Safeguarding at Deptford Park
Deptford Park Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with their family first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Cat Washbrook and our Deputies are Amar Abdulmajid, Alison Macgreggor, Rachel Allen, Amanda Pippard and Buki Yuki-Igbinosa. Our Link Governor for Safeguarding is Laura Dempsey. Our named teacher for Looked After Children is Cat Washbrook.
You can contact our safeguarding team on: safeguarding@deptfordpark.lewisham.sch.uk.
Family First Contact Point
If you think that a child or young person under the age of 18 years old, who lives in the borough of Lewisham, is being abused or neglected, contact the FFCP Team using the contact details below or visit Lewisham Safeguarding Children Partnership – Families First Contact Point (FFCP). If you are seriously concerned about a child’s immediate safety, dial 999.
Not all concerns raised about a child will automatically lead to a child protection investigation. Less serious concerns may lead to a more general assessment of need and the provision of services or the offer of advice and information.
Tel: 020 8314 6660 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm)
Email: MashAgency@lewisham.gov.uk
If you have concerns about the welfare of a child outside these hours, please contact the emergency duty team on 020 8314 6000 and ask to speak to the out-of-hours duty social worker.
The Prevent Duty
Prevent is one of the four elements of ‘CONTEST’ the government’s counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to ‘prevent’ people becoming involved with extremist views.
The Prevent Strategy:
- responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views;
- provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support;
- works with a wide range of sectors where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to deal with.
The school takes the Prevent duty very seriously and works to support all our families. Further information can be found across a range of our policies and in particular in the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.
If you are concerned about someone close to you becoming radicalised, you can speak to our Designated Safeguarding Lead, Cat Washbrook, or you can call the national police Prevent advice line on 0800 011 3764, in confidence, to share your concerns with specially trained officers.
Useful website for families
The Childline website is aimed at children under the age of 12 and provides age appropriate content on topics including: bullying, family, friends, feelings, school, abuse and staying safe. It also includes games and therapeutic tools for young visitors to play and express how they are feeling.
The NSPCC website provides support and tips to help you keep children safe. From advice on children’s mental health to staying safe online, the site provides support for parents and advice on what to do if you’re worried about a child.
With the help of a friendly dinosaur, the Pantosaurus, Talk PANTS is a useful resource from the NSPCC to support simple conversations to help keep your child safe from sexual abuse.
The UK Safer Internet Centre provides advice and resources to help families support children to use the internet safely, responsibly and positively.
