Safeguarding and Child Protection

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

At Ashworth Nursery School we are committed to ensuring the children's safety and wellbeing needs are always met. In order to achieve this, we have designated safeguarding leaders. If you would like to discuss a safeguarding issue please contact any member of the team and we will assist you.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Suzanne Jackson our Deputy Safeguarding Leads are Mrs Humaira Jalgaonkar and Miss Nicola Barrow.

Our Safeguarding Children and Child Protection Policy can be found in the 'Policies and Procedures' section of our website.

Prevent Strategy

As part of Ashworth Nursery School's commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government's Prevent Strategy, and take guidance from Teaching Approaches to help build resilience to extremism.

What is the Prevent Strategy?

The Prevent strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists, supporting terrorism, fundamentalism or extremist behaviours. It:-

• responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views
• provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support
• works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health).

Prevent Duty Lead

Our Prevent Duty Lead is Mrs Suzanne Jackson

For more information regarding the Prevent Strategy please see the Revised Prevent Duty Guidance link below:

Revised Prevent duty guidance: for England and Wales - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Internet and Online Safety

Online Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Ashworth Nursery School. We have extensive security measures in place in school to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material. Our children have access to a progressive online safety curriculum that ensures that children are able to safely achieve the Early Years Foundation Stage, Early Learning Goals by the end of the Foundation Stage, in particular:

• Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. They select and use technology for particular purposes.

To ensure children have access to an age-appropriate Online Safety curriculum that is flexible, relevant and engages their interest; depending on the child’s ability, we:

• Introduce age appropriate rules which are displayed for adults in the building and are referred to regularly
• Teach children to respect others when taking images of video
• Talk about what to do if they see anything they are unhappy about on the computer/ device
• Model using webcams safely and ensure reference to appropriate dress
• Talk about being kind to each other when using technology to communicate
• Talk about how people stay safe when using technology e.g. not talking to strangers, not giving away their home address
• Before using a new device or online resource, children are taught how to use it safely and appropriately. This is reinforced regularly.

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the Online Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.

It’s essential to be realistic - banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.

Online Safety Lead

Our Online Safety Lead is Mrs Suzanne Jackson 

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Key Adult (DSL) prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident thus enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience and can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by enabling immediate support, making a child's day better and giving them a better tomorrow.

Operation Encompass believes that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right and should be acknowledged as such.

If you would like some more information you can view online at https://www.operationencompass.org/

Useful Links