Safeguarding & Child Protection Statement
Everyone has a responsibility for safeguarding children and young people. Keeping children safe at Woolgrove is a priority for our school community.
At Woolgrove we hope to create a proactive and positive culture of Safeguarding through our policies, practice and school curriculum.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
- protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
- preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
- ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their family network, through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework.Child protection is part of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and refers to the activity undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm.
(Working together to Safeguard Children 2026)
Our Safeguarding Team
- Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Richard Pritchard
- Deputy DSLs (DDSL): Lisa Hall, Vicky Litchfield, Julian Wild, Kate Chiddy, Anne Linnell
- Safeguarding Governor: Stephen Simms
Safeguarding Contacts
- Immediate Danger: Call the emergency services on 999 straight away.
- School Hours:Contact a DSL on 01462 622422 – dsl@woolgrove.herts.sch.uk
- Out of Hours/Hertfordshire Children’s services: If you’re a child or young person being abused – or a worried parent or adult – call us any time on 0300 123 4043.
Keeping children safe
At Woolgrove School, we take keeping children safe, a priority. We do this in a number of ways, including:
- Safe on site – During the school day access to school is only via the Reception which has a security door, external gates are accessed by intercom.
- All staff are DBS (Disclosure and Barring) checked before being allowed to work with children.
- All staff receive Safeguarding training so that they know the signs to look for and the action to take. It may be helpful to parents to know that staff are required to report any obvious or suspected cases of child abuse – which include non-accidental injury, severe physical neglect, emotional abuse and/or sexual abuse. This procedure is intended to protect children at risk and schools are encouraged to take the attitude that where there are grounds for suspicion it is better to be safe than sorry. This does mean that we risk upsetting some parents by reporting a case, which on investigation proves unfounded. In such circumstances, it is hoped that parents, appreciate how difficult it is to carry out this delicate responsibility and accept that we are acting in what we believed to be in the child’s best interests.
- Internet or Online Safety – The School IT network has filtering in place. Staff are trained to incorporate online safety into the children’s learning.
- All staff receive regular information and updates about the latest safeguarding issues.
There is a lot of help and guidance for parents available within a couple of clicks! We recommend you visit:
Please see our Child Protection Policy on the policies page, for further details.
Teaching children to be safe
- Pupil Voice: We ensure all vulnerable children feel heard and safe and are supported to communicate their needs e.g. signing, communication boards, communication aids (AAC)
- Understanding and regulating emotions: Pupils are taught to recognise, communicate and regulate their emotions e.g zones of regulations
- Online safety: Every child is taught to keep themselves safe online through the curriculum and it is further highlighted as we participate in the National e-safety week.
Early Help
What is the early help?
Early help is providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life. Early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later.
Early help can include advice, identifying emerging problems, liaising with the designated safeguarding lead, sharing information with other professionals to support early identification and assessment and, in some cases, acting as the lead professional in undertaking an early help assessment.
What support is offered at Woolgrove?
- FSW
- PSW
- 0-25
- Mental Health Leads
MHST – Mental Health Support team: The MHST is an early intervention service, working with mild to moderate mental health difficulties and challenging behaviours. This is part of a national programme to offer early interventions in settings. The Mental Health offer includes;
- Group sessions/workshops with children
- Group sessions/workshops with parents/carers
- Guided 1-1 sessions with parents
Whole school approach to understanding and improving mental Health
Hertfordshire’s wellbeing service: The wellbeing service offers free and confidential talking therapy and practical support for Hertfordshire residents experiencing a wide range of mental health problems such as; worry, low mood, stress and insomnia.
Families First: Families First is the term used in Hertfordshire for the services that work together to support families who need extra help. These are known as early help services. We all experience difficulties at some point. Families First can help you find early help and information to prevent issues from getting worse. If you need more help than your usual support network – for example health visitor, school, doctor or family centre – we can work with you and your family to create a package of support.
SENDIASS: (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service): is a free confidential and impartial information, advice and support service on issues related to Special Educational Needs and disability. They provide unbiased information and advice about what the law says, the local authority’s policies and procedures and about the policy and practice in local schools and other settings.
Hertfordshire Local Offer: Every local authority must identify education, health and social care services in their local area provided for children, young people and families who have SEN or disabilities. These services are then put together in an information directory called the Local Offer. It is essentially the services and support that are offered to families who have children or young people with special educational needs and disabilities, from across the county. If you have a child or young person with SEND, then think of the Local offer as all of the services and support available to them, and to you as a parent or carer.
Attendance: Every child’s attendance is important to us and as a result we monitor attendance very carefully. If your child’s attendance drops below 95% supportive formal attendance meetings are carried out to identify barriers and support. Should attendance not improve we will involve the Educational Welfare Officer in order to improve attendance.
Protective Behaviours: Protective Behaviours (PBs) is a safety awareness and resilience building programme which helps children and adults to recognise any situation where they feel worried or unsafe, such as feeling stressed, bullied or threatened; and explores practical ways to keep safe.
