At East Acton Primary, the safety and well-being of every child is our highest priority. We understand that safeguarding concerns can arise in any setting, and all staff are trained to remain vigilant and responsive to potential signs of harm. As a Rights Respecting school, we are committed to creating a culture where pupils are listened to and taken seriously. Together, we are committed to ensuring a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment where every child can thrive.

Key Contacts:

Designated Safeguarding Lead: Melanie Tyndall (Headteacher)

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads: Ms Wilkins (Deputy Headteacher)

                                                                      Ms Fisher (SENDCo)

                                                                      Ms O’Connor (Parent Support Advisor)

Chair of Governors and Safeguarding Governor: Georgina Morris

Our safeguarding responsibilities are supported by a comprehensive set of policies and procedures, including our Child Protection Policy, which is available in the policies section of our website.

All staff receive regular training in Safeguarding and Child Protection and are clearly identified to children as safe adults they can turn to. Staff are also trained to identify signs of physical or emotional abuse or neglect and are required to report concerns to a member of our safeguarding team.

When concerns arise about a child's welfare, we may need to share information and work collaboratively with external agencies. In such cases, we aim to involve parents and carers wherever it is appropriate to do so and will only withhold information where it is deemed to be in the best interest of the child. 

Ealing Children's Integrated Response Service (ECIRS) acts as a single front door for all enquiries and referrals into Ealing children’s services from professionals/practitioners and the public, where there are concerns about the welfare or safety of a child or young person (pre-birth to 18 years).

If at any time you become concerned that a child has been harmed or is at risk of harm – call ECIRS immediately on 020 8825 8000 (24 hours for emergency calls). If a child is in immediate danger call the Police on 999.

The PANTS Rules

The PANTS rules are a set of simple guidelines, often taught to children, to help them understand their personal boundaries and how to stay safe. They emphasise that private parts are private, your body belongs to you, it's okay to say no, bad secrets should be discussed, and someone can help you. Each PSHE lessons starts with these rules; our pupils know them by heart. We talk about them in assemblies too.

Online Safety

At East Acton, we recognise the importance of safeguarding children from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material, and we understand that technology can be a significant component when dealing with safeguarding and wellbeing concerns. The use of smart mobile phones poses many risks from accessing social media platforms and experiencing inappropriate content that can affect children’s safety and wellbeing. In a school setting, we are particularly vigilant and committed to educating our pupils about these risks. We work closely with the local community police officers, who deliver workshop sessions for our pupils in Years 5 and 6 in response to the growing concerns associated with the use of mobile phones and social media platforms.    

Our Curriculum

Our PSHE and Computing curriculum is tailored towards addressing these risks and to equip children with knowledge and skills required should they need to respond to potential threats and therefore, keep themselves safe online.

Our approach to online safety focusses on addressing the following categories of risks:

• Content – What children see online. Some online content is not suitable for children and may be hurtful or harmful. This is true for content accessed and viewed via social networks, online games, blogs and websites. Children may be exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful content, such as pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-Semitism, radicalisation and extremism. It is important for children to also consider the reliability of online material and be aware that it might not be true or written with a bias. This also includes the legal consequences for using or downloading copyrighted content, without seeking the author’s permission.
• Contact – Who children communicate with online. Children may be subjected to harmful online interaction with other users, such as experiencing peer-to-peer pressure, cyberbullying, sexting, commercial advertising and adults posing as children or young adults with the intention to groom or exploit them for sexual, criminal, financial or other purposes. It is important for children to realise that new friends made online may not be who they say they are and that once a friend is added to an online account, they may be sharing their personal information with them.
• Conduct – How do children behave online. Children may be subjected to making, sending and receiving or sharing explicit images (e.g. consensual and non-consensual sharing of nudes and semi-nudes and/or pornography) and to online bullying. Children need to be aware of the impact that their online activity can have on both themselves and other people, and the digital footprint that they create on the Internet. It is easy to feel anonymous online and it’s important that children are aware of who is able to view, and potentially share the information that they may have posted.
• Commercialism – Young people’s privacy and enjoyment online can sometimes be affected by advertising and marketing schemes, which can also mean inadvertently spending money online (for example, within apps). Risks include online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and/or financial scams.

Our ambitious curriculum should inspire our pupils to be curious, informed and to recognise and respond appropriately to online risks, to be critically aware of the materials and content they are accessing and to feel empowered to further research and enjoy the many benefits and opportunities computing can provide safely.

Pupils in each year are explicitly taught about the importance and practices of online safety through PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economics) and Computing curriculum subjects. The progression of these units and the links between these two subjects ensure that pupils can continue to deepen their understanding of online safety. The subject of online safety is regularly explored with pupils in all year groups through class discussion, assemblies and whole school events such as Safer Internet Day. Topics such as cyber-bullying, social media and digital identity are discussed frequently as well as where and whom pupils can turn to if they have concerns about anything they have viewed online. The purpose of these events is to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology whilst also empowering pupils to feel safe and secure.

The first Computing unit for each KS1 and KS2 year is an Online Safety unit within the Digital Literacy strand. These units are linked to the UN Rights of a child articles 16 (protection of privacy), 17 (access to information), 19 (protection from violence) and 34 (protection from sexual abuse). The emphasis is on ensuring that pupils have access to a range of information using technology whilst protected from any potential harm. The progression of these units identify the key skills children develop in each year group and show how they build them on further as they move through key stages.

Children are taught to:

- Recognise online risks.

- Understand safe online relationships.

- Protect themselves from use of technology and social media.

- Manage any issues involving technology.

- Make a report

Each computing lesson begins with SMART rules for staying safe on line. We expect all our pupils to be familiar with each rule from this acronym:

S - Safe: stay safe online by not giving out personal information.

M - Meet: meeting someone you have met online could be dangerous. Online friends are strangers.

A - Accepting: don't accept emails or messages from people you don't know.

R - Reliable: people online might lie about who they really are. Only chat online to your real-world friends and family.

T - Tell: tell someone (parent, carer, trusted adult) if you are worried about any online issues.

We regularly update parents about Online Safety developments through workshops and curriculum meetings. All parents are invited to attend these sessions - these are designed to inform and support the parents/carers about keeping children safe online. 

What parents need to do to help keep children safe online?

Parents need to know the GOLD rules:

G - Ground Rules: parents must create ground rules.

O - Online safety: activate security settings.

L - Location: keep the computer in the family room. Prevent your child from using tablets in his/her bedroom, alone. Set time limits.

D - Discuss: talk to your child about what they are doing on the Internet.

Rules to help keep your children safe

To keep your child safe they should:

• Have screen time limits and switch off times
• Ask permission before using the Internet and tell you what they are doing
• Only use devices in family space, not in bedrooms
• Only use websites and games you have chosen together or a child friendly search engine
• Only email and message people they know
• Have limited use of Internet chat rooms (on games consoles or devices)
• Not use their real name when using games on the Internet (create a nick name)
• Never give out a home address, phone or mobile number
• Never tell someone where they go to school
• Never arrange to meet someone they have ‘met’ on the Internet
• Only use a webcam with people they know
• Tell you immediately if they see anything they are unhappy with.

Go through the rules with your child. It is also a good idea to regularly check the Internet sites your child is visiting e.g. by clicking on History and Favourites. Please reassure your child that you want to keep them safe rather than take Internet access away from them.

Useful links

UK Safer Internet Centre - tips, advice, guides and resources to help keep your child safe online

UK Safer Internet Centre - Conversation Starters

Internet Matters - A safe digital world

CEOP Education from the National Crime Agency

CEOP - Make a report