Gathering pupil voice and listening to how children feel is vital in keeping children safe. We conduct formal questionnaires where children are asked specific questions, but we also listen to the messages children often give when they are talking about other things and these too need acting on.
Parents also hold an important role in feeding back to the school when there are things concerning their child. We actively encourage parents to share their concerns, providing various ways in which this can happen: ClassDojo allows direct messages, a contact the teacher on the class pages on the website, sharing of the Headteacher's direct email, the Headteacher standing on the gate before and after school and phone calls. We need to work together for safeguarding and never assume that someone else will inform the school - we would always rather be given a message a dozen times than not to be told at all!
We completed a Hot Spot mapping of the school, where children were given a copy of the school and then asked to identify areas of the school where they felt safe and areas where they felt less safe. It was wonderful that there was lots of feedback of the children feeling safe in the classroom, near the Office etc as they knew adults were there and adults listen to them. Overall the children felt safe in almost all areas of the school.
The only two areas identified was the Quiet Area on the playground, as children sometimes run in it and toilets. In the toilets some children were concerned about being locked in or other children banging on the toilet doors.
As a result of the feedback, we have Prefects who are timetabled to monitor the corridors, ensuring that children are not in unless they need to be and to seek help if too many children are in the toilets or anyone is upset.
In the Quiet Area we now have signs reminding children that it is a quiet area and not to be used for running around and adults on playground duty also remind the children.