Safeguarding at Liberty Woodland School
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Steve Cottrell
Deputy DSL: Leanna Barrett
Deputy DSL: Alice O’Reilly
Governor with oversight for Safeguarding: Sue Allingham
Our full Safeguarding policy and procedures can be found here: School Policies.
At Liberty Woodland School we work with children, parents and the community to ensure the safety of children in our care and to give them the very best start in life. We have an ethos in which the safeguarding and welfare of our students is paramount. Students must feel safe in school at all times.
Our day-to-day approach
Our teachers are committed to providing regular opportunities for our children to discuss and share thoughts, feelings or concerns about school, as well as their life outside of school.
The purposely planned high adult ratios ensures the children are really well known and understood by the team. We have developed a culture of noticing when our children are unwell, ‘out-of-sorts’ or behaving out of character. We believe that behaviour is a form of communication and, as a team, carefully consider any next steps to ensure every one of the children here thrive.
We are committed to developing healthy, open and professional relationships with our school families and always placing our children’s wellbeing and happiness at the centre of our decision making.
As a team of educators, we regularly reflect on and develop our practise to ensure all children feel safe and thrive, both in and out of school.
Our attitude to risk
Due to the outdoor environment of the school, our children encounter different types of risk than are inherent in a traditional classroom. We believe in the importance of teaching the children to carefully consider the risks in the world around them and adapt approaches and choices accordingly. We purposefully discuss the concepts of ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’ risks and build real-life opportunities to actively apply these skills of evaluating and taking appropriate action. We believe that never allowing children to take any risks is more dangerous than carefully considered and planned opportunities to encounter risk.
We design our school site and learning opportunities that allow for the holistic development of the whole child and have established systems and routines that ensure our children are safe. Building on mantras such as ‘No Picking, No Licking’ or ‘No Breaking, No Shaking’, the children understand the importance of protecting themselves and the environment around them.
We undertake daily risk assessments of our site, and any specific new activities are fully risk assessed before being allowed to take place.
The team keep abreast of the risks of use of technology, especially devices that access the internet, and carefully plan our use of technology to always be appropriate to the task at hand. We teach the children about the benefits and risks when connecting through the internet, and strategies to support them when potentially harmful situations are encountered.
Useful links and Resources
Managing emotions when gaming
Advice on how to help children manage their emotions when gaming affects their mood or mental state
Tackling online negativity and trolling:
A useful guide for parents and children on online hate and trolling, and how to equip children with tools on how to deal with it.
https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/tackling-online-hate-and-trolling/
Using Social Media at home:
A hub of advice from internetmatters.org to help families navigate the risks and rewards that social media can bring
Using YouTube at home:
This video guide shows you how to set up a supervised experience for your children if using YouTube at home, including new filter controls depending on the age of your child. This is particularly useful if you have children of different ages at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhgvtv3FLSc
NSPCC – SEND online safety hub:
This online hub from the NSPCC offers further advice and support to parents of children with additional needs in keeping them safe online.
https://www.net-aware.org.uk/send-online-safety-hub/
Parent Safe:
Keeping your children safe: online & beyond
Net Aware:
This website is a valuable guide to the wide range of apps, games and websites in use today amongst children and young people with further guidance on associated risks if using them.
Internet Watch Foundation:
This website offers further support and advice for parents at keeping your children safe online at home.
CEOP helps any child or young person under the age of 18 who is being pressured, forced or tricked into taking part in sexual activity of any kind. This can be something that has taken place either online or in ‘the real world’, or both. The CEOP Safety Centre has clear information and advice on what can be reported to CEOP, the reporting process and what will happen if you do decide to make a report. You can visit the CEOP Safety Centre and make a report directly to CEOP by clicking the Click CEOP button.
If you are experiencing online bullying or something else online has worried you please speak to an adult you trust, or you can talk to Childline at any time on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk.