Safeguarding
"Pupils enjoy coming to school. They feel safe and know who to talk to if they have a concern." Ofsted January 2024
Safeguarding statement:
Children have a right to be cared for and protected; protecting them is everyone’s responsibility. At Sparrow Farm Primary School we have a duty of care to ensure that all users of the school are kept safe from harm. We are committed to providing a secure and supportive environment in which children can develop and grow into mature and responsible people.
Safeguarding children is an essential part of our holistic approach to ensure that children are protected from abuse and neglect, and that every child reaches their full potential.
The best interests of the children will always be our priority. As such, there are times we will need to record, monitor and share information with other agencies. We will share concerns about our pupils with the child’s parents/carers unless we have reason to believe that such a move would not be in the child’s best interest.
Parents and carers play a role in safeguarding children in their community. If you have any concerns, no matter how small, you should report them to someone who you trust will listen. If you have any concerns about a child or staff member, please speak to one of our safeguarding team: Mrs Cella, Mr Carter, Mrs Sharif, Mr Mockeridge, Carol Holboj and Sarah Macrae. The Governor with responsibility for Safeguarding is Michelle Keene.
If you think a child or young person may be in immediate danger, call 999. Otherwise contact Hounslow Children’s Social Care on 020 8890 6600 (020 8314 6000 out of hours).
What is safeguarding and why is it so important?
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
- Making sure children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
Designated Safeguarding Leads
To contact the safeguarding team email safeguarding@sparrowfarm.hounslow.sch.uk
Key safeguarding information
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018
Key Safeguarding Information for Pupils
Types of Abuse and things to look out for
Neglect
Neglect is the most common type of abuse and is the persistent failure (of a parent or carer) to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to seriously impair their health or development, including: failing to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter; failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger; failing to protect a child from emotional harm; failing to make sure a child has proper supervision; failing to get medical care or treatment for a child; failing to meet or respond to a child’s basic emotional needs.
Things to look out for
- Severe and persistent illnesses and infections
- Consistently inappropriate clothing or shoes
- Persistently smelly or dirty
- Signs of malnutrition
- Numerous accidents
- Poor medical and dental care
- Being hungry, stealing or hiding food
- Missing school
Physical
This means causing physical harm to a child, including: hitting; shaking or throwing; burning or scalding; poisoning; drowning or suffocating; fabricating the symptoms of, or deliberately inducing, illness.
Things to look out for
- Bruises, cuts, scratches, scars
- Fractures
- Bite marks
- Burns or scalds
- Suspicious illnesses
- Vomiting, drowsiness or seizures
- Breathing problems
Sexual
Sexual abuse is forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, including: physical contact, for example kissing, touching or rape; non-contact abuse, for example involving a child in looking at or producing sexual images; ‘upskirting’ (taking a photo under someone’s clothes without them knowing, to humiliate, distress or alarm them, or for sexual gratification); encouraging sexually inappropriate behaviour; grooming in preparation for child abuse…
Things to look out for
- Difficulty sitting
- Marks and bruises
- Poor personal hygiene
- Needing the toilet a lot
- Pregnancy
- Fear or avoidance of a particular person
- Sexually inappropriate behaviour
- Dropping hints or mentioning ‘secrets’
Emotional
Emotional abuse is persistent emotional maltreatment, severely affecting a child’s emotional development, including: making a child feel worthless, unloved or inadequate; silencing or ‘making fun’ of what a child says; placing extreme limits on what a child can do; imposing inappropriate age or developmental expectations; exploiting or corrupting; serious bullying (including cyber-bullying); exposing a child to ill-treatmentThings to look out for
- Behaviour, language or knowledge you wouldn’t expect for their age
- Struggling to control their emotions
- Seeming isolated from their parents or carers
- Negative interactions with parents or carers
- Lacking social skills or friends
- Low self-esteem or self-confidence
- Trying to make people dislike them
- Not caring how they act or what happens to them
- Issues with language development
Child on Child abuse
Children can abuse other children too online or in the real world.
- Bullying includes cyberbullying and prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying – for example, bullying because of a child’s gender identity or sexuality
- Abuse in intimate personal relationships – like domestic abuse, this can be physical, emotional, sexual or financial
- Physical abuse could be, for example, hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hair pulling
- Sexual violence could be rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault
- Sexual harassment includes sexual comments and jokes and online sexual harassment
- Causing someone to engage in sexual activity without consent could mean things like forcing someone to strip, touch themselves sexually, or to engage in sexual activity with a third party
- Sharing nude and semi-nude images or videos is also known as sexting or youth-produced sexual imagery
- Upskirting is where someone takes a photo under another person’s clothes without their permission, for sexual gratification, or to cause the victim humiliation, distress or alarm
- Initiation or hazing-type violence and rituals could include activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating someone into a group
- Online peer-on-peer abuse may include:
- Abusive, threatening, harassing or misogynistic messages on social media or when gaming
- Sharing nude or semi-nude images and/or videos, especially around chat groups
- Sharing of abusive images and pornography, to those who don’t want to receive such content
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our Safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
If you are concerned about the safety of a child, you can email the school Safeguarding team; safeguarding@sparrowfarm.hounslow.sch.uk or contact Hounslow Children’s Social Care on 020 8583 6600 or email childrensocialcare@hounslow.gov.uk.
For further information, please visit Hounslow Safeguarding Children Board. 