At Four Marks Church of England Primary School, we believe that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.  Veronica Stoodley(the Headteacher) is the Designated Safeguarding Lead.  Our Inclusion Team are also fully trained Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads: Amy Cox (SENco, Assistant Head), Andrea Gillard, Inclusion Manager, and Yvonne Sivananthan, Inclusion Manager. Our Safeguarding Governors play an important role in our quality assurance procedures.

All staff have completed PREVENT training.

Four Marks Church of England Primary School is a community and all those directly connected (staff, governors, parents, families and pupils) have an essential role to play in making it safe and secure. Four Marks Church of England Primary School recognises our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children with their best interests at the centre of our work.

Four Marks Church of England Primary School recognises the importance of providing an ethos and environment within school that will help children to feel safe, secure and respected; encourage them to talk openly; and enable them to feel confident that they will be listened to. We are alert to the signs of abuse and neglect and follow our procedures to ensure that children receive effective support, protection and justice.

If you have any concerns regarding a child's safety in or out of school, you can always contact us to share your concerns by calling one of the DSLs on 01962 772200.

Alternatively, you can email us on the following email addresses.

Please mark your email subject as URGENT: SAFEGUARDING CONCERN: 

V.Stoodley@fourmarks.hants.sch.uk

C.Cox@fourmarks.hants.sch.uk

SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION

Four Marks Primary School is a community and all those directly connected (staff, governors, parents, families and pupils) have an essential role to play in making it safe and secure. Four Marks Primary School recognises our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children with their best interests at the centre of our work.

Four Marks School recognises the importance of providing an ethos and environment within school that will help children to feel safe, secure and respected; encourage them to talk openly; and enable them to feel confident that they will be listened to. We are alert to the signs of abuse and neglect and follow our procedures to ensure that children receive effective support, protection and justice.

OUR SCHOOL CORE SAFEGUARDING PRINCIPLES ARE:

• That schools are an important part of the wider safeguarding system for children.

• It is a whole school responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children as its paramount concern.

• All children regardless of age, gender, ability, culture, race, language, religion or sexual identity, have equal rights to protection.

• All children have a right to be heard and to have their wishes and feelings taken into account. 

• All staff understand safe professional practice and adhere to our code of conduct and other associated policies.

• All staff have a responsibility to recognise vulnerability in children and act on any concern in accordance with this guidance.

THERE ARE FOUR MAIN ELEMENTS TO OUR SAFEGUARDING POLICY:

• Prevention (e.g. positive, supportive, safe school culture, curriculum and pastoral opportunities for children, safer recruitment procedures);

• Protection (by following the agreed procedures, ensuring all staff are trained and supported to respond appropriately and sensitively to safeguarding concerns);

• Support (for all pupils, parents and staff, and where appropriate specific intervention for those who may be at risk of harm);

• Working with parents and other agencies (to ensure appropriate communications and actions are undertaken).

The school has developed policies related to Safeguarding and Child Protection which can be found on our school website on our Policies page. This can be accessed on the link below: 

We believe it is our duty to teach and develop children’s understanding of how to lead a safe life. We want our children to be equipped with the confidence to speak out when they do not feel safe and to have the wisdom to make good decisions that will keep them safe. There are many aspects to children leading safe lives.

Children must learn about their personal and emotional well-being, peer pressure, forming positive relationships, bullying, the internet, drugs, road danger and cycling proficiency. In addition to these topics children must also be encouraged to have an awareness of when they are generally in danger and to have the assertiveness to take positive action.

As a school we have developed a curriculum that proactively teaches and informs our children of how to be safe in various aspects of their lives. This curriculum is primarily delivered through our assemblies programme, RSHE and Computing lessons.

 In addition to our proactive instruction, our staff are always responsive to children’s needs and will develop bespoke circle time sessions and individual lessons on topics that arise. The Safeguarding Curriulum Map below shows our safeguarding programme.  

Speak Out and Stay Safe

At Four Marks Primary  School we encourage all our children to 'speak out' if they are ever worried about keeping themselves safe. The children know that all our staff are here to listen to them and help them. The class 'Worry Boxes' are used to help children write down concerns if they are too shy to start a conversation but would like to talk to someone. 

Every year we take part in a NSPCC in assembly. This year's featured Ant and Dec. 

Online Safety

At Four Marks, we aim to equip our children with a computing curriculum that will prepare them for an ever changing technological world. Our curriculum combines digital literacy (presenting and publishing information) with computer science (programming and control). The balance towards computer science increases as pupils move up through Key Stage 2. Online Safety is taught throughout every year group addressing issues appropriate to age.

Each class receives a weekly computing slot where they are taught specific skills, and computing is used widely to support all areas of the curriculum.

At Four Marks we take Online safety seriously. It is our aim to provide children and adults with the necessary knowledge and skills to use the internet purposefully and safely.

In lessons and in assemblies:

• Pupils are regularly reminded of the rules regarding internet use, sanctions are explained and used consistently when necessary
• Children are taught to use the web safely. We take part in the National Internet Safety Day.
• Children are not allowed use of mobile phones in school
• Children are not allowed unauthorised access to chat rooms, message boards, messenger services or other 'social networking' websites in school
• Children are only allowed access to subscription websites under direct teacher supervision

Junior Road Safety Officer

At Four Marks we regularly teach our children about road safety especially during our 'Walk to School' week in May. To promote road safety in our school, we train a number of our children each year to be Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSO). They work with Mrs Rumens-Harper and the School Council to promote road safety ideas in our school.

Think Safe

Every year our Year 6 pupils take part in the 'Think Safe' event.  The children are taught about various 'danger' scenarios by a host of agencies. Safety talks in recent visits have been led by led by the following:

1.  Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service - showing pupils what to do in the case of a fire

2.  Royal National Life Boat Institute - Beach Safety.

3.  Police – Stranger Danger

4.  Southern Domestic Abuse Service – Healthy Relationships 

5.  Hampshire County Council – Trading Standards 

6.  EHDC Community Team – Internet Safety

7.  Dog’s Trust – dog awareness

Road Safety

Every year, children in Year 5 take part in a week long programme to teach them to ride a bicycle safely. The programme is called 'Bikeabilty' and is run by Hampshire County Council. Children are taught to control their bicycle effectively and the road awareness to ride a  bike proficiently on a road.

Children who choose to ride a bicycle to school must always wear a helmet and store their bicycle in our bicycle shelter. We always recommend that they use a cycle lock to secure their bicycle.

Children in Year 2 and 3 take part in annual Scooter training so that they learn how to scoot safely.