Safeguarding and Pastoral Care

Penwortham Priory Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare and safety of all pupils and expects all staff and to share this commitment. We strive to ensure that consistent and effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, pupils and staff at school.

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Donna Crank - Assistant Principal

Other staff trained in child protection are :

Amanda Holland - SENCo and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Peter Faulkner - Pastoral Manager and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Matt Eastham - Principal
Lisa Cowell - Vice Principal

Penwortham Priory Academy has policies and procedures in place to deal effectively with child protection and safeguarding issues, which include tackling radicalisation and extremism, together with recording and monitoring processes.

To promote a safe environment for children, Penwortham Priory Academy employs a strict recruitment and selection policy which includes all statutory checks on staff, volunteers, visitors, and contractors, including Enhanced DBS (disclosure and barring service) checks.

All staff are trained to a level appropriate to their safeguarding responsibilities including Level 1 and 2 safeguarding for all staff on an annual basis. Other safeguarding training is attended by relevant staff and trustees. The training is monitored and comprehensive records kept by the DSL.

All concerns are passed through members of staff who are trained as Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs). Staff are required to report any causes of concern to the school safeguarding team. Referrals are logged and monitored to make sure that they are followed up appropriately.

Pupil attendance is monitored closely and concerns shared as appropriate with parents/carers, social care and the school safeguarding team.

Penwortham Priory Academy works effectively with other agencies and parents/carers when necessary to safeguard children.

If you have any serious concerns about your child at Penwortham Priory Academy please do not hesitate to contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) at safe@priory.lancs.sch.uk who will be able to provide you with the best advice and help using the appropriate degree of confidentiality.

If you have a concern about another child, please refer to the emergency numbers below to report your concern.

Lancashire Children’s Social Care: 0300 1236720
Police Emergency: 999

Operation Encompass

In conjunction with Lancashire Police, this school is involved in a national initiative called Operation Encompass. The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident.

This police and education early information sharing partnership enables schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Key Adults prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident thus enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

Following an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff are made aware early enough to help and support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.

Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience and can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by enabling immediate support, making a child's day better and giving them a better tomorrow.

Operation Encompass believes that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right and should be acknowledged as such.

This is a valuable initiative that means we can help and support students and their families within our school when they need us most.

Signs such as the one here indicate in our school reception that we are part of Operation Encompass.

You can find out more information by visiting the Operation Encompass website or by contacting the school's Key Adults - Assistant Principal, Mrs Crank or SENCo, Mrs Holland.

Have you heard of ‘county lines’?

This is regularly covered in the national news as it’s affecting families and communities up and down the country. ‘County lines’ is when urban gangs use children and vulnerable adults to expand their illegal drugs businesses into other towns. In Lancashire, we see pockets of county lines gangs coming in from Manchester, Merseyside, London, and West Yorkshire. The police are working proactively to dismantle these gangs from the top and protect the young and the vulnerable.

You might know someone who needs your help. They might be a family member, neighbour, or someone else in your community.

Gangs recruit and force vulnerable adults and children to work as couriers, transporting drugs and cash for them. They often set up a base in towns in other counties, taking over the home of a vulnerable person and sending runners to stay there. These are ways gangs distance themselves from criminal activity so that their victims carry the risk.

Look out for children and teens who are:

Going missing from home/school without explanation
Mixing with new friends their parents don’t know
Using more than one mobile phone
Appearing nervous, scared, evasive, and/or secretive
Suffering injuries they can’t explain
Holding tickets for train or coach travel.

Look out for vulnerable adults who:

Have withdrawn from family, the community or social services support
Have lots of different visitors at unusual hours
Are in a relationship with someone controlling
Have their curtains or blinds closed most of the time
Have more anti-social behaviour close to their home.

You can report any concerns anonymously to Crimestoppers at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously

It can be hard to report concerns about someone as they may have committed offences. Whether you phone them on 0800 555 111 or report your concerns online, Crimestoppers won’t pass on who you are or give any information that might suggest who you could be. They simply receive the information they need to stop these gangs and protect vulnerable people.

Kooth

Kooth.com

Kooth.com is a free, online counselling and emotional wellbeing platform which is available to young people aged 10-16 years across the county.
Kooth allows young people to gain anonymous access to advice, support and guidance on any issue that is affecting their mental health and wellbeing.

Many of the issues young people are talking to them about at the moment include school worries, bereavement, Covid19 and sleep issues which are directly related to these unprecedented times.

Visit kooth.com where you can register and find out more about the service or take a look at this video clip which explains Kooth in a nutshell >> https://vimeo.com/318731977