Safeguarding
Oakridge Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of our children and young people. We maintain an attitude of 'It could happen here' where safeguarding is concerned. We expect all staff, governors, parents and carers, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment. We have 3 fully trained designated safeguarding leads in school.
The people you should talk to in school are:
Designated Safeguarding Lead : Mr Wylde
Location of office : Next to main office
Contact Number : 01785 337300
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead : Miss Homer
Location of office : Next to library
Contact Number : 01785 337300
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead : Mrs Evans
Location of office : Reception Class
Contact Number : 01785 337300
Safeguarding Governor : Kate Lincoln
Contact: kate.lincoln@oakridge.staffs.sch.uk
Chair of Governing Body : Sue Wilson
Contact: chair@oakridge.staffs.sch.uk
Have you got a serious concern about the safety of a child or young person up to the age of 18?
Do you think a child or young person is being harmed or is at risk of being harmed?
Are you worried that a child is living in circumstances where they are treated badly and not cared for properly?
If you have concerns out of school hours and during holidays please telephone
Staffordshire Children's Advice & Support (Front Door) on
0300 111 8007
If you cannot reach us by phone, please make your enquiry online.
Opening times
Monday to Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Out of hours
Outside of the hours above, or on weekends and bank holidays, please contact the
Emergency Duty Team by phoning 0345 604 2886
Please find some useful links below:
Staffordshire Children's Advice and Support
Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board - Parents and Carers
CEOP - Child Exploitation and Online Protection
Young Minds - Mental Health Support
Childline - Online, On the Phone, Anytime
111: Non-Emergency Health Advice
Safeguarding and the Curriculum
At Oakridge, the children are taught that safety always comes first. Our taught and wider curriculum takes into account that safety is multi-faceted. We aim to equip children with the knowledge and skills they need in order to stay safe in a range of different contexts. Our ethos is to ensure our children feel able to talk about their concerns and feel listened to by all staff members at school. Every classroom has a ‘Worry Box’ which allows children to share worries and issues with a member of staff. Where they have a more personal issue or concern then they can request a ‘The Listening Ear.’ Staff are trained to work with children using an emotion coaching style.
Through the Oakridge Way and behaviour policy, children learn how to develop their personal safety in order to keep themselves and others safe at school.
When using the playground, children are taught to follow The Oakridge Way outside of the classroom so that they play both respectfully and safely. This creates a school environment where all children can learn and develop whilst also ensuring children can enjoy their right to play
Our school assemblies are themed around ‘The Oakridge Way’ whilst also addressing wider issues such as Child on Child abuse, anti-bullying and online safety. Assemblies are linked to our British Values.
Fortnightly First News assemblies also allow children to discuss and debate national and global current affairs linked to issues of safety. Through these assemblies, children have been exposed to discussions surrounding the COVID vaccinations for children and the war in Ukraine.
Our PSHE curriculum, using the Jigsaw scheme, follows 6 units: Being Me, Celebrating Differences, Dreams and Goals, Healthy Me, Relationships and Changing Me. The scheme aims to prepare children for their later lives, helping them to develop a sense of self and valuing who they are. They learn about the importance of staying safe through a range of issues such as mental health, building relationships and anti-bullying. We also use external expert teacher advisers to support our delivery on subjects including consent and we took part in the ‘NSPCC Speak Out Stay Safe’ safeguarding programme for children aged 5-11.
At Oakridge, children learn that staying healthy encompasses both physical health as well as mental health and well-being, which is supported by the delivery of both our PE and PSHE curriculums as well as being enhanced with our after-school sporting provision which is attended by over 60% of the children. Through our mental health connect day we encourage the wider community to connect with one another and reflect on the importance of relationships in a very busy world.
In our ever-changing society, the delivery of online safety forms a fundamental part of our Computing curriculum. Each half-term, each year group covers a different online safety lesson from Project Evolve. These include themes of self-image and identity; online relationships; online reputations; online bullying; managing online information; health, wellbeing and lifestyle; privacy and security; and copyright and ownership. We also celebrate Safer Internet Day every February.
Our wider curriculum includes enrichment activities and opportunities such as walks in the local area, attending swimming lessons and the Bikeability cycling scheme to ensure our pupils are ‘road safe’ and have skills that will equip them in their later lives. Health and Safety forms a firm foundation of many lessons within our curriculum including Design and Technology (particularly food technology) and Science (e.g. working with electricity).
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child's welfare.
We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website.