Safeguarding

Ashperton Primary Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

If you have any concerns in relation to the welfare or safety of any children or young people, please contact the members of staff below. There will always be someone to speak to you. 

Mr Chris Bandfield - Designated Safeguarding Lead

Miss Sam Taylor -Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mr Jon Nicklin - Safeguarding Governor

If we have significant concerns about a child, we have a duty to communicate these concerns to Social Care. It is then a matter for Social Care to decide on the steps to be taken.

If we make the decision to speak to Social Care about your child, we will always undertake to share our intention to do so with you unless we deem that doing so could put the child at greater risk of harm, or impede a criminal investigation.

We fully appreciate that this can be very distressing but we have to follow the procedures required by the Herefordshire Safer Children and Young Person Partnership.

Other helpful phone numbers are:

Hereford MASH  01432 260800

NSPCC 0808 800 5000

For Safeguarding policies and documents, please refer to the main 'Policies' section of the website.

Supporting Families at Ashperton Primary Academy

General concerns and worries should be raised initially with your child’s class teacher.  This is always the best place to go first.

However, you may feel that someone else might be better to deal with a particular concern:

Mr Bandfield – Headteacher/ DDSL

cbandfield@ashperton.hereford.sch.uk

Mrs Bullock – Deputy Headteacher/ SENDCO

cbullock@ashperton.hereford.sch.uk

Miss Taylor – Mental Health Lead/ PSHE Manager/ DDSL

staylor@ashperton.hereford.sch.uk

We would like to help, or signpost, families if you are in need of a bit of help at any time.

Providing early help is a way of getting extra support when you or your family needs it, but getting it as soon as the difficulties start, rather than waiting until things get worse.  It is for children and young people from early years through to teenage years.

How we might be able to help and support:

Below are some ways that we can offer support in school

Class teachers: Teachers know their class really well and often pick up concerns quickly.

Mental Health Lead: Miss Taylor may be able to offer suggestions to support the family.  Small group sessions can sometimes help a pupil, depending on the concern.

Outdoor learning experiences: We use our gardening area and meadow as a chance to engage with the outdoors.  We also have a nearby Forest School.  The children can also lend a hand feeding the wild birds.

School pets: Cookie, Crumble, Oreo and Crunchie live with us and provide a welcome distraction when things are a little tough.

Attendance Officer: Every child whose attendance is a concern is carefully monitored and support offered wherever possible with the help of our Education Welfare Officer. We operate a first day response system to safeguard our children.

In-house interventions: A range of 1:1 interventions are provided by a range of staff. These range from Lego club, social story groups, the use of ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant).

School Nurse: Briony Sellar is available for help and support. Contact her on 01432 363940.

Support agencies: We have good links with support agencies. We also work closely with Family Support Workers. We utilise the expertise of Educational Psychologists if the need arises.

Staff Training: Having a well-trained staff who are able to identify concerns quickly and report appropriately means that we can identify young people in need of Early Help. All of the Safeguarding team are Prevent trained and all staff have been trained about the indicators of Child Sexual Exploitation through the whole school safeguard training delivered annually.

Online safety: We have a curriculum which addresses the issues faced by our pupils online.

Breakfast Club: This starts at 7.45am. Families with financial difficulties can seek support through the school office.

Various Early Help flyers will be sent out to parents during the course of the year.

Mental Health and Wellbeing at Ashperton 

At Ashperton, we support our pupils’ mental health and wellbeing through our PSHE curriculum.  All year groups have the opportunity to explore feelings, emotions and the importance of mental and physical health. 

Our children are taught that they can talk to any adult within school that they feel most comfortable with.  They know that they can talk about any worries, concerns or even if they just want to talk to someone they feel comfortable with. 

Each class has a ‘chatter box’ situated outside of their rooms so that children across the school, can write a signed (or anonymous) note. 

If you have concerns about your child, please contact your class teacher, Mr Bandfield (cbandfield@ashperton.hereford.sch.uk) or our Mental Health Lead , Miss Sam Taylor (staylor@ashperton.hereford.sch.uk) . 

If you are child and need help, remember-

CHILDLINE 0800 1111

www,childline.org.uk

There are many websites available for parents and teachers that can provide support. 

https://camhs.hacw.nhs.uk/

https://www.annafreud.org/parents-and-carers/ 

https://www.annafreud.org/parents-and-carers/child-in-mind/ 

https://www.minded.org.uk/ 

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/childrens-mental-health/ 

https://youngminds.org.uk/ 

https://www.place2be.org.uk/ 

https://www.thecldtrust.org/ 

https://www.childline.org.uk/somethings-not-right

This app has been created by the NSPCC and may be useful for parents and children to use.

https://app.ollee.org.uk/#/home