Safeguarding
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is child-centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is:
- providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
- protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
- preventing impairment of children’s health or development
- ensuring that 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
Keeping Children Safe in Education – September 2025
Everyone who comes into contact with children has a duty to safeguard and protect their welfare. If you have any concerns about a child, you must refer those concerns to the school’s designated person with responsibility for Child Protection listed below.
Our Safeguarding Team
| K. Shilliam | Headteacher | Designated Safeguarding Lead |
| D. Holcombe | SENCO | Deputy DDSL |
| J. Martin | Pastoral Teaching Assistant | DSL trained |
If you have a concern about any member of our school community please speak to one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads. We understand that people are sometimes unsure whether they should report something or not. Our advice would always be that if something makes you feel uncomfortable then speak to a DSL and record your observations on one of our forms. It is the role of the DSL to decide if any action is needed but we cannot make that decision if you do not tell us.
DSL Information
the designated person for child protection poster 2025 26 ks.pdf
Key Aspects of the Designated Person role includes:
- Making sure all staff are aware how to raise safeguarding concerns
- Ensuring all staff understand the symptoms of child abuse and neglect
- Referring any concerns to social care
- Monitoring children who are the subject of child protection plans
- Maintaining accurate and secure child protection records
Role of The Designated Safeguarding Person
Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that the school or college designates an appropriate senior member of staff to take lead responsibility for child protection. This person should have the status and authority within the school to carry out the duties of the post including committing resources and where appropriate, supporting and directing other staff.
What to do if you have concerns about a child or family
Speak with one the safeguarding leads at school.
Contact Northamptonshire Children's Trust Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 0300 126 7000 or report a concern online.
If it is an emergency and you think that a child may be in immediate danger, please contact the emergency services directly by calling 999. If you need to contact MASH urgently during the evening, at night or at the weekend, please phone the MASH out-of-hours team on 01604 626 938.
What to do if you have concerns about an adult
If you have a concern about a member of staff in school, please contact the Headteacher, Katie Shilliam, on head@guilsborough.pdet.org.uk
If your concern is about the Headteacher, please contact the Chair of Governors, Graham Leah, on g.leah@guilsborough.pdet.org.uk
If you have concerns in relation to an adult's behaviour, contact the West Northamptonshire Designated Officer (LADO). Alternatively, please email your query to LADOConsultations@nctrust.co.uk and a Designated Officer will get back to you as soon as they are able to.
We have a policy on Safeguarding concerns or allegations made against adults which you can find on our Policies page.
What is Early Help?
Early Help means providing help for children, young people and families as soon as problems start to emerge, or when there is a strong likelihood that problems will develop in the future.
Early Help:
- is for children of all ages and not just the very young;
- can be very effective in supporting a child, young person and/or their family to step down from statutory services as well as preventing the escalation of issues; and
- is important because there is clear evidence that it results in better outcomes for children.
Why would I want Early help intervention?
At Guilsborough C of E Primary School we understand that family life can, at times, be difficult and complicated and we recognise that there may be situations where you need extra help and support.
Sometimes families need support from a wide range of agencies or people, for example, health services, housing services, family support workers, social workers and local police. As a school, we may be able to signpost a range of services to support families beyond the educational setting.
It could be that you are worried about your child’s health, development or behaviour. It might be linked to money or housing. It could also be linked to domestic abuse, drugs, alcohol, or crime.
The following list provides examples of areas where, without intervention a family may break down or a child may be put at risk of neglect, emotional, physical or sexual harm:
- Parenting skills - establishing routines and boundaries/discipline/toileting/feeding/education/health
- Poor diet – obesity, malnourished
- Financial difficulties - low family income or poverty
- Loss of job/employment
- Homelessness/living in refuge/temporary accommodation/overcrowding
- Frequent house or school moves
- Addiction - substance/alcohol abuse
- Arrival of a new baby/new (step) brother or sister
- Parents separated/divorced/left
- Domestic Violence
- Serious illness in the family
- Family member arrested
- Witness to a crime or accident
- Death in the family
- Bereavement
- Being a young carer
- Special Educational Needs
- Child mental health
- Adult mental health
- Disability of a child
- Disability of an adult/family member
- Changes in behaviour
- Poor attendance and punctuality
- Poor behaviour and risk of exclusion
- Child unaware of how to keep themselves safe online
- Child unaware of danger and how to keep themselves safe
- Child demonstrates sexualised behaviours
- Extremist views
- Involved in anti-social or criminal activity
- Is associated with gangs
- At risk of modern slavery, trafficking or exploitation
Where can I get Early Help intervention?
If you feel you and your family might need support to solve some problems, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the safeguarding team:
- Mrs Shilliam (Headteacher) is the Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Mrs Holcombe (SENCO) is a Deputy Safeguarding Lead
- Mrs Allcott (Family Support Worker) is a trained Safeguard Lead
A member of the safeguarding team will meet informally with you in the first instance and this can be followed by a Family Help conversation.
Family Help Conversation undertaken by the school is only available during term time.
What is a Family Help Conversation (Early help assessment)?
Please follow the link below to find out about Family Help Conversation in Northamptonshire.
Northamptonshire-childrens-trust -New Family Help Conversation
What happens following an Early Help Conversation will be different for every family. The level of need is assessed on an individual basis and different levels of services can be accessed as a result. This may include support from a range of professionals from within and beyond the school.
Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings may be held in school to identify what is working well, what needs to change and to agree actions to help and support families. This ensures that we work together and meet regularly with professionals to get the best outcome for the family.
The Early Help Conversation is a voluntary process. You choose whether to be involved and can withdraw from the process at any time.
What Early Help support could be made available to my family?
