All children have the right to be protected from harm, abuse and neglect. Every adult in Scotland has a role in ensuring all our children and young people live safely and have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The vision for all children and young people in Dumfries and Galloway is that they should be: safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active, respected and responsible and included. Schools and front line education and child care services will play an important role in ensuring all children and young people are safe and well. Further information can be found at Spot the signs of child abuse – Dumfries and Galloway Public Protection Partnership.

Parents, carers and pupils have a key role in keeping the school community safe. We would therefore urge parents to share any information which would keep everyone safe, and to support and encourage their child(ren) to do the same. Child abuse is any action by another person, adult or child, that causes significant harm to a child. www.dgppp.org.uk.

There is an expectation that drugs, cigarettes, vapes and weapons will not be brought onto the school environment. In responding to drugs, substances or weapons related incidents, schools will follow education authority guidelines.

In all such circumstances, parents and carers will be contacted, and their cooperation expected. Police Scotland will be involved if drug use is suspected or discovered; this initially may be through the School’s Youth Engagement Officer. If there are concerns regarding the possession, threat or use of a weapon Police Scotland will be informed.

All schools and early learning and childcare settings in Dumfries and Galloway are expected to record any unusual incidents or concerns they may have about a child. Normally this information will be shared with parents/carers when issues of concern arise. The wellbeing of children and young people is a priority for all schools. As a result, all schools have child protection co-ordinators who will work with children, families and supporting partners in matters relating to Safeguarding and Child Protection.

The Child Protection Co-ordinator is also the single point of contact for PREVENT.

Prevent sits alongside long-established safeguarding duties on professionals to protect people from a range of other harms such as substance abuse, involvement in gangs and physical and sexual exploitation.

Prevent is one part of the government’s overall counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST.

The aim of Prevent is to:

• tackle the ideological causes of terrorism
• intervene early to support people susceptible to radicalisation
• enable people who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate

More information on Safeguarding and Child Protection and who the child protection co-ordinator is for each school can be found in the school’s handbook, website, or their school app. The name of the Child Protection Co-ordinator and who deputises in their absence should be clearly identified at the front of the school too.