Safeguarding

St. Matthew’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We believe that pupils have a right to learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment which includes the right to protection from all types of abuse, and we are committed to working with our parents to ensure that all children have the best possible outcomes. We regularly train our staff to be vigilant for signs of any pupil in distress and are confident about applying our safeguarding processes to make sure that all children at St Matthew's are safe.

If concerns are raised in school about the welfare or protection of a child, these may be passed on to Hillingdon Children's Services. Passing this information on is our legal responsibility as a school. Hillingdon Children's Services may then decide to conduct an investigation to decide if a child is at risk of harm. When passing information to Children's Services, we aim to do this with the knowledge and consent of the child's parents, however this may not always be possible.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website.

Safeguarding team:

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Saira Malik
The Deputy Safeguarding Leads are Mrs Lisa Maher, Mrs J. Dempsey, Miss Laura Dewar, Miss Corrina Blake and Mr E. Small
The Safeguarding Governor is Mr Micheal Heyes

Early Help

We are able to provode our families support from a Family Support Worker, who can signpost parents to services and provide support with many aspects of family life. We also work closely with the Participation Team at The London Borough of Hillingdon to support children in attending school regularly. Our School Nurse is also able to support families and provide access to services.

Operation Encompass

The aim of Operation Encompass is to enable staff in every school to understand how to support children who are experiencing domestic abuse. This directly connects the police with schools to ensure better outcomes for children who are subject to or witness to police-attended incidents of domestic abuse. This means that children are better safeguarded against short, medium and long term effects of abuse.

Educating your child about abuse:

I am sure you all talk to you children about road safety and about stranger danger, and it is equally as important to talk about staying safe from abuse. Please visit the NSPCC website for advice on how to talk PANTS with your children.

Staying Safe Online

Please see the Online Safety page of our website.

Useful Links for Parents

SNAPCHAT- click here for a useful information document about what Snapchat is and how you can help your children stay safe when using it.

The NSPCC website has lots of excellent resources and advice to help keep children safe. These include:

For more information on these areas and many more click here.

Safeguarding Curriculum Map 2021-2022