Safeguarding and Child Protection

Safeguarding at Haggonfields Primary

At Haggonfields Primary School, we take our responsibilities to safeguard your children very seriously – please find below a copy of our Safeguarding Policy which each member of staff adheres to.

We work within Government Legislation Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022 in conjunction with Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018. These documents highlight current significant national issues including preventing radicalisation in line with the ‘Prevent’ Strategy (part of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism) and, with the internet available to every child in today’s modern society, an increased awareness of issues such as grooming, female genital mutilation (FGM) and child sexual exploitation (CSE). We work alongside external agencies including Health, Social Care, Police and Children Centres to ensure all our children are kept safe and protected from harm.

If you have any concerns about a child and would like to speak to a member of senior staff please contact the school office: office@hps.snmat.org.uk

Safeguarding personnel

The designated leads for child protection and Safeguarding at Haggonfields are:

• Mrs E Grierson
• Mrs J Godley
• Mrs S Thorpe

This page’s purpose is to offer important information to parents and carers on matters pertaining to safeguarding and child protection. Alongside Haggonfields' Primary School’s own policies and procedures, information from other sources will be published to give advice to support parents and carers to help protect their children.

NSPCC

The NSPCC helps parents and carers talk to their children about staying safe. It’s part of our work to prevent abuse from happening to any child and it’s what these guides are all about.

Child Sexual Exploitation

Child Sexual Exploitation, or CSE, is a form of sexual abuse which sees children/young people being manipulated or coerced into sexual activity for receiving something such as; gifts, money, food, attention, somewhere to stay etc.

Technology is very often used to groom victims.  This may occur through social networking sites and mobile phones with internet access.

CSE has gained a large amount of media attention over the last year as lots of services involved with children and young people have noticed a rise in cases involving CSE. Charities such as NSPCC and Barnardos have been campaigning to raise the profile of this form of child abuse.

Information regarding CSE can be found here:

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

In April 2014 every school in England received new safeguarding guidelines and detailed information on identifying and responding to Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is a procedure carried out on young girls between the ages of infancy and 15 years of age.

Female Genital Mutilation is classified as a form of Child Abuse in the UK.  It therefore makes the procedure of it a serious child protection issue.

It is illegal for anyone to perform FGM in the UK or to arrange for a child to be transported to another country for the procedure. The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM or helping it to take place is 14 years in prison.

There is lots of information and support available online for parents/carers concerned about this subject.

Internet Safety

Children and young people spend lots of time on the internet.  They may go online to research information for homework or to play games, chat with friends and make new ones.

The internet holds a huge amount of useful information and can also be a really good way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family.  It can also be a dangerous place so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.

CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online and parental controls.