Safeguarding Week 2023!

Safeguarding Week...

On the week commencing 5^th June, we held a whole school Safeguarding Week. A week was planned where different visitors, including: the police, a local pharmacist, the NSPCC, the Fire Service, First Aid etc. delivered a series of assemblies/ workshops to the children across the whole school. The children also engaged in daily, afternoon reflection questions linked to safeguarding, which included the following:

• Who are my trusted adults?
• What is cyberbullying and how would I get support?
• What is the PANTS rule and why is this important?
• What is mental health and why is it important?
• What do I do in an emergency?

On the first day, we welcomed pharmacist Nat, from Allison's Chemist, who spoke to the children in Years 1-4 about Medication, including: medicine safety; where medicine comes from; why medicine is useful and important; Asthma; and harmful drugs. In addition, our Year 5 children took part in a full day of First Aid, with a trained professional. They all passed this accredited First Aid course.

Safeguarding is our highest priority and happens every minute of every day at Fairfield- the aim of this week was to showcase some key aspects to the children and to hear clear messages from fellow experts in the safeguarding field. We have a comprehensive safeguarding curriculum in place and it was fantastic to see the children’s knowledge of essential life-skills and understanding of personal safety shining through.

Our Safeguarding Week continued on the Tuesday morning with Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service visiting school. The Fire Service were in school carrying-out an informative parent workshop, followed by an information session with Nursery, who naturally had to test the hoses and explore the engine! It was then time for the firefighters to host two assemblies to Years 1-6 based on what to do in an emergency, fire safety, fire safety in the home, water safety and coastal safety awareness. The children learnt lots of important life lessons and asked many thought-provoking questions.

Next, on the Wednesday, Maryport Rescue (Lifeboat) came to visit school to spend time with our Year 1 pupils linking to their Titanic topic, Grace Darling topic and of course, Safeguarding Week. The children were taught about the importance of water safety, coastal safety and the significance of a life jacket. Moreover, the whole school, from Nursery to Year 6, enjoyed an active assembly based on Sun Safety hearing lots of important messages of how to keep themselves safe and hydrated in the warm weather.

On the Thursday, children in Years 2-5 participated in a very informative workshop ran by the NSPCC, where they studied different scenarios to understand that abuse is never a child's fault and understand what to do in different circumstances to keep themselves safe. There was also a very engaging session based on cyberbullying and why the NSPCC is an important charity. In the afternoon, the whole school focused on further developing their understanding of what is meant by mental health and why it is so important. As part of this, our School Counsellor (Mrs. Fisher) delivered an engaging talk to our Reception pupils on the importance of her role in school, different feelings and how to cope with different emotions.

To conclude Safeguarding Week, the Police came in to talk to pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2. The officer spoke to all the children about staying safe during the summer, covering topics including: road safety, criminal damage, anti-social behaviour, stranger danger and water safety. With Years 5 and 6, as well as covering the above, the Police then held a workshop based on Knife Crime and understanding the significance of this crime and the associated consequences. The children heard real-life case studies and participated in age-appropriate discussion.

The week was a fantastic success with the children engaged and having the opportunity to reflect upon and learn/ recap essential life skills. Each and every speaker/ facilitator left with a very positive impression of our school and commented on how incredible the children were. This is now an annual event!