St Oswald’s C.E. Primary School operates a whole school approach and ethos to safeguarding and protecting children. Where safeguarding is concerned, we maintain an attitude of “it could happen here”. We recognise that everyone in the school has a role to play to keep children safe; this includes identifying concerns, sharing information, and taking prompt action. Safeguarding and child protection is incorporated in all relevant aspects of processes and policy development. All systems, processes and policies operate with the best interests of a child at their centre.

We ensure that all children are safeguarded while on or off school premises and are proactive about anticipating and managing risks that children face in the wider community and online. To support this the school assesses the risks and issues in the wider community when considering the well-being and safety of its learners. Due to the context of our school, our children may be at greater risk of domestic Abuse, emotional abuse and neglect.

To protect our learners, we have a Prevent action plan/risk assessment and are part of the Stopping Domestic Abuse Together (SDAT) initiative. We have a clear Online safety and SRE curriculum alongside our safeguarding curriculum which permeates through the life of the school we protect our learners by providing them with a voice and always being open to listening to them.

St Oswald’s C.E. Primary School recognises we have an important role to play in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and contributes to multi-agency working as set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018). As a relevant agency, the school/college understands its role within local safeguarding arrangements and operates in accordance with the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children multi-agency procedures, including the local criteria for action (known as the Threshold document) and local protocols for assessment in Derby and Derbyshire (note: this is currently under review).  The school/college is also aware of and implements any local learning where appropriate, such as those as outlined in DDSCP Briefing note: safeguarding school age children and learning from case reviews and other DDSCP briefing notes located in the multi-agency safeguarding children procedures document library.  At St Oswald’s we work closely with our Early Help team, The school nurse, the Mental Heath Triage service; Samantha Hinkly. Our DSL forms part of the Triage group which looks at triaging vulnerable children and families to have further support from Early Help.