Safeguarding at Parbold Douglas

At Parbold Douglas CE Academy, our first priority is the safety and welfare of our pupils. The school has a culture of safeguarding - it is everyone's responsibility and everyone's priority.

We have clear systems and processes in school to ensure all members of our school community understand their duties and responsibilities in safeguarding children. Our staff are committed to ensuring our children are safe, happy and nurtured at all times.

The conduct of adults working in school is governed by the school's Staff Code of Conduct and the Safer Recruitment Consortium's Guidance for Safer Working Practice. Staff receive regular training around appropriate professional behaviour and conduct in relation to working with children, and are required to report all concerns (no matter how small) about the conduct of other adults working with children in school [in line with the school's Low-Level Concerns Policy]. 

We seek to continually refine our practices in relation to safeguarding and remain alert to the latest guidance and advice. Staff members attend regular training and we arrange external safeguarding audits regularly to provide an independent review of all aspects of our work in this area.

Sometimes we need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concern's about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our children are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that this would be contrary to their welfare. 

For more information about safeguarding at Parbold Douglas, please refer to the information on this web page and within our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy (copy below).

Reporting concerns:

Concerns about the safety and welfare of children:

If you are concerned about the safety or welfare of a child, please act without delay. You can contact our Designated Safeguarding Leads or the Local Authority (details below).

Concerns about the conduct of adults:

If you have concerns about the conduct of any adult working with children in school (no matter how small), please contact the headteacher immediately or contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) - details below. If your concern relates to the conduct of the headteacher, please contact the Chair of Governors or the LADO.

Contact information:

Designated Safeguarding Lead (Mr Chris Lawson)

01257 462007

c.lawson@pda.lancs.sch.uk

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (Mr John Coxhead)

01257 462007

head@pda.lancs.sch.uk

Lead Governor for Safeguarding (Mr Grant Carruthers)

chair.governors@pda.lancs.sch.uk

Lancashire School Safeguarding Officers (Victoria Wallace and Michelle Lewis)

01772 531196

school.safeguarding@lancashire.gov.uk

Local Authority Designated Officer (Tim Booth, Donna Green or Shane Penn)

01772 536694

LADO.admin@lancashire.gov.uk

Lancashire County Council Children's Social Care

0300 123 6720 (8am - 5pm)

0300 123 6722 (5pm - 8am)

Lead staff for safeguarding:

External Safeguarding Audits

We invite external bodies in to school to audit all aspects of our safeguarding policies and practices. Reports from these audits can be found below.

Our most recent full external safeguarding audit took place in November 2022.

These external audits are an important part of our evaluation process as we seek to continually refine, develop and improve our safeguarding policies and practices, in line with the latest guidance. Parbold Douglas CE Academy is committed to regular external safeguarding audits (at least once every two years).  

Policies

We have a number of policies that form part of our safeguarding work. These include (but are not limited to):

• Attendance and Children Missing in Education
• Safeguarding and Child Protection
• Low-level Concerns
• Online Safety
• Behaviour
• Exclusions

To view these policies, please follow the link below.

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass. This is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse.  

Further information about Operation Encompass can be accessed below. 

We have also posted information about local Domestic Abuse services and helplines.