Support for families includes:
- Providing information and signposting to other services in your local area
- Liaising with external services e.g. Housing and Children Social Care
- Attendance and support at school
- Support during appointments and in meetings
- Help to complete paperwork and forms e.g. housing, school letters, grant applications and benefits
- Advice and support to promote good attendance
- Referrals to outside agencies e.g. Speech and Language Therapists
- Guidance with access to training and parent workshops in school
- Emotional support for parents
- Lead on Early Help Conversations and TAF (Team Around the Family) meetings
- Give parents access to Disability events and training events
- Support for transitioning pupils
Safeguarding themes and further information for parents / carers
Childline
Childline is a free 24-hour counselling service for children and young people up to their 19th birthday in the United Kingdom provided by the NSPCC. Childline deals with any issue which causes distress or concern, common issues dealt with include child abuse, bullying, mental illness parental separation or divorce, pregnancy, substance misuse, neglect and psychological abuse.
Childline is yours - a free, private and confidential service where you can be you. Whatever your worry, whenever you need help, however you want to get in touch. They are there for you online, on the phone, anytime.
A childline counsellor:
- Will listen to you
- Knows it takes courage to contact us
- Is genuine, open and friendly
- Knows about the problems young people can face
- Wont judge you or put you down
- Isn't easily shocked
- Will let you take your time
6 Facts about Childline:
- They were started in1986 by Esther Rantzen
- They help any young person in the UK
- You can talk to them in English or Welsh
- They can help with anything - from abuse and bullying to exam stress and relationships
- Calling Childline is free and doesn't show up on the phone bill
- In 2006 they joined the NSPCC to help even more young people
CONTACTING CHILDLINE
You can talk to them about anything. No problem is too big or too small.
Call them on 0800 1111 or get in touch online. However you choose to contact them, you're in control. It's confidential and you don't have to give your name if you don't want to.
OUR CONFIDENTIALITY PROMISE
Confidentiality means not telling anyone else about what you've said. So whatever you say will be just between you and Childline and you can feel safe talking to them, knowing that no one else will find out. But sometimes, if they are worried about your safety, they may need to get you help.
Identification of Child Abuse
Identification of child abuse is very difficult. Individual factors or indicators of abuse may not be particularly worrying, but in combination they can suggest that there is a serious cause for concern. There are four main areas of abuse, all of which have many indicators. These areas of abuse are
- PHYSICAL
- NEGLECT
- SEXUAL
- EMOTIONAL
Other factors may also potentially impact on children’s well-being, these include acute family stress, domestic violence, homelessness, racism or other discrimination. Sadly, child abuse happens to children of both sexes, at all ages, of all cultures, religions and social classes, and both to children with and without disabilities.
If you are worried or concerned about a child, then please speak to a designated member of staff.
Online Safety
At Guilsborough C of E Primary school we use Securly, a cloud-based web filter, designed exclusively for schools. This keeps our pupils safe with features such as- Teacher visibility into online activity, reports regarding internet usage and inappropriate sites are blocked instantly.
If you need help with Internet Safety, or if you wish to report a problem to CEOP, click the button below:
Our pupils use the Internet on a regular basis as part of their learning. In school, we have regular 'e-safety' activities to remind children of the importance of keeping themselves safe online.
Click here to access our E-safety, Internet Access and Acceptable Use policy.
Click here to access our PowerPoint presentation from our Online Safety Parent drop-in. Please note, this presentation is still valid, the only new information is about WhatsApp now being age rated 16+ with no age verification. Visit Net Aware to found out more.
Useful Links:
- CEOP - containing internet safety advice for those aged from 5 to 16, along with parents and teachers, this site is produced by CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre).
- Online Safety NSPCC - Let's keep kids safe online
- Childnet - "If you were looking for Know IT All for Parents, you have come to the right place".
- Kidscape - An organisation which helps to prevent bullying and child abuse.
Prevent Strategy
Prevent Duty - Preventing Radicalisation in school
Building resilience in our young people and the promotion of fundamental British values is at the heart of preventing radicalisation. We do this by providing a safe place in which children can discuss issues, and we aim to give them the knowledge and confidence to challenge extremist beliefs and ideologies.
Our new prevent duty, is carried out under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, which legally requires us to take steps to prevent pupils from being drawn into terrorism. We take this duty seriously and carry out the four main actions responsibly, namely: risk assessment, working in partnership, staff training and IT policies. If we assess a child as at risk, we will refer to the Channel Programme, which focuses on providing support at an early stage to people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.
In terms of training, staff have received training to familiarise them with the Prevent Duty. In terms of internet safety, we ensure suitable filters are in place to keep children away from extremist materials, in keeping with Northamptonshire guidelines.
We recognise that we play a vital role in keeping children safe from harm, including from the risks of extremism and radicalisation, and in promoting the welfare of children in our care.
Click here to access our Preventing Radicalisation Policy
What we do if there is a concern
If we have a concern about a particular pupil we will follow the school’s normal safeguarding procedures, including discussing with the school’s designated safeguarding lead, and where deemed necessary, with children’s social care. In Prevent priority areas, the local authority will have a Prevent lead who can also provide support.
We may also contact the local police force or dial 101 (the non-emergency number). They can talk to us in confidence about concerns and help us gain access to support and advice.
The Department for Education has dedicated a telephone helpline (020 7340 7264) to enable staff and governors to raise concerns relating to extremism directly. Concerns can also be raised by email to counter.extremism@education.gsi.gov.uk. Please note that the helpline is not intended for use in emergency situations, such as a child being at immediate risk of harm or a security incident In an emergency situation we will follow the recommended emergency procedures.
Useful Links
Click on the links below for more information!
