Safeguarding and E-Safety
Children’s safety and welfare is of paramount importance, overriding all other considerations. Schools are legally required to follow set procedures and the LA requires the Head Teacher/Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) for Child Protection to report any obvious or suspected cases of child abuse, which includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect. This procedure is intended to protect children at risk. The Child Protection Policy can be downloaded from the Policies section of the website and is also available from the school office on request.
Bitham Brook Primary School also recognises these safeguarding issues: Child-on-child abuse, child sexual exploitation (CSE), child criminal exploitation (CCE), female genital mutilation (FGM), bullying (including cyber), domestic violence, drugs, fabricated or induced illnesses, faith abuse, gangs and youth violence, forced marriage, gender based violence/violence against women and girls, mental health, radicalisation, sexting, trafficking.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) for Child Protection is Amy Leighton (Assistant Head Teacher for KS1) and the Deputy (DDSLs) are Sue Wells (Family Link Worker), Carrie Hinder (Assistant Head Teacher for KS1), Nicky Sampson (Assistant Head Teacher for KS2) and Clare Robertson (SENCO). The school has a Nominated Governor for Safeguarding, Delcey Orchard-Smith.
If you are concerned about the well-being or safety of a particular child, please do not hesitate to contact Amy Leighton or Sue Wells to discuss your concerns further.
Bitham Brook Primary School is committed to ensuring that all staff and adults with responsibility for children's safety and welfare are trained to deal with incidents involving aggressive behaviour and only use physical intervention as a last resort, in line with DFE and LA advice. If used at all, it will be in the context of a respectful, supportive relationship with the pupil and in accordance to the guidance within the Behaviour Policy and the Code of Conduct for Safeguarding of Children, all of which will be available to download from the website. We will aim to ensure minimal risk of injury to pupils and staff.
In the unlikely event of a member of the safeguarding team not being available, please contact Gareth Simons (Head Teacher).
We take the safety of our pupils when using the internet very seriously and ensure that the principles laid down in our E Safety Policy are understood and adhered to by everyone in school.
Safer Internet Day 2025- Tuesday 11th February
Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety and Safer Internet Day 2025 took place on Tuesday 11th February with learning based around the theme of “Too Good to be True”. The day focused on the importance of protecting yourself and others from scams online.
Each year group attended an assembly on the topic before completing activities in class designed to help them to understand what sort of online behaviour to look out for and what to do if they think that a situation online is “too good to be true”.
KS1 worked through scenarios around what feelings may compel a person to give away information or money online before learning about which personal information should not be shared and why.
KS2 watched a fun BBC live lesson based around a game in which players must outsmart digital tricksters in order to protect their personal information. They then focused their learning on phone and email scams and learnt about phishing and the ways in which scammers will try to extract personal information.
The children worked through the lessons with great enthusiasm and enjoyed their learning around a very important topic.
Internet Safety Day 7th February 2023
Safer Internet Day took place, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’. Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the celebration sees thousands of organisations get involved to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.
Children in years 3-6 watched a BBC live lesson, exploring some of the risks of online gaming. Children were given useful tips on how to stay safe online as well opportunities for conversations about life online. Thelive lesson guide is attached, which provide details of the lesson content.
Every child from Reception to year 6 attended an assembly and completed various activities in their classes on the theme of ‘Want to talk about it?’. You can find further information about Safer Internet Day by following the https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2023
There is a ‘Parents and Carers’ section on the website which provides useful information about how you can support your child/ren to stay safe when using different devices.
Another useful website we would recommend is https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ You will find a wealth of information about internet safety, including short video animations to watch with your child/ren, advice on specific internet safety topics and support for parents to open up conversations about staying safe online.
Additional inks to sites you might want to explore: