Our Lady & St Gerard's Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website.

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents or carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child's welfare.

In accordance with our safeguarding procedures, we do not allow staff, parents, visitors or children to use mobile phones for the purpose of taking videos, photographs or making recordings while on school premises, without the prior permission of the Headteacher.

We pride ourselves on being able to offer Pastoral and Family Support and work with a variety of agencies to help provide this support.

Operation Encompass

In conjunction with Lancashire Police, Our Lady and St. Gerard's RC 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.

Following a domestic abuse incident attended by Lancashire Police, at which children from our school were present, Lancashire Police will notify us prior to the start of the school day. This enables us to offer support to any child arriving at school. 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 supported.

Each school has a member of staff (key adult) who is trained to as Designated Safeguarding Lead or Back-Up Designated Safeguarding Lead.  These members of staff liaise with the police, when required, whilst ensuring support is available to the child.

These identified adults in our school are Miss Harvey (Head teacher), Mrs Berry (Family Support Worker), Mrs Cowell (Deputy Headteacher) and Mrs Pilkington (Assistant Headteacher). If you would like to speak to someone further about the project or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact Miss Harvey via the school office on 01772 335025.

 Please click the link to find out more information about Operation Encompass.

Prevent Duty

The aim of the Prevent Duty is to reduce the threat of terrorism in the UK by working actively to stop individuals from supporting terrorism or becoming terrorists. The expectation placed upon schools and childcare settings is that they will work closely with a multi-agency support network (including contacts such as the Police and the Local Safeguarding Children Board) to raise awareness of issues of extremism, and to support individuals who are vulnerable of being drawn into terrorism.

The current legislation surrounding Prevent duty came into force on 1^st July 2015, and remains a feature of every UK school, college, nursery, or other childcare setting’s safeguarding policy. If you are a teacher, or work in any of these institutions, you will undoubtedly require Prevent training. Prevent is another aspect of safeguarding.

The Prevent duty guidance requires that:

• School staff have undertaken training in the Prevent Duty as identified by their leaders and managers including the Head teacher.
• School staff are aware of when it is appropriate to refer Prevent related concerns about students, learners or colleagues to the Prevent officer; usually the provider’s safeguarding officer Miss Harvey/Mrs Cowell.
• School exemplify British values of “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs” into their practice.

CEOP - Child Exploitation and Online Protection

CEOP is a law enforcement agency and is here to keep children and young people safe from sexual exploitation and abuse.  If you need to report a concern

please click the picture to be directed to the CEOP form.

Online Safety

Please visit our online safety page to find out more information about how you can keep your child safe online. 

Online Safety

PACE - Parents Against Child Exploitation 

Pace is a national charity working to keep children safe from exploitation by supporting their parents, disrupting the offenders and working in partnership with police and family services. We also train professionals in how to support affected children and their parents using a trauma-informed, family-centric approach.

Pace seeks to:

• Enable parents and carers to safeguard and stop their children being exploited.
• Provide evidence and specialist advice in order to demonstrate to partners that parents and carers have an essential safeguarding role.
• Work with parents and partners to disrupt and bring perpetrators to justice.
• Influence national and local policy and practice to reflect the active safeguarding role of parents and the impact on families of child exploitation.
• Sustain long term change by training partners in the active role of parents and carers safeguarding their children. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events. ACEs may include abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence or growing up with family members who have substance use disorders. They are strongly related to the development and prevalence of a wide range of health problems throughout a person's life. 

ACEs can have the following impact upon children and young people:

• difficulty learning and limited social skills
• exhibit violent behaviour, risky or deliquent behaviour
• suffer from low self-esteem and experience increased levels of anxiety
• agressive and violent behaviour, including bullying
• lack of conflict resolution skills
• lack of empathy for others and poor peer relationships
• poor school performance
• anti-social behaviour
• pregnancy, alcohol and substance misuse
• self-blame, hopelessness shame and apathy
• post traumatic stress disorder

Please watch the following powerpoint to find out more information about how ACEs can impact on a person's life.

ACEs Video Clip

Please click on the following link to watch a video clip about how Adverse Childhood Experiences can impact upon a person's life. 

Please see our Statutory information and Policies pages to complement the information here.