Safeguarding

Early Help, Safeguarding and Child Protection

Altmore Infant School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils. We believe that:

  • All children have the right to be protected from harm;
  • Children need to be safe and to feel safe in school;
  • Children need support which matches their individual needs, including those who may have experienced abuse;
  • All children have the right to speak freely and voice their values and beliefs;
  • All children must be encouraged to respect each other’s values and support each other;
  • All children have the right to be supported to meet their emotional, and social needs as well as their educational needs – a happy healthy sociable child will achieve better educationally;
  • Schools can and do contribute to the prevention of abuse, victimisation, bullying, exploitation, radicalisation, extreme behaviours, discriminatory views and risk taking behaviours; and
  • All staff and visitors have an important role to play in safeguarding children and protecting them from abuse.

At Altmore, everyone is committed to ensuring that all aspects of life are safe for everyone who uses our site. Children’s safety and welfare are paramount. We seek to provide an environment where all children are safe, secure, valued, respected and listened to.

We will take all reasonable measures to ensure that the risk of harm to children’s welfare is minimised. Where we have concerns, we will take appropriate action to address those concerns working in full partnership with other agencies.

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and we ensure that all staff are aware of and have the skills to deal with any safeguarding or child protection concerns. Robust recruitment procedures and regular training/professional development programmes ensure that there is a strong culture and ethos of safeguarding throughout the school.

If concerns are raised, we will always seek to discuss them with the child’s parent or carer, however, depending on the nature of our concern, it may be necessary to make an immediate referral to London Borough of Newham’s Children’s Services.

Good communication and effective record keeping ensure that staff are able to identify concerns quickly, and provide necessary help, with the aim of limiting any escalation.

Our Early Help, Safeguarding and Child Protection policy clearly outlines procedures that must be followed. (Copies are available on request, or can be read online.)

We are also required to have a Designated Safeguarding Lead professional who we report any obvious or suspected cases of child abuse – that includes non-accidental injury, severe neglect, emotional abuse and/or sexual abuse.

Sarah Rowlands: Designated Safeguarding Lead (EHT)
Other members of the Safeguarding Team include:

Carolyn Marles: Designated Safeguarding Officer (HoS)
Karen Higgins: Designated Safeguarding Officer (AHT)
Lynn Walton Designated Safeguarding Officer (AHT)
Kelly Grove Designated Safeguarding Officer (DHT)
Sandie Boulter Designated Safeguarding Officer (CC Manager)
Vicky Cunningham Designated Safeguarding Officer (CC)

Safeguarding is defined as

  • Protecting children from maltreatment;
  • Preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
  • Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best life chances.

If you have any questions around Safeguarding, please contact Sarah Rowlands, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, or our Chair of Governors and link governor for Safeguarding, Mr Muhammed Mashud.

If you have a concern about a child’s safety, you can also follow the link to Newham Council’s Child protection website.

Operation Encompass

​Altmore Infant School is now part of Operation Encompass, run jointly between Newham Schools and Newham Borough Metropolitan Police. Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools before 10 a.m. on a school day when a child or young person has been involved in, or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous evening.

For further information, please see the letter below.

Child Protection

Newham Council - report it Newham Council – report it
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Childline Childline
Operation Encopass Operation Encopass
ParentInfo Parent Info (from CEOP and Prents zone)