The governors and staff of Harcourt Primary School take seriously our responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare and wellbeing of all children entrusted to our care.

Our school is a community and all those directly connected (staff, governors, parents, families and pupils) have an essential role to play in making it safe and secure. We welcome suggestions and comments that will contribute to this process. This can be done through several ways. For example, meeting with members of staff, contacting school governors, through feedback during parent consultations and parent questionnaires.

We recognise the importance of providing an ethos and environment within school that will help children to feel safe, secure and respected, encourage them to talk openly and enable them to feel confident that they will be listened to.

Safeguarding Team

At Harcourt Primary School, everyone is responsible for ensuring high standards of pupil behaviour, safety and welfare.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is the person that has overall and strategic responsibility for all matters related to safeguarding in the school. This person is Anthony Silk (Headteacher)

Rachael Green - Deputy Headteacher and Victoria MacWatt (Key Stage Two Leader are our Deputy DSL who have also had the necessary training to act as DSL in the headteachers' absence. Our Safeguarding Governor is Mrs Sarah Seymour. All staff and governors receive the most up-to-date Child Protection Training at least on an annual basis.

Every week, the team meet and review all concerns that are currently ongoing and discuss new referrals from staff and parents. If you have any concerns about the welfare of any child in school, then please do not hesitate to come in and speak to any member of the team.

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.

What to do if you are concerned about a child?

1. Speak to a member of the school team.
2. Contact the Kent Children's Social Services Team - https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/protecting-children/report-abuse
3. Speak to the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 or visit the NSPCC website for support https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

Staying Safe Online

We work very hard with our children at school to ensure that they are safe when using new technologies. It is important that we have your cooperation at home. Part of our role is to also support parents in how to protect their children from harm when using these technologies. At school, we teach how to be safe in lessons, and we have also held after-school workshops for parents and carers to support families with online safety. More information can be found in the Online Safety section of our website.