Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. 

Larkhall is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children, staff and visitors and promoting a climate where children and adults will feel confident about sharing any concerns which they may have about their own safety or the well-being of others.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:

• protecting children from maltreatment
• preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with provision of safe and effective care
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

We have a Safeguarding Policy and procedures which can be viewed on our school website, within the Policies and Procedures section.  All staff, volunteers and governors, must ensure that they have a full understanding of these procedures.  All adults who may have unsupervised access to children in school will undergo the relevant Disclosure and Barring Service checks to ensure their suitability to work with children.

Sometimes we need to share information, and work with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our children are discussed with his/her parents or carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.

Larkhall’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Victoria Bassett.

The following people are also trained to deal with any concerns:

If you are concerned about a child’s welfare, please report your concern to the DSL ASAP on the same day. If your concerns relate to the actions or behaviour of a member of staff then you should report this to the Headteacher, Gary Nichol (or the Chair of Governors, if the concern relates to the Headteacher).