School Commitment to Safeguarding

Montacute School is committed to Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of all of its pupils. Each pupil’s welfare is of paramount importance and we undertake to provide a secure, caring, supportive and protective relationship for each and every learner.

We recognise that some children may be especially vulnerable to abuse because of their background or because of their own particular learning need.

We recognise that our children are particularly vulnerable to abuse and therefore require a very vigilant, highly skilled and consistent approach at all times.

Pupil Voice

Governors/Trustees and all staff provide a school environment in which all children feel confident and able to discuss their concerns.

Our staff receive additional training to further understand communication difficulties and sensory seeking behaviours which may indicate a safeguarding concern. 

Pupil voice is also very much about securing wellbeing and giving our pupils the opportunities to share their views, their feelings and their learning, to be enabled to communicate them, whether that be by spoken word, signing, symbols, gesture, AAC or combination of any of these. At the root of all of this, to ensure pupil voice is relevant and meaningful, is the need for strong relationships with our staff. We get to know our pupils really well so we can understand how they best learn, how they can best communicate and how best to facilitate opportunities to share their news, views, and feelings. These relationships also help us to spot more readily, changes in presentation or behaviour and to swiftly identify a safeguarding concern.

Montacute School has a pupil Parliament, led by a student-elected Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Each class has its own MP who represents the views of the class at their council meetings.  Part of the important work of the Pupil Parliament includes talking about feeling safe and ensuring all have a voice. The Pupil Parliament ensures that all children and young people have a strong voice and influence in the life of the school and how our work can be improved. 

Montacute School has a robust and varied curriculum to help our children learn about themselves, safety, respect, relationships and the wider world and to support their needs and understanding in terms of mental and emotional health, safe relationships, physical health and behaviour.

Parent Partnership

Montacute shares a common purpose with parents to educate and keep children safe from harm and to have their welfare promoted. We consider effective lines of communication to be essential to the safeguarding agenda, and work hard to ensure that parents and carers feel that they can trust the school when dealing with sensitive issues. We also commit to the wellbeing of our students' families to ensure they are supported and safeguarded as a family unit.

We ensure that all parents are treated with respect, dignity and courtesy. We comply with GDPR requirements and respect parents’ rights to privacy and confidentiality and will not share sensitive information unless we have permission or it is necessary to do so in order to protect a child.

Inevitably parents and carers are aware that we must undertake intimate care for many of our pupils and therefore entrust us with many responsibilities normally only carried by a parent. Our Intimate Care Guidelines are therefore vital in ensuring that pupils are protected and supported with dignity.

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Here at Montacute school we are proud to welcome families from a wealth of different cultures and backgrounds and we greatly value the rich diversity of our school community. 

We love to recognise the rich diversity of language, culture and religion in our school and we have various activities across the school year, which promote and enable our pupils to share their culture in school; including modern foreign language days and projects which focus upon multi-culturalism, world religions, faiths and traditions.

Multi-Agency Partnership Working

The school works closely with a variety of multi-agency partners and practitioners on safeguarding issues. We welcome other professionals that are supporting our pupils and their families to our school so that they can see our school environment and information can be shared.

Visits by other professionals should be arranged and booked in advance, as much as possible. Visitors will be required to bring their identity badges on all visits, to wear and show them on entry to the site, for ID confirmation. 

Visitors to our School

All those who come into contact with children through their everyday work, whether paid or voluntary, have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of our children.

Visitors to the school are made aware of our Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures on arrival at the school.

All visitors are required to sign in and out using the school’s electronic Inventory System. Visitors will be provided with a sticky badge that will include their photograph, these should be worn at all times.

Relevant vetting checks are undertaken for all visitors, contractors and visiting professionals.  Visitors are supervised at all times and will not be allowed to speak to children without a member of staff being present.

Domestic Abuse & Operation Encompass

Montacute School is part of a project, called Operation Encompass, that runs jointly between schools and Dorset Police.

Operation Encompass is the notification to schools, by Dorset Police, when a child or young person has experienced any domestic abuse.

All senior safeguarding members of the school staff, known as Key Adults, are trained to DSL Level 3  to allow them to receive information from the police and to use the information that has been shared, in confidence, while ensuring that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have been involved in a domestic abuse incident.

Preventing Radicalisation

As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is no different from safeguarding against any other vulnerability. All staff are expected to uphold and promote the fundamental principles of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

Montacute School recognises its responsibilities in relation to the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2018 - known as the Prevent Duty.

Child Criminal Exploitation / Child Sexual Exploitation

Child Exploitation is where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child into any criminal activity a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or b) for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator and/or c) through violence or the threat of violence. The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual. CCE does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology.

Child Sexual Exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse. Our pupils receive education about CCE and CSE through the PSHE curriculum and are supported to keep themselves safe.

CUCKOOING - Cuckooing is when a drug dealer or a gang takes over a vulnerable adult's home for criminal purposes, usually as a site to supply, store or produce drugs from. Gangs will exploit an individual's vulnerabilities in order to make a profit and avoid Police detection.

Who is vulnerable? Individuals who suffer from drug and/or alcohol addiction, those who are struggling financially, the elderly, people with mental health issues and individuals with learning disabilities are often targeted for cuckooing purposes.

The DSL attends regular training with other agencies to identify and reduce the risks of Child Criminal Exploitation / Child Sexual Exploitation and shares this training with all school staff. The school always refers to Pan Dorset Safeguarding Children's Partnership guidance and to local practice using the risk tool: Child Exploitation Toolkit.

Policies, Procedures and Guidelines

Useful links for further information regarding the above headings can be found below.

Our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy can be viewed on this website. A paper copy can be made available upon request via the school's office.

Concerns & Information

Should you have any Safeguarding concerns relating to your child, any other child, a member of staff, any aspect of the School or should you require any further information relating to any subject matter then please, in the first instance, speak to your child's class teacher, a member of the Leadership Team or contact Tracey Smith, our Designated Safeguarding Lead and Partnership Co-ordinator.

Information regarding specific safeguarding areas and links to other organisations can be accessed via the Parent Secure Area on the Website.