & Safeguarding

At Risedale, we are committed to providing a safe and nurturing learning environment for all our pupils. We believe that every child has the right to feel safe and protected, and we take this responsibility very seriously.

Safeguarding Team October 2024

Safeguarding Information 

Should you have any concerns outside of school hours, then you should report them to the North Yorkshire Multi-Agency Screening Team (MAST), please call 0300 131 2131. Additional information about making a referral can be found on their website HERE.

We follow the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (NYSCP) procedures and use the Bromcom system to record concerns and safeguarding information.

Parents and carers can visit the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership website for more advice and information or call NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000. For pupils, the NSPCC Childline number is 0800 1111.

We aim to maintain a positive relationship with all parents/carers. The school will, in most circumstances, endeavour to discuss all concerns with parents about their child/ren. However, there may be exceptional circumstances when the school will discuss concerns with Children’s Social Care and/or the Police without parental knowledge (in accordance with Child Protection procedures).

Prevent Duty

As part of Risedale School’s ongoing safeguarding and child protection duties, we are fully behind the government’s Prevent Strategy. From 1 July 2015, all schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent Duty for Schools.

At Risedale School, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values and enabling our pupils to challenge extremist views. The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent Awareness Training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas, and we constantly participate in training, so our knowledge is up to date.

Our school is part of Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass is a national police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse, and which is in place in every police force in England and Wales.

Children were recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act.

Operation Encompass means that the police will share information with our school about all police-attended Domestic Abuse incidents which involve any of our children PRIOR to the start of the next school day.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead has completed the Operation Encompass Key Adult training and they will cascade the principles of Operation Encompass to all other school staff and governors.

North Yorkshire Duty Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)

The North Yorkshire Duty LADO can be contacted on 01609 533080 should you wish to speak to somebody in relation to managing an allegation against a member of staff or a volunteer who works in North Yorkshire with children. Please contact the relevant area LADO. For more information go to NYSCP (safeguardingchildren.co.uk).

Visitors Handbook: Child Protection & Safeguarding

The 'Visitors Handbook: Child Protection and Safeguarding' provides information regarding the following:

  • Our Mission Statement and Aims.
  • Our Safeguarding Team.
  • Child Protection and Safeguarding.
  • General Information for Visitors.
  • Emergency Evacuation and Assembly Points.

Safeguarding at Risedale School

The 'Safeguarding at Risedale' document has been created to provide a helpful summary of information for staff and visitors regarding the following:

  • Our Safeguarding Team.
  • Who to contact and what to do if you have any safeguarding worries about a child at Risedale School or in North Yorkshire.
  • Our local/contextual safeguarding issues.
  • MAST and LADO.