Yesterday, two Cumbria Education Trust (CET) schools held a Safeguarding Showcase event, attended by distinguished visitors including Lorrayne Hughes, Chief Executive, Martin Birch, Director of Children and Family Wellbeing at Cumberland Council, Josh McAllister, Executive Chair at the Early Intervention Foundation and What Works for Children’s Social Care and Cllr. Emma Williamson, Deputy Leader at Cumberland Council, along with other members from two of our West Cumbrian schools. Northside Primary School and Workington Academy welcomed the attendees to showcase the active measures they take to safeguard and protect the children within their care.
At CET, it has always been the highest priority to ensure the physical and emotional welfare of our students is at the forefront of every decision made. CET’s dedicated safeguarding team led by Gill Creighton, CET Safeguarding Manager, provides support, advice and practical measures for all of the schools in the Trust. Each school provides high-quality, safe learning environments, to encourage our children to grow, learn and be the best they can be, whatever their circumstances. Our two Workington schools demonstrate this at the highest level as they go beyond their legal and moral duty to work with families to provide a consistently first-class safeguarding offering.
Northside Primary School commits itself to accessing the very best internal and external support, to deliver high-quality safeguarding procedures in order to give each child the best possible chance to succeed. The Team Around Northside, which is a group of professionals who work collaboratively to improve the estate and is chaired by Vicky McDowell, Headteacher, continually creates opportunities for our young people and empowers the community to reach their potential using a combined approach of education, welfare and safeguarding, gaining and maintaining the trust of families, supporting the community and investing in pupils’ futures. She said, “We have really enjoyed meeting our visitors today and being able to talk them through how we support the children who attend school, as well as looking at the needs of the local community.”
Workington Academy readily addresses the challenges of improving student outcomes, ensuring absolute inclusion and social mobility with a focus on making sure that potential, and not background factors, dictates their outcome. This is a school where children are respected and feel safe to share concerns with trusted adults. Katie Kinrade, Designated Safeguarding Lead at Workington Academy, works to ensure that there is a culture in the school that encourages all students to speak about their worries and to challenge controversial, extremist or stereotypical views. She said, “Safeguarding is a thread that runs through Workington Academy. Inviting Martin,
Emma and Josh into the school to see, in practice, what we try to achieve, was a real pleasure. We look forward to building a strong working relationship with them to benefit Workington Academy and the wider community.”
The showcase included a presentation by students and a visit to the classrooms, for the attendees to see PSHE lessons in action and all the children enjoyed meeting the visitors. It also allowed the opportunity to discuss and share strategies moving forward, in how best we can support and nurture our children within all of our Trust schools.
