Safeguarding
Welcome to Lyng Hall School – Where Safeguarding Comes First
At Lyng Hall School, the safety and well-being of our students are our top priority. We are committed to creating a supportive and secure environment where every child feels safe, valued and respected. We believe that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and we work closely with students, staff, families, external agencies and the wider community to ensure that our safeguarding practices are thorough, effective and continuously improving.
Our dedicated team is always available to listen and provide support, whether students need help with their emotional well-being or have concerns about their safety. We encourage open communication, ensuring that everyone at our school knows how to report any concerns, big or small.
By working together, we strive to provide a nurturing space where students can flourish academically, socially and emotionally. Your child’s safety is at the heart of everything we do and we are here to support them every step of the way.
At Lyng Hall School, we are committed to:
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Ensuring our policies apply to ALL staff, volunteers, Governors, and visitors to our school.
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Our Safeguarding Team liaises with external agencies to ensure collaborative working and best practice when ensuring our students and their families receive robust plans around managing concerns, with clear actions for improving safety and support is provided.
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Raising awareness, upskilling and enhancing the knowledge of all its staff in all aspects of safeguarding as well as sharing information on new and emerging trends and any changes in Local Authority Guidance.
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Promoting a safe and inclusive culture across the school where students feel safe, accepted, and confident to speak up with concerns and worries they may have about themselves or peers.
If you have any concerns or questions regarding safeguarding, please do not hesitate to contact us at lhs-safeguarding@lynghallschool.co.uk . Thank you for entrusting us with your child’s education and well-being.
Who is our safeguarding Team?
The Safeguarding Team is led By Christine Green – Assistant Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) cgreen@lynghallschool.co.uk
The School has two Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSLs):
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Karen Gibson: kgibson@lynghallschool.co.uk
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Dawn Ellis: dellis@lynghallschool.co.uk
Safeguarding Governor – Ghulam Vohra (Chair of Governors)
The Safeguarding Leads will:
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Be available during term time for staff and families to discuss safeguarding concerns.
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Manage referrals.
-Where there are suspected cases of abuse and/or neglect to the Local Authority children’s social care.
-To the Channel program where there is a radicalisation concern.
To the Disclosure and Barring Service where a staff member is dismissed for abusing children.
To the police where a crime may have been committed.
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Be a source of support, advice and expertise to all staff and the Headteacher.
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Ensure safeguarding records are clear and comprehensive and stored securely.
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Raise awareness of contextual safeguarding concerns and updates to safeguarding procedures.
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Understand the views of the children and encourage a culture of listening and understanding of children amongst all staff.
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Work with colleagues within the Finham Park MAT to ensure best practice is shared to improve outcomes for our students.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding is proactive and applies to ALL children.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is EVERYONE’S responsibility.
Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is child-centered. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child.
Safeguarding covers all aspects of Keeping Children Safe and we promote the welfare of children by:
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Protecting children from maltreatment.
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Preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development.
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Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
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Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
As a school, there are set government guidelines that we have to adhere to regarding the safeguarding of our children. Some of these are listed below:
The school will ensure that concerns and direct disclosures regarding Abuse are taken seriously and are reported to partner agencies as appropriate:
Abuse is a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or by others (e.g. via the Internet). They may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children. All children are at risk of being abused. However, some children (those with SEN, disabilities and LGBTQ+) are more vulnerable. We must take extra care to ensure those children are safe.
Child Protection is reactive and refers to the procedures and support given to those children and young people who have experienced abuse in their lives.
All staff at Lyng Hall School undertake regular safeguarding training.
Lanyards – As part of our safeguarding procedures, all staff are required to wear their staff lanyards at all times.
Visitors with an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check will wear a Green Lanyard at all times.
Visitors without an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check will wear a RED Lanyard at all times and MUST be escorted by a member of staff at all times.
All visitors are required to sign in and out at the main school reception and wear their visitor lanyards at all times.
What to do if you have concerns?
If you have any concerns or are worried about your child’s or anybody else’s safety or well-being you can contact any of the members of the Safeguarding Team listed above.
If you have a safeguarding concern about a member of staff, then this must be reported to the Headteacher: Mrs Leah Martindale L.Martindale@lynghallschool.co.uk
If you have a safeguarding concern about the Headteacher, then this must be reported to the Chair of Governors: Ghulam Vohra.
What is the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)?
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) brings key professionals together to facilitate early, better-quality information sharing, analysis and decision-making, to safeguard vulnerable Children and young people more effectively.
