Skip to content

Safeguarding & Keeping Children Safe in Education

At St. Leonard's we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. There are so many different elements and people involved in safeguarding children, from parents to school staff, to external agencies and of course children at the very centre. 

Who are the Safeguarding Leads?

Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Lindley, Headteacher

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Mrs Carney (Deputy Headteacher), Mrs Cronshaw (Acting Assistant Head & SENCO), Mrs Bolton (Office manager), Mrs Pountain (Behaviour lead), Mrs Harris (EYFS lead).

Safeguarding Governor is Lynne Harrison, Chair of Governors

Concerned about a child?

A referral can be made by anyone, including members of the public if they have concerns regarding the safety of a child. Within the school, a referral will be made by one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads. If you have any concerns regarding the wellbeing of a child, please call Lancashire Children's Social Care  - you can do this anonymously if you wish. Please see details below. 

Call  0300 123 6720 or out of hours 0300 123 6722.

If you think a child is in immediate danger – don't delay call the police - 999

Operation Encompass

We are an operation Encompass school. https://www.operationencompass.org/  

Please see Operation Encompass page in the drop down menu for more information.

PREVENT

We actively support the Governments' Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism. 

Lancashire County Council Prevent Reporting Website https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/council/strategies-policies-plans/report-radicalisation-prevent/ 

 Our policies and procedures contribute to our safeguarding commitment including our child protection and safeguarding policy which can be viewed below. 

What is Early Help?

Early Help means providing help for children, young people and families as soon as problems start to emerge or where it is likely that issues will impact negatively on children’s outcomes.

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.
  • is important because there is clear evidence that it results in better outcomes for children.

Lancashire County Council  recognises that Early Help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of schools.

Early Help in Lancashire

The vision of all partner organisations working with children and families in Lancashire is to improve children’s lives by working in partnership to raise aspirations, build achievement and protect the most vulnerable.

This is based on the belief that:

  • Children, young people and families develop resilience if there are protective factors in place such as: a positive relationship with an adult; good literacy and communication skills; good school attendance; and, parents in or actively seeking/ready for work
  • Children’s needs are best met when help is offered in a universal setting within a socially mixed group and early on when problems start to emerge
  • Children and young people’s needs are best met when addressed in the context of the whole family, meaning that parents/carers/siblings’ needs are addressed with consent as part of a holistic and integrated Early Help response.

Early Help services should support and strengthen families so that they can thrive.

We follow the Working Well with Children and Families Guidance

Lancashire CSAP (Children’s Safeguarding Assurance Partnership) website:

The CSAP website is full of useful safeguarding and CP information.

Your Family’s Early Help Assessment and family RADAR has replaced the CAF document.

The Early Help Assessment and Plan features a family radar. The family radar is linked to the cycle of change and will help you to identify which areas of support the family need the most. By completing a family radar, we are trying to get the families you work with to understand at what point of the cycle of change they are at.

Early Help Assessment

On 6 September 2021 the Your Family’s Early Help Assessment replaced the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) across Lancashire.

The Early Help Assessment is an intervention with a family to gather, explore and analyse with them information about all aspects of the child or young person (and their family’s) life and then to identify areas where change will address support needs and positively impact on their lived experiences.

This is recorded on an Early Help Assessment form which includes the family’s Early Help Plan.

The Early Help Assessment is not a referral form for professionals to complete to access other services supporting children, young people and families. The Early Help Assessment should be completed by the professional supporting the family to identify the family’s unmet needs and develop a plan of support with the family.

Your Family’s Early Help Assessment is available to all practitioners and professionals working with children, young people, and their families across Lancashire.

Working alongside families from a holistic, strength-based approach when areas of support are first identified will stop escalation towards crisis and the need for more intensive and specialist intervention.

Through the Early Help Assessment, Plan, and reviews via Team Around the Family meetings the wider partnership of services can provide families with the right support at the right time.

Lancashire’s Children and Family Wellbeing Service-early help referrals

Lancashire County Council’s Early Help Offer Lancashire’s Children and Family Wellbeing Service (CFW) offers practical support to children, young people, parents/carers and families.

This support can be provided on a whole range of issues which may be affecting individuals or the family and is offered through a network of centres as well as in the community or in the family home. The main focus of the service is to provide an enhanced level of support which is prioritised towards those groups or individuals who have more complex or intensive needs or who are at risk and particularly where we think that providing early help will make a positive difference.

We want any problems to be identified early and appropriate support be put in place on a basis on mutual respect and sensitivity to the family. Any concerns and referrals are made via early help and by having parental consent for an early help assessment.

The Role of Schools

Day to Day Support

Most families, most of the time, can get on with their lives quite happily with little or no outside help. If they need help it is usually provided by universal services, such as schools.

Focused Pastoral Support

All families can have times, however, when difficulties arise and they either may not recognise it or may not know how to start putting things right. Schools play a role in supporting families to address these difficulties through more focused pastoral support, which might include bringing in support via an external agency.

Early Help Assessment

For those children and families whose needs and circumstances make them more vulnerable, or where schools need the support of other agencies to meet the needs of the family, a coordinated multi-agency approach is usually best. In Lancashire this is achieved through undertaking an Early Help Assessment and assigning a Lead Practitioner to work closely with the family to ensure they receive the support they require. Schools should be a key partner in any multi-agency work to support families.

Useful Websites

Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Board https://www.lancashiresafeguarding.org.uk/ 

NSPCC https://www.nspcc.org.uk/ 

Childline https://www.childline.org.uk/ 

CEOP - Online Safety Reporting https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/