It is every school’s statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, as outlined by the DfE in its publication Keeping Children Safe in Education, updated for September 2025.

This means that a school must protect children from maltreatment, prevent impairment of children’s health or development, ensure that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care, and take action to enable all children to achieve the best outcomes.

At St John Fisher, we ensure that everyone who comes into contact with children and their families understands the role they play in safeguarding. All staff and governors renewed their safeguarding training during September 2025, and new members of staff receive safeguarding training as part of their induction.

St John Fisher is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all children, staff, and visitors. We also promote an ethos in which children and adults feel confident about raising concerns regarding their own safety or the well-being of others

What to do if you are Concerned

If you are concerned about a child’s wellbeing, please share your concern with Mrs Hadfield, the Head teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead, at the earliest opportunity. Contact the Headteacher on 0161 6433271 or contact the school office: office@stjohnfisher.stoccat.org.uk

If your concerns relate to the actions or behaviour of a member of staff or volunteer in school, then you should report this to the Headteacher who will consider what action to take and seek relevant advice.

If the concern relates to the Headteacher, refer the matter to the Chair of Governors: Jayne Sullivan

KCSIE 2025

Please click here to read ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025’.

Safeguarding Policy

To view our Safeguarding Policy, please click here.

Operation Encompass

As part of St John Fisher’s commitment to keeping children safe, we are proud to be part of Operation Encompass.

Operation Encompass is a unique Police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people exposed to domestic abuse.

From April 2019, Police will inform Rochdale schools prior to the start of the following school day, when a child or young person has been involved in or exposed to a domestic incident.

Being part of Operation Encompass means our school will receive a notification from Greater Manchester Police before the start of the next school day when a child or young person has been involved in or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous day.  Operation Encompass aims to mitigate harm to children by enabling immediate support, so that all interactions from when the child first arrives at school the day after notification of an incident, are of a positive nature.

All information relating to Operation Encompass is given in strict confidence to the school’s Key Adults.

Online Safety

While there are huge benefits to being online in order to stay connected to friends and family, it’s important to have regular conversations with your children about staying safe online and encouraging them to talk to you if they see anything worrying.

What harms might my child experience online?

You may have concerns about specific harms that your children experience online including: abuse, criminal exploitation, exposure to radicalising content, consensual and non-consensual sharing of images/videos, cyber-bullying, exposure to age-inappropriate content and harmful content.

Where can I go for help?

These resources will support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

NSPCC

The following are useful website if you are concerned at all about the safety of a child:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

https://www.childline.org.uk/

Prevent

The Prevent strategy is a key part of the UK government’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, and is focused on preventing individuals from being drawn into terrorism or extremist ideologies. In schools, the Prevent strategy is implemented as part of a broader duty of care, aiming to safeguard children from risks of radicalisation.

At St. Ethelbert’s, all staff receive annual training so that they are able to recognise the signs of radicalisation or vulnerability to extremist views.

Staff have learned how to identify possible signs such as:

  • sudden changes in behaviour & attitudes
  • expressing extremist or divisive views
  • isolation from peers or withdrawal from school activities
  • accessing or sharing extremist material online

At St John Fisher, Prevent principles are integrated into our curriculum, including:

  • Promoting British Values, including democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect for different faiths and beliefs.
  • Critical Thinking Skills: building resilience by encouraging debate, critical thinking, and understanding of different perspectives.
  • Online Safety – teaching our children about the risks of accessing harmful content and promoting safe internet use.

Please also see our Statement Preventing Radicalisation.