Safeguarding
Safeguarding
Plymstock School recognises its moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and we will provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment that promotes the social, physical and moral development of the individual child. This will be underpinned by a culture of openness where both children and adults feel secure, able to talk and believe that they are listened to. We recognise that all staff have a full and active part to play in protecting our pupils from harm, and that the child’s welfare is our paramount concern. We will ensure that all adults who have contact with children in our school have been properly vetted and deemed suitable to work and support children in our care/charge. We will also ensure that all adults who have contact with children in our school have been trained to undertake their safeguarding responsibilities effectively. We maintain an attitude that ‘it could happen here’ where safeguarding is concerned.
Here at Plymstock School we are striving to ensure we have a strong culture of safeguarding. We want students, parents and staff members to feel assured that any safeguarding concerns will be handled professionally, confidentially and in a timely fashion to ensure the safety of children in our community. We adhere to the legislation set out in Keeping Children Safe in Education (2023) and the most up to date guidance offered through this to ensure we are able to recognise and support children and their families with contemporary safeguarding matters. We firmly believe that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and that every member of staff within the school recognises that children’s safety and wellbeing is a priority.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Mr J Ellerton. You can contact our DSL on 01752 402679 or by Email
We are required to draw the attention of parents and carers to our Child Protection/Safeguarding policy. This can be accessed in the School Policies section of the website HERE
Our policy will tell you about potential safeguarding risks, key staff and our referrals procedure.
We must inform all parents and carers that there may be occasions where we have to make safeguarding referrals to external agencies, without parental notification. In these cases, we assure you that we are always acting in the best interests of a child’s safety.
Safeguarding Newsletters
We occasionally produce safeguarding newsletter to support parents with issues such as dealing with online dangers, social media etc…
Safeguarding Newsletter: Online Safety.
The Prevent Duty – Preventing Extremism and Radicalisation
What is the Prevent Duty?
Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. The Prevent Strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, violent Islamist groups and other causes.
How does the Prevent Strategy apply to schools?
From July 2015 all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism. This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from drugs or gang violence. Importantly, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues so they better understand how to protect themselves.
We have produced a helpful parent information leaflet on this area that can be viewed HERE
We also have a Preventing Extremism and Radicalisation Policy that can be viewed in the School Policies section of the website.
Useful links for further information
There are a wide variety of websites that provide a wealth of support and information for parents to enable them to effectively keep their child safe. These include:
Educate Against Hate (Preventing radicalisation and extremism)
Parent Info (Safeguarding advice for parents from the Department for Education)