Safeguarding at Pinewood

Pinewood Infant School and Foundation Unit fully recognises the contribution it can make to protect and support children in school. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families have a role to play in safeguarding them. All staff within Pinewood Infant School and Foundation Unit are particularly important as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help to children to prevent those concerns from escalating. All staff contribute to providing a safe environment in which children can learn. We have frequent safeguarding updates as a school and all staff are fully trained in safeguarding procedures.

In order to keep our children safe at school, we

• ensure that all our staff – through their induction and on going training - have a clear understanding of their responsibilities towards our children’s safeguarding
• make sure that we have a range of clear and up to date policies and procedures in place to ensure the safety and protection of our pupils in all aspects of school life
• ensure that we teach our pupils how to keep themselves healthy and safe – in and out of school
• ensure that we audit our safeguarding practices regularly so we remain vigilant

Termly Safeguarding assembly for children in Years 1-2

During assemblies we talk to the children about how to keep themselves safe. We will help the children understand that it is their right to be happy and safe and to encourage the understanding that any problem or worry that they may have is legitimate, and to share their worries – big or small – with their trusted adult; at home, at school, or with ChildLine.  

Below is a link to an example PowerPoint that we will use as part of the assembly.

At Pinewood we teach children about 'Stranger Danger' through assemblies and our PSHE curriculum at various points throughout the year.

Whilst the risk posed by strangers is rare, it’s really important to make children aware of simple tips they can follow to keep themselves a little safer.

We would advise you to talk about who your safe adults are and where there are safe places near you if help is needed. It’s also important to think about safety on the internet and use of mobile phone apps and games that have ‘chat’ functions as this can be just as dangerous as a stranger in the street.

Children as young as 3 or 4 may begin to have an awareness of what it means for someone to be a stranger and to understand why they should not always trust everyone. At pinewood we follow a PSHE curriculum where personal safety and the rights of the child are just some of the issues raised. We also ensure the local police visit school to raise trust in the police and to discuss safety with the children.

Parents may be concerned about frightening their children by discussing this topic at too early an age. However, most children are now bombarded with media images of missing children and may be reassured by a calm, rational approach to a potentially frightening subject.

 Below is a PowerPoint presentation that is useful to use with children to make them aware of stranger danger and safe strangers.