Staff from across Children’s Services; Health, Police, Education, and Probation are based within the MASH Team at any one time and based within Broadgate House in Coventry City Centre.
The MASH provides timely access to a range of partner agency information which builds a picture and enables us to understand the level of risk.
Information from different agencies is collated within the MASH and used to decide what action to take. As a result, agencies are able to act quickly in coordinated and consistent ways to ensure children are kept safe from harm.
For those concerns that meet the threshold for Children’s Services Involvement, representatives from the different agencies in the MASH and outside collate information from their respective sources to build a picture of the circumstances of the case and the associated risks to the child.
As a result, better decisions are made about what action to take and support will be targeted in the most urgent cases. Feedback is also given to professionals reporting concerns.
How do I contact someone if I am concerned about a child or young person?
If you wish to report a matter to the police, call 101 and state your concerns.
If you wish to report an emergency matter always dial 999.
Social worker (out of office hours): 024 7683 2222.
If there is no immediate danger or you need advice or information, you should call the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 024 7678 8555.
Advice and information
If you want to discuss your concerns or need advice e.g. if you are not sure whether your concerns are justified, you would like more information about issues like confidentiality or you would like to know what happens next (after you have reported your concerns), do one of the following:
CallChildline on 0800 1111
Call the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000
COVENTRY MASH: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/childrens-social-care/coventrys-multi-agency-safeguarding-hub-mash/2
Who is Early Help and how do they support families?
Lyng Hall School works within Coventry City’s Early Help Framework – providing the RIGHT HELP at the RIGHT Time for Families within Coventry.
Underpinning this is the idea that families that are able to access support early on as this may then avoid requiring support from Children’s services under Child in Need or Child Protection Plans.
Everyone needs help sometimes! If you feel that you and your family need some additional support and would like to find out more about an Early Help Assessment, please contact the Safeguarding Team or use the following link:
COVENTRY FAMILY HUBS – Are there to HELP!
If you would like to receive further support and guidance out of school hours and assistance with things like Debt Management, Referrals for Foodbanks, Charity Grant Applications, and more at your Local Family Hub: Find your nearest one by visiting: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/family-hubs or calling 0800 887 0545.
PREVENT and Radicalisation
The Prevent Duty relates to concerns surrounding individuals that may be vulnerable or susceptible to radicalisation into violent extremism. Lyng Hall School is committed to ensuring any concerns for an individual are shared to enable appropriate safety planning and acquisition of support made for further information on the guidance please see our school’s Safeguarding Policy or visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance
For Support around Radicalisation – information can be found here:
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Educate Against Hate: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/
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Act Early: https://actearly.uk/
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West Midlands Police: https://www.westmidlands.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/t/prevent/prevent/
Sexual Harassment and Violence
In order to address sexual harassment and violence in schools, even if there are not specific reports of it happening, the assumption is always that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening in school and therefore we have put in place a whole-school approach to address them. This includes:
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Carefully sequenced PSHE and SMSC Tutor curriculum, that specifically includes sexual harassment and sexual violence, including online. This includes time for open discussion of topics that children and young people tell us they find particularly difficult, such as consent and the sending of ‘nudes’.
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Routine record-keeping and analysis of sexual harassment and sexual violence, including online, to identify patterns and intervene early to prevent abuse.
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A behavioural approach, including sanctions when appropriate, to reinforce a culture where sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are not tolerated.
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Working closely with professionals in the area so we can access the range of support available to children and young people who are victims or who perpetrate harmful sexual behaviour.
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Training to ensure that all staff (and governors, where relevant) are able to:
-Better understand the definitions of sexual harassment and sexual violence, including online sexual abuse.
-Identify early signs of sexual abuse.
-Consistently uphold standards in their responses to sexual harassment and online sexual abuse.
Nude image of you online?
Report Remote can provide support - Report Remove | Childline
Mental Health and Wellbeing Support
Kooth is a free, safe and anonymous online wellbeing service for children and young people. Young people using the site are able to access a range of support services including one-to-one counselling sessions, discussing issues with their peers through online discussion boards that are fully moderated, reading and contributing to self-help content and recording their feelings via journals and goal trackers. The online nature of Kooth means that young people can access help in a way that is most suitable for them, at a time that is convenient for them, 365 days of the year.
Kooth: Home - Kooth
Please also find below a link to resources around self-isolation, tips for parents, schedules for students to help with routine, social stories and other inclusive anxiety/emotional support for children and young people.
Useful links for parents, on how to keep your child safe online - Internet Matters
How to set up the parental controls offered by your internet provider