Safeguarding

Safeguarding at Overdale Junior School

At Overdale Junior School, we fully recognise the vital role we play in safeguarding children and supporting their well-being. We are committed to creating a safe, supportive environment where every pupil feels valued, listened to, and protected.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. All staff, volunteers, and professionals who come into contact with children and their families are expected to play their part. To do this effectively, we take a child-centred approach—always asking: What is in the best interests of the child?

We foster a culture of vigilance and take a whole-school approach to safeguarding. This means that safeguarding is embedded into every aspect of school life, from classroom practice to pastoral care, leadership decisions, and wider policies.

Our staff are trained to identify concerns at the earliest possible stage, to offer appropriate support, and to take action to prevent harm. We are committed to understanding and responding to each child’s lived experience, promoting their welfare, and ensuring that concerns do not go unnoticed or unaddressed.

At Overdale Junior School, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils is at the heart of everything we do. We are dedicated to providing a safe, nurturing, and enriching environment where every child can thrive.

Our aim is to ensure that children feel secure, are confident to speak out, and are equipped with the knowledge and skills to keep themselves safe—at school, at home, in the community, and online. Through our curriculum and wider school life, pupils are taught how to build healthy relationships, recognise risks, and make informed, safe choices.

Safeguarding is a shared responsibility, and we are proud of our strong safeguarding culture, where staff remain alert, approachable, and responsive to the needs of all children.

If you have any concerns about the safety, well-being or welfare of a child attending Overdale Junior School—or if you need advice or support—please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can:

Together, we can help ensure every child feels safe, valued and supported.

Getting in Touch with Our Safeguarding Team

Our safeguarding email address (safeguarding@overdale-jun.leicester.sch.uk) is monitored regularly during the school day, as well as during evenings, weekends, and school holidays. A member of the safeguarding team will acknowledge receipt of your message as soon as it has been read by responding directly to you.

Please note: If you do not receive a reply, it means your email has not yet been seen. If the matter is urgent, we recommend contacting the appropriate external agency or emergency services.

At Overdale Junior School, we believe that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. It is the duty of all of us to promote and protect the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of every child.

A Child-Centred Approach to Safeguarding

At Overdale Junior School, we place the needs of our children at the centre of everything we do. Our safeguarding approach is firmly child-centred, meaning every decision, action, and policy is guided by what is in the best interests of the child.

We believe that by protecting children from harm and supporting their physical, emotional, and developmental well-being, we create a safe and nurturing environment in which every child can flourish and achieve their best possible outcomes.

To ensure our safeguarding practices are robust and effective, we have a dedicated team in place:

  • Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Mrs Cross

  • Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSLs): A team of six trained staff members who support the DSL in fulfilling our safeguarding responsibilities

Together, our safeguarding team works proactively to promote the safety and welfare of all pupils, providing a consistent and vigilant approach across the school.

Our Designated Safeguarding Governor is Tony Smith (Chair of Governors).

Our PREVENT Single Point of Contact is Tanya Cross (Lead DSL).

The safeguarding leads in school are all well trained, dedicated staff, responsible for a wide range of safeguarding areas, these include:

  • Listening to and working with children who are in need of help
  • Supporting staff in their Safeguarding responsibilities in school
  • Offering advice, guidance and support services to families of children
  • Organising and monitoring Safeguarding training for ALL staff
  • Safely recruiting and checking all school employees
  • Educating all children on keeping themselves safe
  • Creating and monitoring policies, procedures and records, that support a quality service.
  • Working closely with external agencies such as Social Care, Health care and the Police

​If you have any concerns or would like to seek advice about any concerns you have for a child that attends Overdale Junior School, please make a phone-call to the school office or send an email safeguarding@overdale-jun.leicester.sch.uk with your contact details and we will get back to you. This email account is monitored daily including weekends and holidays.

​If you would like advice, help or support with any issues that relate to the safety and protection of you and your family please come and talk to any of the Designated Safeguarding Leads at any time.

​ Everybody at Overdale Junior School is keen to improve the safeguarding service we offer to our school community so we would very much like to hear from you if you have any ideas or suggestions that would help us to do just that.

