Braddan School Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy 2025
This policy should be read in conjunction with the following policies - Behaviour Management; Anti-Bullying; Equal Opportunities and Health and Safety, Educational Visits Policy, Inclusive Education Policy.
To ensure that we properly protect the children attending Braddan Primary School, the Safeguarding policies of the Isle of Man Department of Education and Children will be wholly adopted by the school. The purpose of the policy is to ensure that the 5 key outcomes of Essentials for Learning are met:
Being Healthy, Staying Safe, Enjoying Life, Achieving Making a Positive Contribution and Prospering
At Braddan Primary School the health and safety of all children is of paramount importance and the school aims to provide a secure environment in which all children can flourish. In order to support this a wide range of measures are put in place, such as:
- Regular review of behaviour data and policies that support safeguarding (Governors approve the adoption of policies)
- Practise evacuation drills to ensure efficiency and safety of our pupils
- Regular playground and school equipment checks by our site manager and with the Governors to ensure safety
- Staff First Aid training is up-to-date and procedures ensure incidents are logged, reported and if the injury is a head injury or deemed serious, parents are informed. If an injury is serious, an ambulance will be called and the parent directed to meet the child at Noble’s Hospital
- Staff are made aware of behaviour issues involving specific pupils through weekly briefings and TEAMs messages
- Care plans are created for students who have medical requirements that are important for staff to know about. eg. Asthma:children who require an asthma inhaler should register this need with the School Office on the form provided and inhalers must be in accessible at all times. Staff will check that asthma inhalers are available before leaving a classroom for any activity elsewhere in the grounds of the school or for any off site activity. Epipens: these are stored in named bags in an agreed location for pupils to whom they are prescribed. Staff have regular training updates on the use of these
- All staff have up-to-date Safeguarding training and are aware of the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults induction guidance, Educational Visits and SEN policies etc.
- Risk Assessments for individual students as necessary; for activities that require safeguarding overview in school (such as visiting animals or play equipment) and for trips or visits out of school.
You will also notice our site security to keep our pupils safe:
Braddan Primary School aims to provide a secure site:
• All external doors are closed and locked during teaching sessions to prevent intrusion. Gates onto our playground and field are padlocked after class has started and are unlocked just prior to home time
• All visitors enter through the main entrance and are asked to sign in the visitors book
• All staff will question or challenge persons as to their presence on school property
• Children will only be allowed home with adults with parental responsibility or confirmed permission. Parents are asked to email or call the office to give permission to others collecting their child.
• Children should never be allowed to leave school alone during school hours, and if collected by a parent or adult with permission to collect them, they need to be signed out at the office
• Should a child leave the school premises without permission then staff have been informed never to chase after a child, but rather to report immediately to the office and the police will be called to attend. Then parents will be informed of the circumstances.
Attendance
Excellent attendance is expected of all children, but when children are unwell, parents are expected to confirm absence by telephone or email. If there is no notification, school will phone home after 9.30am to ascertain each child’s whereabouts. The school works closely with the central Department of Children, Sport and Culture whenever a child’s attendance and punctuality causes concern and attendance rates are reported each month. Parents are informed if their child’s attendance falls below 80% (including authorised / unauthorised absences.)
Volunteers
Volunteers regularly come into school to help. As long as this support is carried out under the direct supervision of the class teacher, and they are not working along with children, a DBS check is not absolutely necessary. However volunteers helping in longer term roles, like our reading heroes and swimming helpers, all need to have a DBS check carried out. Arrangements for the volunteers DBS can be made with Jo Brookman in the office. When Volunteers start, they will be directed to the induction guide:Safeguarding Children & Vulnerable Adults
Child Protection Policy
The designated adult for Child Protection is Mrs Ward, the Acting Headteacher. In her absence Mrs Cowin will undertake this role. This school follows the guidelines in the Isle of Man Education Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2008 which asserts that physical restraint may be used if there is the possibility that a child may be about to cause harm to themselves or to another person. It also asserts that on no occasion should such physical contact be used as a punishment. DESC policy for Physical Restraint
Photographing and videoing
At Braddan we adopt an approach which allows parents to photograph and film providing they follow certain guidelines:
• Parents consent to school taking photographs by signing a permission slip on ARBOR
• Parents are informed that under no circumstance should they upload any images of other pupils onto the internet or any social network
• School photographs that are for use outside of school are used to celebrate successes and permission is sought from each parent in writing that they are happy that images of their child can be used form time to time in this way, either in print or on the school’s website
- Staff and visitors will abide by the DESC Use of Mobiles and Smart Devices policy
e-safety
All members of staff are required to adhere to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture's Acceptable Use Policy for ICT.
Team – Teach
From time to time it may be necessary to restrain a pupil in order to stop them causing harm to themselves, others or to property. A number of staff within school are trained on the use of positive handling and de-escalation through ‘team-teach’ training.