Safeguarding

St Francis Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff, governors and volunteers to share this commitment.

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

We listen to our children and take seriously what they tell us. All staff are trained in Safeguarding / Child Protection, and children are made aware of the adults they can talk to if they have any concerns. Staff are trained to look out for signs of physical / emotional harm or neglect and are required to report this to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL).

On occasions, 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 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.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Miss Elizabeth Harris (Head teacher).

Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Ms Sonia Miguez Jorge (Deputy Headteacher) and  Miss Kate Finbow (SENDCO).

The Governors with responsibility for Safeguarding in our school is Alan Carter (Chair of Governors) and Esther Duku (Foundation Governor).​

All members of the Safeguarding Team can be contacted via the school office on 0207 639 0187.

Southwark Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) can be contacted on 0207 525 1921 or out of hours 0207 525 5000, email mash@southwark.gov.uk

Photographs and Videos

Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and videos of their children’s school life, we are mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding very seriously at St Francis, and this includes the use of video and photographic images.

Any videos or photographs taken by parents, carers and relatives at school productions, sports days or other events are for the enjoyment of individual families. The videos and / or photographs must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This includes publishing images in any form of print or on the internet, including social networking sites. This is emphasised before any school event, such as, assemblies, productions, concerts, sports day etc.

We understand that in exceptional circumstances, a parent or carer may not wish their child to be photographed or videoed in this way. If this is the case, then please contact the Head teacher to discuss how this can be best achieved.

Occasionally, the local press may be invited in to take photographs of school events and special achievements. We also like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parent information meetings, newsletters and on our display boards around the school. If you do not wish photographs of your child to be used for these purposes, please contact the Head teacher.