Inspector finds 'a positive culture of safeguarding' at Norton school following concerns
The latest planning news from Cheshire
Written by David Norbury
Safeguarding at a Cheshire school is effective, Ofsted believes.
The urgent inspection was carried out at St Berteline’s C of E Primary School, Norton Lane, Norton, Runcorn. It followed concerns raised with Ofsted according to His Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) Jo Olsson.
The HMI has told head teacher Julie Barron the inspection was carried out because His Majesty’s Chief Inspector wished to determine the effectiveness of aspects including safeguarding arrangements, leadership and management, pupils’ behaviour and attitudes at the school. The inspector said she was of the opinion that safeguarding was effective.
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She found the systems for keeping pupils safe from harm were effective and there was 'a positive culture of safeguarding' within the school. This was based on 'warm and caring relationships', up-to-date training and an understanding that safeguarding was everyone’s responsibility.
Staff understood their role in keeping pupils safe and were alert to any changes in pupils’ behaviour, or physical appearance, which might indicate they were suffering from harm. The head teacher and governors had recently improved the recording of safeguarding concerns and governors were kept abreast of safeguarding matters through their meetings, visits to school and the reports they received.
Without exception, different groups of pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities said they felt safe at school and had 'absolute trust' in the staff. They were confident that staff would deal with any concerns effectively and sensitively.
Helping pupils to keep themselves safe and healthy was 'a cornerstone' of personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE).Pupils were 'full of praise' for their school and were 'very happy and exceptionally proud' to belong to its community. They behaved 'very well' from the start to the end of the day.
They entered the school in a calm manner, followed routines and settled down to their work without any fuss or attempts to distract themselves or others. Pupils attended school regularly and very few were frequently absent. They believed the behaviour of others was good most of the time.
The HMI outlined three priorities for further improvement at the school relating to improving the system for recording and evaluating safeguarding incidents, ensuring that the PSHE curriculum identified the essential knowledge that pupils must learn and increasing the rigour of governors’ oversight of safeguarding and pupils’ behaviour. During her visit, among other aspects, the inspector scrutinised documents relating to safeguarding and child protection arrangements, held discussions with teaching and non-teaching staff, different groups of pupils, parents and carers and took account of the views of parents.
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