At St Michael’s Catholic school we promote the welfare, health, safety and guidance of every child. The safety and security of every child is paramount. All staff will be alert to any signs of abuse or neglect and will report serious concerns to the headteacher or the senior teacher responsible for child protection in the first instance. Parents will be made aware of this and will be involved in discussions regarding our concerns. Whilst these discussions can be challenging, our primary concern has to be for the safety and wellbeing of a child.

If we have a concern that a child is at risk of significant harm we have a duty to refer this to the safeguarding team / social services. In most cases parents will be aware that this referral is being made though in some instances — where we feel a child might be at increased risk of immediate harm this will be done without parent knowledge.

These practices are in line with government guidelines and meet our legal requirements in safeguarding the care and safety of all children - full details on our approach to safeguarding are detailed here.