Safeguarding and Online Safety

Child Protection and Safeguarding 

Castle Hill shares, with everyone in Education, an objective to help keep children and young people safe by contributing to:

• Providing a safe environment for children and young people to learn

• Identifying children and young people who are suffering or likely to suffer harm and taking appropriate action with the aim of making them safe

We have a culture at Castle Hill where Safeguarding is everyone’s business as we recognise that we are in a unique position to support children and their families. We know that we are responsible to take a key role in safeguarding all children and, in particular, in child protection.  

Castle Hill has robust procedures, recognised as a strength by OFSTED in March 2024. All our staff have annual statutory safeguarding training as well as completing additional training to specialise in areas such as Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and PREVENT.  

All schools are required to have a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), who is nominated to: 

• take lead responsibility for dealing with child protection issues

• provide advice and support to other staff

• liaise with the local authority and working with other agencies

• provide support for individual children

At Castle Hill, Jennifer Smith (Headteacher) is our Designated Safeguarding Lead.  

Dawn Squirrell, who is an alternate DSL, is our Pastoral Lead and works closely with families and outside agencies. 

The other alternate DSLs are Danny Howden (Deputy Headteacher), Amanda Walczak (Assistant Headteacher) and Zoe James (SENCo) 

The nominated Governance Board Member for Safeguarding and Child Protection is Ian Tearle (Deputy Chair of Governors).

Should any parent have concerns about the safety of a child, you can contact the safeguarding team at Castle Hill in person at the office or via telephone 01473 741758.  Alternatively,  you can make an appointment via the office to speak to one of the designated leads. 

If you would like to know more about Safeguarding at Castle Hill, please refer to our full policy. This can be found within the Statutory Information section, or alternatively, a direct link to our policies page is here.