Keeping You Safe

Wickham Market Primary School

Child Friendly Safeguarding Guidance

2023-2024

Wickham Market Primary School is our school and we want it to be a safe place for all our pupils. All the adults at the school will do everything they can to make sure that you are safe, healthy and happy.

We respect you and will listen to you.

We will do our best to help you achieve your potential.

We teach you how to recognise the risks in different situations and how to protect yourself and stay safe.

Safeguarding means that all school staff should:

Protect you from harm
Make sure nothing stops you from being mentally and physically healthy and supporting your development.
Make sure you are safely looked after
Make sure you have the opportunities you need to reach your full potential and feel successful.

Staff will try to protect you by:

Providing a safe and secure environment for you to learn and progress
Making sure you stay safe at home and at school
Ensuring you know where and how to get help if you are unhappy or worried about something.

Who can you talk to?

You can talk to any adult in the school but there are some staff who have the main responsibility to make sure you are safe and cared for. These adults are your Designated Safeguarding Leads and they are here to help you and listen to you. If you do not want to talk, you can always write it down and give it to us.

Mrs Garland Mr Woods Mrs Harris Mrs Rusling

What we will do

We will do our best to spot a problem
Work with other people,including people at home,to help protect you and solve any problems or worries you have.
Listen to you if you want to talk to us and need our help.We will always take you seriously.
Support and encourage you and will respect your views and wishes.
Contact other agencies for support and advice
Talk to you and explain what may happen next.

Abuse

When someone hurts you it is called abuse. This is when someone does something to you that is unpleasant, painful or harmful such as if someone:

Deliberately hits you, hurts you, injures you or humiliates you in different ways.
Says something or does something that makes you feel bad about yourself or hurts your feelings.
Shouts, threatens, hits or hurts someone you love whilst you are around which makes you feel unhappy, scared or worried.
Doesn’t take care of you properly so you feel neglected, lonely or abandoned. This may mean you feel hungry, unclean, unable to come to school every day or have the right clothing on to keep you warm and dry.
Touches you in a way that you don’t like or touches you on a private part of your body.
Makes you look at things that make you feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, scared or ashamed. They may give you presents or ask you to keep a secret.

It is important that you know:

It is never your fault if someone is hurting or abusing you.
There is always someone who can help you.
If someone is hurting you they may be hurting someone else so it is important you tell someone you can trust to make it stop.
Every child should enjoy their right to have a safe and happy childhood.

Tips for keeping yourself safe

Bullying - if you think another pupil or grown up is bullying you or someone you know, you must tell someone you trust as soon as you can. It won’t stop unless you do.

Saying funny things to you - if an adult or a pupil says something to you, or you hear something that you do not like you must tell someone you trust.

Touching you - Your body belongs to you and not to anyone else. This means all of your body. If someone touches you on a part of your body anywhere you do not like, it is not okay and you must tell someone you trust as soon as you can.

Hitting, punching or smacking you - if a grown up or another pupil hits, punches or hurts you in any way you must tell someone you trust.

Secrets - Secrets, such as a surprise party are fun, but some secrets are not good and should never be kept.

Presents - Presents are a good thing to get but you should not take a present from anyone without checking with your parent/carer first. Most of the time it is okay but some people try to trick children into doing something they shouldn’t do by giving them a present. If it doesn’t seem right, tell someone you trust as soon as you can.

On the computer, tablet or mobile phone - these help us all to share things and talk to our family and friends but they can also make it easier for people who want to hurt you or get close to you. If you are unhappy with any comments or pictures on your device you must tell a trusted adult as soon as you can.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TELL SOMEONE YOU CAN TRUST STRAIGHT AWAY

WE WILL ALWAYS LISTEN