At Severnbanks Primary School we are fully committed to safeguarding and ensuring that consistent and effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school.

The health, safety and well-being of all our children are of paramount importance to all the adults who work here. Our children have the right to protection, regardless of age, gender, race, culture or disability. They have a right to be safe in our school and all the adults in our school share responsibility for keeping our children safe.

In cases where the school has reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill- treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse, the Designated Safeguarding Lead may report this concern to Social Services and/or other appropriate agencies.

Please remember that when the school refers a concern about a child to the Social Services Department, it is not accusing the parents of abuse but requesting that further investigation takes place to establish whether a child is at risk.

Please support us by ensuring that your child attends school regularly – this is a parents’ legal responsibility. Failing to attend this school on a regular basis will be considered as a safeguarding matter.

Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s schooling and regular absence will seriously affect their learning. Any pupil’s absence disrupts teaching routines so may affect the learning of others in the same class.

Mrs Poole and Mrs Challenger are our Attendance Officers – please contact them on 01594 842789 if you would like to discuss any aspect of attendance including any concerns you may have.

We offer a secure and encouraging environment where children feel safe and their spiritual, moral and cultural development is enhanced through the delivery of our whole school curriculum, including our PSHE/RE curriculum, core values, work with external agencies, charities and the local community.

Pupils and staff sign up to and Acceptable Use Agreement. Pupils are taught how to stay safe online and what to do if they are worried.

We work hard to ensure that our facilities are as safe as possible. The grounds are checked by the every day and the building is maintained to the highest standards. External experts come regularly to check things like the firefighting equipment, water works and the emergency lighting.

We carry out half termly fire alarm and evacuation tests and all of this is recorded in our Fire Log. The school complies with all national and local Health & Safety Regulations.

We recognise that parents may wish to record events such as school plays, sports days etc. to celebrate their child’s achievements. However it is important that such records remain private and for family and personal use only. If you wish to put images online, and these images contain children who are not part of your family, you must first obtain the permission of parents or carers of the other children concerned.

We require all adults seeking employment at this school to have their application vetted by the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS), in order to ensure that there is no evidence of offences involving the abuse of children. We will also ask regular visitors to undertake the measure. All governors are also subject to this in order to ensure our entire community is safe for all our children.