Ellington Infant School

Our school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare and wellbeing of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. To ensure prompt communication between staff, we use MyConcern; an online system that allow us to monitor safeguarding, well-being and pastoral issues. This enables swift communication between all parties in a secure way.

School Safeguarding Team

If you want to know more about our procedures, please speak to one of the following:

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Mrs Bowman (Head Teacher)

Deputy DSLs: Mrs Jamieson and Mrs Parker

Safeguarding Governor: Andrea Studden

Chair of Governors: Elys Christou

Cause for Concern

Our first priority is of course your child’s welfare and school is required to take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of its pupils. However there may be occasions when we have reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill-treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse. We will ensure that our concerns about a child are discussed with their parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare. We work very closely with the local Education Safeguarding Service and regularly consult with them should we have any concerns.

If you are worried about a child’s safety please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Bowman on 01843 591638.

If you feel a child may be at risk of imminent harm, you should call the Kent Integrated Front Door on 03000 411111 or the Police on 999.

Our Early Help Offer

Our school works to provide Early Help to those children and families in the school community with emerging needs, which may not be appropriate for Social Care intervention. Early help means providing support to our children and families as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life.

We understand just how complicated family life can be. From time to time, there may be situations where you need some extra help and support.

If things are not right at home, please come and talk to us.

Useful documents and links

Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

·        Kent Safeguarding Children Multi-Agency Partnership – https://www.kscmp.org.uk/

Working_together_to_safeguard_children

Keeping Children Safe In Education 2025 – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education–2