Safeguarding of Our Children

At Casllwchwr Primary School, safeguarding and the safety of our pupils is paramount to all we do. We want all of our pupils to be happy and safe during their time with us.  Safeguarding is an umbrella term and covers many more aspects than just 'child protection'. 

Child Protection is protecting children from identified risks - originally focused on abuse at home, now a wider concept to include bullying, abuse through new technology etc.

Safeguarding extends child protection to include preventing harm and promoting the well being of children.

Casllwchwr Primary School fully recognises the contribution it makes to safeguarding and child protection.

There are three main elements to our Safeguarding Policy:

• prevention through the teaching and pastoral support offered to pupils
• procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse. Because of our day to day contact with children school staff are well placed to observe the outward signs of abuse,
• support to pupils who may have been abused.

Our Safeguarding Policy applies to all staff, governors, visitors, volunteers (including parent volunteers) and contractors working in the school.

The Governors and staff of Casllwchwr Primary School are fully committed to adhering to section 175 of the Education Act, 2002, which requires Local Authorities and Governing Bodies of maintained schools and institutions to have arrangements for exercising their functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.  The Governing Body of Casllwchwr Primary School responds to the objective of keeping children and young people safe by:-

• creating and maintaining a safe learning environment for children and young people;
• identifying where there are child wellbeing concerns and taking action to address them, where appropriate, in partnership with other agencies;
• ensuring that children are listened to if they are expressing concerns; and
• the development of children’s understanding, awareness and resilience through the curriculum.

Through their day-to-day contact with pupils and direct work with families, staff at the school have a crucial role to play in noticing indicators of possible abuse or neglect and referring to the appropriate bodies, usually City and County of Swansea Social Services and our Local Authority Safeguarding Lead.

Our designated person for Child Protection is Mr O Thomas (Headteacher), and the Deputy Designated person is Mrs S Reece (Deputy Headteacher). Our Governor Responsible for Child Protection and Safeguarding is Mr Jeff Bowen (Chairperson of Governors)

Bullying - the frequently asked questions

Definition of Bullying

Bullying is “a persistent, deliberate attempt to hurt or humiliate someone and often involves an imbalance of power where a person or group of people repeatedly and intentionally cause emotional and/or physical harm to another person or group of people.”

At Casllwchwr Primary School, we take bullying extremely seriously. Below are a number of Frequently Asked Questions that you may find useful:

If I feel my child is being bullied who do I report it to?
You should contact the school as soon as possible and report the incident(s) to the class teacher who will investigate the incident and deal with the outcomes.  The school will question those involved and witnesses to the bullying.

What if the bullying does not stop?
Once we have investigated and dealt with an incident, we try to check on how things are between the two parties after a short period. The vast majority of children realise, when challenged, that their behaviour is unacceptable. However, if you think, or have evidence that the matter is not resolved, please contact the class teacher or Headteacher as soon as possible.  If the bullying has continued, this would be taken as an even more serious matter

Should I speak to the parents/carers of the person bullying my child myself?
In our experience, this can often escalate rather than resolve the issue.  We would advise that parents contact the school.

My child has fallen out with her friend who has said some unpleasant things about her.  Is this bullying?
Unfortunately, children do fall out with friends from time to time.  This can result in children saying unkind things to one another.  Most of these situations are quickly resolved and the children “make up” after a short time, generally both being very sorry for the hurt they have caused one another. 

However, if the situation continues, this can become bullying in nature, and needs intervention to ensure that this stops.  If you let us know of any incidents in school, then we will pick this up with the children concerned.

My child has fallen out with friends and is now being ostracised by a group of children, what should I do?
Children cannot be forced into friendships.  However, on-going deliberate ostracising is a form of bullying and will be dealt with accordingly by the school and in line with school policies.

What is cyber bullying? Cyber bullying is when a person, or a group of people, uses the internet, mobile phones or other digital technologies to threaten, tease or abuse someone.  This is illegal and can be reported to the police.

My child has received abusive messages on a social network site.  What should I do?
Report it to the social network site.  You can also report this to the police. Please let the school know if this happens so that the matter can be addressed and so that your child can be supported at school if necessary.

My child has retaliated to being bullied by another child, and is now being punished.  How is this fair?
Retaliation is never acceptable; we don’t accept physical violence as a solution to a problem.  If a child is being bullied, they must report it to the school so that appropriate action can be taken.  We never advise children to take matters into their own hands as this can escalate the problem, or even develop into bullying itself.

Will I be informed of the sanctions given to the child who has bullied?
We will inform the parents that the child has been addressed and a sanction has been issued; however, the details of this sanction will not be shared with other parents or children.

If you require further information, or have any questions, please get in touch. Further policies can be found on the policy section of the website.