Safeguarding Statement
St Margaret's CE Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, Online Safety Policy and Behaviour Policy.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child's welfare.
We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.
Safeguarding Team
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Rachel Whittle (Deputy Headteacher).
Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Mr Daniel Whittle (Headteacher), Miss Chloe Grant (Pastoral Lead) and Mrs Tracy Lawson (Child Protection Officer).
The Governor with responsibility for safeguarding in our school in Sylvia Dempster.
Wellbeing Lead: Rachel Whittle
Internet Safety Officer: Rachel Whittle
Health and Safety Officer: Donna Bilton
Educational Visits Coordinator : Cara Campbell
Useful Safeguarding Links
Please use the link to navigate through our directory of helpful resources.
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Useful Safeguarding Links |
Operation Encompass
Operation Encompass is a partnership initiative which focuses upon dynamic information sharing between Greater Manchester Police, Oldham Council and Schools. The initiative has been developed following local and national learning about the effects and harm upon children who hear or see domestic violence within their home.
Find out more in the document below.
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Operation Encompass Oldham for Schools with Appendices 1 to 5 | [pdf 377KB] |
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Safeguarding Training
| Safeguarding Training | Who |
Frequency
|
Designated Safeguarding Training
|
Head Teacher Deputy Head Pastoral Lead/Child Protection Officer |
Minimum every 2 years |
| Local Authority Safeguarding Training | All Staff |
Every 3 years
|
| School Based INSET | Whole School | Every year
|
Prevent Duty
|
All Staff Governors New Staff |
Every 2 years
On induction |
| Safer Recruitment | Head Teacher Deputy Head School Business Manager Governors |
Every 3 years |
| Fire Warden | Head Teacher Deputy Head School Business Manager All Fire wardens Site Manger |
Every 3 years |
Fire Awareness
|
All staff | Every 3 years |
| First Aid at Work | All First Aiders (8 in total) |
Every 3 years
|
Paediatric First Aid
|
All staff | Every 3 years
|
| Asthma and Anaphylaxis | All teaching staff |
Annually
|
| Child specific health conditions | Key Staff disseminated as appropriate
|
As required |
| Health and Safety Training | All staff New Staff
|
Every 3 years On induction |
Safeguarding Guidance
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Safeguarding Disabled Children |
| Departmental advice setting out how agencies and professionals should work together to safeguard the welfare of disabled children. | |
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Working together to Safeguard Children Statutory Guidance |
| Statutory guidance on multi-agency working to help, support and protect children. | |
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Teaching Online Safety |
| This non-statutory guidance outlines how schools can ensure their pupils understand how to stay safe and behave online as part of existing curriculum requirements. | |
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Keeping children safe in education |
| Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment. | |
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Information sharing to safeguard children and young people |
| Statutory information sharing duty guidance for practitioners and organisations providing safeguarding and welfare services for children and young people. | |
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Working together to safeguard children |
| Statutory guidance on multi-agency working to help, support and protect children. | |
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Children missing education: statutory guidance for local authorities and schools |
| This guidance is statutory for local authorities in England and is intended to help them fulfil their legal duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education (CME). | |
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Working together to improve school attendance |
| How schools, academy trusts, governing bodies and local authorities should maintain high levels of school attendance. | |
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Safeguarding Oldham - Educational Neglect Guidance 2026 |
| Guidance for professionals working with children and young people who have concerns about attendance and punctuality. |
Safeguarding Resources
Please select from the links below.
Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is Oldham’s first point of contact for:
- safeguarding referrals to protect children, young people or adults from harm, abuse or neglect; and
- care and support services which help individuals or families to meet their long-term needs, access the Early Help Service and mental health support, prevent or delay needs becoming more serious, lead independent lives and reduce dependence on public services.
A range of organisations make up the MASH including:
- Social services for children and adults
- Greater Manchester Police
- Early Help
- Education and Early Years
- Pennine Care and Bridgewater NHS Trusts
- Healthy Young Minds Oldham
- Positive Steps
- National Probation Service
- Greater Manchester & Cheshire Community Rehabilitation Company
Where there is a concern, these organisations share information to decide the most appropriate intervention to prevent harm to the person. This gives a full understanding of the situation so we are able to respond quickly and effectively.
The MASH can also:
- Help with caring for someone or enabling them to live at home, or
- Support with problems such as housing, finance, family relationships, giving up smoking or weight management.
If you suspect a person is at immediate risk of harm call 999 and speak to the Police.
You can contact the MASH from 8:40am – 5:00pm on Monday – Friday.
- Telephone: 0161 770 7777
- Email: adult.mash@oldham.gov.uk (adults)
- Email: child.mash@oldham.gov.uk (children)
- Fax: 0161 770 1576
New MASH Front Door Triage launching 26th October 2026
From 26 October, a new Front Door Triage Function will be introduced within the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), providing professionals and members of the public with a clearer route to advice and support when they have concerns about a child.
The new Triage Function will allow you to speak directly with an experienced practitioner, talk through your concerns and identify the most appropriate next steps before a formal referral into MASH is made.
This may include signposting to universal services, Family Help, community-based support or other agencies better placed to meet the identified needs. Where the discussion identifies that a child may be at risk of significant harm, an immediate safeguarding response will be initiated through MASH.
The new approach aims to:
- Strengthen partnership working
- Support more effective use of professional expertise
- Improve outcomes for children and families by ensuring they receive the right help at the earliest opportunity
Fire Safety
Head Fire Marshall - Mr D Whittle
All teachers are marshalls and responsible for following evacuation procedure in the event of a fire or drill.
| Appointed Person | Area of Responsibility |
| Miss Collins, Mrs Turner, Mrs Jones | EYFS (Nursery and Reception) |
| Mrs Duffy, Mrs Yarwood, Miss James | Key Stage 1 (years 1 and 2) |
| Mrs Adamson, Miss Barker, | Lower Key Stage 2 (years 3 and 4) |
| Mrs Hendry/Miss Slater, Mrs Warren, Mrs Cox, Mrs Campbell | Upper Key Stage 2 (years 5 and 6) |
Health and Safety
| Appointed Person | |
| Site Manager | Mr D Smith |
| Headteacher | Mr D Whittle |
| Deputy Headteacher | Mrs R Whittle |
First Aid
All members of staff are appointed persons for first aid.