Providing a happy, comfortable, productive and, above all, safe and secure environment for pupils to thrive in is at the forefront of all we do at Pulham C of E Primary Academy.

As a school we have a legal duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and at our school we take this responsibility seriously.

All staff and volunteers are vetted and receive regular safeguarding training helping them to play their part in keeping pupils safe and protected from harm.

The person who leads on safeguarding pupils is called the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL). The DSL for our school is Mrs Harriet Beckett. We also have two alternate DSLs who are Mr Joshua Hill and Mrs Karen Stone. They support staff and pupils with any safeguarding issues.

Being safe within the school grounds and creating a safe environment is a responsibility for all staff, governors and parents. All staff and governors have read and follow the Safeguarding Policy (incorporating Child Protection) to make sure we have a consistent approach. Copies of this policy are available on our website or in paper form upon request from the school office.

As part of our school safeguarding procedures, our curriculum covers different aspects of keeping safe aiming to equip our children with the understanding of what behaviours are acceptable and what are unacceptable as well as knowing how to deal with these situations.

This includes but is not exclusive to:

• RSHE curriculum
• NSPCC ‘Pants’ work and ‘Speak Out Stay Safe’ work
• Online Safety
• Social and emotional support

Please encourage your child to talk to you about their learning around safeguarding in school.

Although much of the teaching around safeguarding is through discrete lessons, our school ethos, curriculum and policies ensure that we integrate safeguarding into everything we do.

As a school we also have a duty to offer support to families who may need it. This is sometimes called ‘Early Help’. Early help, also known as early intervention, is support given to a family when a problem first emerges. It can be provided at any stage in a child or young person's life.

We can offer support through an Early Help Assessment Plan, which helps families to look at what is working well alongside what they are worried about and what steps they can take with support to improve the situation.

Should you ever have any concerns or queries or feel either of these is something that could help your family, please let me know.

More information can be found within our Safeguarding Policy.