Safeguarding

The safety and well-being of every child and member of staff at St Matthew’s is of great importance to us.

We are aware that child protection and safeguarding are fundamental to the welfare of all children in our care. If you need to speak to anyone about Child Protection, please do not hesitate to contact our Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs)  Mrs C. Pollard and Mrs K Stoltonl via the school office.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website.

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.

We actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.

A resource suggested to us by Kent e-safety is – Let’s Talk About It  (LTAI) an initiative designed to provide practical help and guidance to the public in order to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

All staff receive regular updates in child protection and safeguarding.

As part of our support in school we hold regular Needs meetings where staff review concerns and decide appropriate courses of action. Needs meetings are attended by

DSLs –

Lead DSL- Mrs Carolyn Pollard (Deputy Head) – carolyn.pollard@st-matthews.kent.sch.uk

Deputy DSLs -Mrs Katie Stolton

Inclusion Leader – Miss Sarah Lumley

Pastoral Support – Mrs Katie Stolton

FLO – Mrs Julie Dent

Deputy Head – Miss Kate Daurge

Contact via office@st-matthews.kent.sch.uk

NSPCC whistleblowing helpline

NSPCC are working with the Department of Education to provide a bespoke helpline for children and young people who’ve experienced abuse at school, and for worried adults and professionals that need support and guidance. If you are concerned about something, you can contact the NSPCC helpline Report Abuse in Education on 0800 136 663 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.