The first principle in our vision for Abberley Parochial Primary School is that all children are rooted and grounded in love. As love is given to them, as they feel valued and respected, children learn to love, value and respect others. We know that children thrive when they are rooted and grounded in love. It is our goal that all children are safe, loved and thrive.

Through our values approach to teaching and learning, we hope to instil in our pupils a strong moral foundation that enables them to make correct choices when they are faced with challenging decisions in life. We believe that by grounding them in correct morals, they will recognise the difference between right and wrong.

We take our duty to safeguard all pupils seriously and act with vigilance to prioritise the welfare of our pupils. From day one in our school, we seek to know all of our pupils well. To know what they are like, how they are feeling, how they like to communicate and to establish a positive and nurturing relationship with them. In this way, we are able to identify when children's behaviour changes and explore any potential causes of this change.

Likewise, we seek to know our families well. To know their home circumstances and where they are facing difficulty, we will offer Early Help to prevent small challenges becoming a more significant concern. 

We very much recognise that it can happen here and when it does, we provide the necessary support, or seek support from elsewhere, to ensure that the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences is limited and that all children thrive.

Any concerns are approached with a professional curiosity, which may involve discussions between a child and familiar member of staff and asking parents to meet with use to discuss concerns we may have. We hope that these efforts are understood by parents as our absolute commitment to ensure that no child is harmed, suffers or is at risk of harm.

Teaching

Our Jigsaw PSHE program of study is tailored to inform our pupils of appropriate and inappropriate behaviours so that they learn how to care for and take of themselves. Our curriculum teaches pupils to question, challenge and be confident in themselves. It equips children with the ability to reason and the knowledge to gain a broader understanding of the world. Through our enrichment program, we provide a wealth of opportunities to develop interests, talents and to grow in confidence as individuals.

Our e-safety curriculum is carefully sequenced for our pupils throughout their time in the school to equip them with the knowledge to ensure that they remain safe when using the internet. We provide regular updates to parents and consultation meetings to equip parents with the knowledge to support their children at home. We do not shy away from the difficult conversations but tackle the inappropriate behaviours ensuring that our pupils know the difference between correct and incorrect conduct online.

Relationships

Pupils are taught to respect their peers and to develop positive relationships with them. Through our program of study on relationships, pupils learn how to associate with others and how to manage relationships effectively. Sexual Violence or Sexual Harassment is not tolerated and where a behaviour could be interpreted as such, pupils and their parents are spoken with and incidents are dealt with in line with our school behaviour policy and our peer on peer abuse policy.

Bullying is not tolerated in our school. We will work with the families of both victims and perpetrators to ensure that children are heard and communicated with to avoid further harmful behaviours. We do not shy away from using the word bullying, but at the same time use this only when there is evidence to support such a claim, in that the behaviour is repeated over extended periods and is targeted. For further information on bullying, please see the school's behaviour policy.

Policies and staff training

Our school policies are updated regularly to ensure that they are robust and in line with national guidance contained in Keeping Children Safe in Education. Staff have regular updates and training in practice through our network meetings with the Local Authority through trembly professional development, which includes up-to-date training in online safety. All incidents of concern whatever level are recorded on CPOMs. This enables us to monitor and track incidents over time and build up a bigger picture of the experiences that are happening in school and in children's lives. We use the same system to monitor and record any behaviour incidents, which may include behaviour linked to sexual violence or sexual harassment. Despite our pupils being young, we ensure that we communicate when behaviours are not appropriate at this early stage to avoid pupils thinking it is permissible. 

Visitors and adults in school

Only adults who have had all the appropriate background checks and who are thoroughly vetted are permitted into school to work with children in regulated activity. There is an extensive induction process for new staff. Children will never be left unsupervised with adults who have not had the appropriate checks. Whilst our governors do not necessarily engage in regulated activity, as regular visitors to the school, we require them to have an enhance disclosure and barring check. All governors and those working with children in regulated activity will be added to our school Single Central Record following all necessary checks. All adults who enter the building must be signed in at the school office and sign out upon leaving. Visitors from partners such as Severn Arts or the University of Worcester, who regularly work with us are required to wear clear identification. Adults who have not been authorised by prior arrangement will not be permitted to enter the school under any circumstances. All of those who work with children in regulated activity are bound by the school's code of conduct, which ensures that the behaviour of adults is appropriate and where this is not the case incidents are recorded or referred to the Local Area Designated Officer and adults will be asked to leave the school site immediately.

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass which is a national scheme that operates jointly between schools and police forces. Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has experienced domestic abuse. Information is sent directly to the Headteacher who may need to liaise with the police/child protection services. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families. 

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 identifies children who experience domestic abuse as victims of domestic abuse in their own right. We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and we believe this will be extremely beneficial for all those involved. 

Operation Encompass has proved very effective in providing appropriate support in a timely manner. If you would like some more information about how Operation Encompass operates and the benefits, you can view it online at https://www.operationencompass.org 

Please see our whole school approach for further details regarding how our school community works together to ensure the safety and well-being of our pupils.