School safe scheme

Aims

The school safe scheme aims to protect children from public danger by informing the police and other schools in the locality of possible problems, particularly when there are reports of children being approached by strangers.

The scheme is intended to provide a quick response to possible problems and a method of rapid communication with schools in the event of an emergency.

How it works

The school safe scheme will operate on the basis of five pyramids covering the areas/sector:

Incidents in the vicinity of your school should be reported immediately to the EGfL Web Team by telephone to inform them to expect a faxed report of the incident within a few minutes.

On receipt of the faxed incident description form a member of the EGfL Web Team will immediately fax it on to the schools at the top of the appropriate pyramid and to St Benedict’s Junior School which has volunteered to be at the top of the independent school pyramid.

Those schools will then fax it on to the schools beneath them on the pyramid and so on until all schools have been informed.

The first point of contact is Dee Pollard on (020) 8825 8245. Alternatively contact Janet van der Meulen on (020) 8825 7108.

It is essential that schools pass on the incident report immediately.

Normally, the EGfL Web Team will pass on the details of the incident to the pyramid in which the incident has occurred. However, in some cases it may be appropriate to convey the message to two or more pyramids. In certain circumstances all pyramids will be notified.

School safe procedures

Reporting an incident at your school

What to do if a pupil, parent or member of staff reports an incident involving a pupil at your school, either:

on the way to or from school
during the school day

Please follow these procedures step-by-step:

1. Complete an incident description form (word). This will enable information to be passed on in a consistent format.

2. If the pupil involved in the incident has an allocated social worker inform the social worker about the incident and indicate that you have done so by completing the relevant part of the form.

Note: you only need to complete this section if the child has an allocated social worker.

3. Consult the headteacher or deputy to ensure that it is an incident that is appropriate to report to school governance unit and/or the police.

4. Subject to 3 above, notify the police of the incident.

5. Immediately notify Dee Pollard on (020) 8825 8245 by phone to alert her to the fact you will be sending a fax through reporting the incident. Should you have any difficulty getting through on this number, please contact Janet van der Meulen on (020) 8825 7108

6. Fax the incident description form to (020) 8825 8299, for the attention of Dee Pollard.

7. Sometimes the local authority will liaise with the police if it is considered to be of benefit to increase patrols in the area.

Receiving an incident report from EGfL Web Team

What to do when your school receives a fax from school governance unit regarding an incident. Please follow these procedures step-by-step:

You need to take urgent action!

1. Fax the incident description form on to the school(s) linked to your school on the pyramid including the school that reported the incident. See pyramid link charts on the right hand side of this page.

2. Telephone the school/schools you are responsible for reporting to on the pyramid to inform them to expect a fax of a school safe incident. However do not delay sending the fax if you cannot get through on the phone.

3. Await a fax transmission report to confirm the fax was sent successfully.

4. Please keep a record of the fax and your transmission reports.