A copy of our safeguarding policies can be found on the policies page of our website.  

Our school has an embedded ethos where children are encouraged to talk, know that their viewpoints are valued and that they will always be listened to and taken seriously.  The health, safety and well-being of all our children is a priority to all adults who work at our school. Our children have the right to protection, regardless of age, gender, race, culture or disability. They have a right to be safe.

We take looking after your children, and keeping them safe, very seriously. All schools are required to follow procedures for protecting children from abuse which are established by the Hertfordshire Children’s Safeguarding Partnership. These are in line with the DFE publication: ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ which is updated annually.

The school follows the recommended procedures of the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Board, a guide to procedure and practice for all professional staff in Hertfordshire who work with children.  All staff receive regular child protection training. 

The following are examples of the systems that we have in place to ensure that all children have opportunities for their voice to be heard:

• All school adults are familiar adults to our children; nurturing ethos encourages positive relationships between staff and pupils
• Worry boxes in each classroom; checked and responded to daily
• Zones of Regulation station in each classroom, signalling to class adults when a child is feeling a change in emotions
• Dedicated Pupil Mentor who wears the worry monster mascot on her lanyard, reminding children that she can be spoken to at any time
• Weekly Mindful Monday drop-in session to speak with the Pupil Mentor during lunchtime
• Pupil Mentor leads half termly 1:1 'Me in My World' wellbeing check-ins with all pupils; resulting in additional support being put into place, where needed
• 2x weekly whole-school PSHE-themed assemblies with the headteacher, using age-appropriate story books and discussion/reflection time (half termly focuses include healthy relationships, consent, body boundaries, anti-bullying and staying safe online)
• Quality weekly PSHE lessons for all classes

Operation Encompass

Therfield First School is involved in Operation Encompass which is a project run jointly between schools and police in Hertfordshire. This join initiative between police and schools came into force at the beginning of December 2019.

Operation Encompass is the notification to schools by the police, prior to the start of the next school day, of incidents in which children have experienced or been exposed to any domestic abuse. Witnessing domestic abuse is itself a form of abuse and so it is important that children experiencing this are supported appropriately as soon as possible. 

The Designated Senior Person, or Deputy, will liaise with the police and use the information shared in confidence, whilst ensuring the school makes suitable provision for the children or their families, who have experienced domestic abuse, depending on the difficulties they have experienced. We wish to give our pupils as much support as possible and believe that this prompt reporting of domestic abuse will be in the best interests of our children. 

Contacts Outside of School Hours

If you are concerned over the welfare of a child outside of school hours or during holidays, you can contact the NSPCC on 0800 800 5000 or Hertfordshire Children’s services on 0300 123 4043. Reports may be made anonymously. The emergency services should be called on 999 for a child in immediate danger.

Ensuring children are safe in the school day

The school office must be your first point of contact for any matters involving a deviation to your child’s school day. If you know in advance that you will be arriving late, leaving early, have a medical appointment, etc, the office needs to know directly as this is where the school registers are maintained. In the case of a school evacuation, the office should know the exact up-to-date whereabouts of all the children that are on roll at Therfield School. Please do not rely on the class teacher informing the office based on a conversation with you or a comment in the link book. The office will pass on the relevant information to the class teachers.

We are unable to send children home with alternative adults if the school office has not been made aware of this arrangement. If anybody else is collecting your child, including an older sibling, the school must be notified of this in advance. We can only accept this instruction from you, the parent. The best way to do this is to telephone or email the school office, or come and write it on the designated sheet in the entrance hall.. We would appreciate as much notice as possible so that we can ensure that the child and class teacher are made aware of it too. If you have a more regular arrangement for who is collecting your child on set days, or would like to give ongoing permission for a particular adult to be authorised to collect your child(ren) then we need to receive written notice about this. This can be in the form of a letter or email into the office.

The safeguarding of all our children is of paramount importance.  By informing us of your child’s absence and letting us know of any changes to collection arrangements you can help us to ensure your child’s safety.