​If you have an immediate concern and feel that a child is at risk of significant harm or danger, please contact the police. You can also contact Leicester City Council Children’s Social Care and Early Help who will be able to offer further advice and guidance.

They can be contacted on (0116) 4541004.

Leicester Safeguarding Children Board:

http://www.lcitylscb.org/information-for-parents-and-carers/

Operation Encompass: 

At Overdale Junior School, we are working in partnership with Leicester City Council and the Leicestershire Police to identify and provide appropriate support to pupils who have experienced domestic violence in their household; this scheme is called Operation Encompass.

The purpose of ‘Operation Encompass’ is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in or witness to a domestic abuse incident. Domestic abuse impacts on children in a number of ways. Children are at increased risk of physical injury during an incident, either by accident or because they attempt to intervene. Even when not directly injured, children are greatly distressed by witnessing the physical and emotional suffering of a parent.

Operation Encompass has been created to highlight this situation. It is the implementation of key partnership working between the police and schools. The aim of sharing information with local schools is to allow ‘Key Adults’ the opportunity of engaging with the child and to provide access to support that allows them to remain in a safe but secure familiar environment.

In order to achieve this, the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub will share police information of all domestic incidents where one of our pupils has been present, with the Designated Safeguarding Lead(s).  On receipt of any information, the Designated Safeguarding Lead will decide on the appropriate support the child requires, this should be covert dependent on the needs and wishes of the child.  All information sharing and resulting actions will be undertaken in accordance with the Leicestershire Police and MASH Encompass Protocol Data Sharing Agreement.  We will record this information and store this information in accordance with the record keeping procedures outlined in this policy.

As a school, we have ensured that a member of our staff, (our Designated Safeguarding Lead – known as a Key Adult),  has been trained in the Operation Encompass procedures allowing us to then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to support the child/ren in our care.

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.

If you would like to talk to a member of staff about domestic violence or any safeguarding concerns, please either call the office (01162883736) or email at safeguarding@overdale-jun.leicester.sch.uk and request a call from a DSL and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you would like to speak to someone in confidence about domestic abuse, you can call the Leicester, Leicestershire& Rutland Domestic Abuse Helpline on:  0800 802 0028

For more information, visit: https://www.operationencompass.org/

Visitors:

Safeguarding is everyone’s business. As such we expect all staff, volunteers and visitors to share this common commitment. If you are due to visit the school we ask that you please take the time to read the information leaflet below. The leaflet contains information about our expectations of you whilst visiting the school. It gives information about our safeguarding and emergency procedures. You may wish to print it so that you can read it again if you need to.

Prevent:

What is the Prevent strategy?

  • Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes.
  • The Prevent strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, violent Islamist groups and other causes.

How does the ‘PREVENT’ strategy apply to schools?

  • From July 2015, all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism.
  • This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from any other harm.
  • Importantly, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues, at an appropriate level so they better understand how to protect themselves.

What does this mean in practice at Overdale Junior School?

Many of the things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy. These include:

  • Having a strong ethos based around respect, resilience and responsibility.
  • Focusing on core values through our ‘Character curriculum’.
  • Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity.
  • Challenging prejudices and racist comments.
  • Developing a strong and positive self-identity.
  • Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy.

We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the internet to make sure they can’t access extremist and terrorist material, or by vetting visitors who come into school to work with pupils.

Different schools will carry out the Prevent duty in different ways, depending on the age of the children and the needs of the community.

Isn’t my child too young to learn about extremism?

The Prevent strategy is not just about discussing extremism itself, which may not be appropriate for younger children. It is also about teaching children values such as tolerance and mutual respect. This is what we will focus on at Whitehouse Primary School.

The school will make sure any discussions are suitable for the age and maturity of the children involved.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please arrange to speak to Mrs Cross, the school’s ‘Prevent Single Point of Contact’.

Please see below our ‘Prevent Risk Assessment’.

OJS Safeguarding And Child Protection Policy 24-25

OJS Early Help Offer

OJS Safeguarding Leaflet For Visitors

Leicester City Council Early Help Offer

OJS PREVENT Risk Assessment