Please follow the link below for our latest Safeguarding Policy

Everybody at St Nicholas CE Primary Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children; we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. To ensure prompt communication between staff, we use CPOMS - an online system that allows us to report, address and monitor safeguarding, well-being and pastoral issues - this enables swift, secure communication between all parties which encourages everybody to take responsibility for safeguarding within and across our school family.

We follow the procedures set out by the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership  (LSCP) and take account of all guidance issued by the Department for Education.

We are aware that many children are the victims of different kinds of abuse and neglect and that they can be subjected to social factors that have a negative impact upon their lives – including domestic violence, substance misuse, bullying, mental health and radicalisation. We also acknowledge that safeguarding incidents could happen anywhere and staff should be alert to possible concerns arising. 

Through our curriculum we teach children how to stay safe, happy and healthy (including online). We encourage the understanding that any problem or worry that people may have is legitimate, and to share their worries, big or small, with their trusted adult; at home; at school or with Child Line.

Safeguarding and Promoting the welfare of Children

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:

• Protecting children from harm;

• Preventing impairment of children’s health or development;

• Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and

• Undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.

Child protection is a key element in work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Child Protection refers to work undertaken with children identified as being at risk of significant harm.

Cause for Concern

Our first priority is of course your child’s welfare. School is required to take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of our pupils. However there may be occasions when we have reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill-treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse. We will ensure that - wherever reasonably possible - our concerns about a child are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.

In this case, school is obliged to follow the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and procedures (established in the first instance by the LSCP) and inform Lincolnshire Children's Social Care of the concern (Report a Safeguarding concern in Lincolnshire).

If you are worried about a child's safety please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Booth  on 01205 363210 straight away.

Our Early Help Offer

St Nicholas CE Primary Academy works to provide Early Help to those children and families in the school community with emerging needs, which may not be appropriate for Social Services intervention.

Early help means providing support to our children and families as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life.

We understand just how complicated family life can be. From time to time, there may be situations where you need some extra help and support.

If things are not right at home, please come and talk to us.

You can always contact Mrs Curtis, our wonderful Learning Mentor, via our school website: Contact Mrs Curtis by clicking this link

We can help in many ways.

Our Aims

REMEMBER: YOU are the expert on your child.

Successful Early Help Will Mean:

Useful Contacts

Families can sometimes need support from a wide range of agencies. We recognise that other agencies will be able to support children and families based on their specialised work. Therefore, our role is often to signpost families to the resources that will best support their needs.

• Domestic Abuse Support
• Talking Mental Health Services
• Lincolnshire homelessness services

Preventing child sexual abuse

The NSPCC has launched a video exploring steps we can take to keep children safe from sexual abuse by thinking through the potential risks in children’s daily lives and taking action to protect them. Examples include: ensuring babysitters have trusted references; ensuring robust safeguarding procedures are in place in schools and other organisations; and thinking about the physical environment, making sure children are kept safe by checking on areas that are infrequently used or left unsupervised.

Please click below for further information 

Prevent Strategy

'Prevent' is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming involved in or supporting terrorism or extremist causes. Many of the things we do in school to help pupils become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy. 

• Police counter terrorism - be vigilant!
• Actions Counter Terrorism - working together to help if someone close to you is at risk of radicalisation
• How ACT can help

Talking about terrorism: tips for parents

NSPCC - keeping children safe

Children are exposed to news in many ways, and what they see can worry them. Our advice can help you have a conversation with your child:

• listen carefully to a child’s fears and worries
• offer reassurance and comfort
• avoid complicated and worrying explanations that could be frightening and confusing
• help them find professional advice and support to understand distressing events and feelings
• children can always contact Childline free and confidentially on the phone and online

Some children may feel targeted because of their faith or appearance:
Look for signs of bullying, and make sure that they know they can talk with you about it. Often children might feel scared or embarrassed, so reassure them it's not their fault that this is happening, and that they can always talk to you or another trusted adult.

Alert school so that they can be aware of the issue.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)

CEOP work to encourage all organisations that have an online presence where children and young people congregate to adopt the CEOP 'Report Abuse' mechanism. You can report abuse at website: www.ceop.gov.uk/saferbydesign/reportabuse.asp 

Or by clicking this link:

• CEOP Reporting

Staying safe near water 

We are a Port Town and with so many of us living so close to the coast, the RNLI have shared these videos and slides with us to help educate families about the dangers of water.

Click below to access this informative and life saving information.

Child Drowning Update- Royal Life Saving Society UK

As part of their Water Safety campaign, the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) have issued a safety warning coming from their latest Child Drowning Update using evidence from National Child Mortality Database (NCMD).

The recent report reveals that 125 children have drowned in the past four years, with 51 incidents occurring at home - primarily during bath time and involving children under five.

The report emphasizes the importance of adult supervision, 86% of cases involved unsupervised children: https://www.rlss.org.uk/child-drowning-update-sept-2024-england

See the below link for - Safety Warning for Healthcare Professional, for the full list of key messages:

https://www.ncmd.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Health-Social-Care-Professional-Advice-Piece.pdf