Working With Communities

Contextual safeguarding is about keeping children and young people safe – physically, emotionally and mentally – from significant dangers they may experience beyond their families. Some extra-familial relationships can be potentially harmful, such as those formed at school, in local neighbourhoods and online. Safeguarding concerns in these contexts could consist of harassment or violence from their peers, a risk of grooming, whether online or in person.

Our local village park, where frequent incident reports have been made, has highlighted to the local need for ‘Stranger Danger’ education for our children. Whilst the risk posed by strangers is rare, it’s important to make our children aware of simple tips they can follow to keep themselves a little safer. This has included a visit from the local PSCO and working with guidance from the Purple Leaf Programme, which is an educational resource, run by West Mercia Support Centre, created to increase young people’s awareness of abuse, to equip them with the skills, knowledge and tools to be able to identify uncomfortable feelings, and to know where to go for help and support.

We are a safer school. West Mercia Police and Shropshire Council support our school with the Safer School initiative. We are an accredited ‘Safer School’ and proud of our Safer School sign and certificate. The accreditation is reviewed every two years.

The initiative is a holistic, practical and realistic approach to school security and personal safety. It gives our school a clear focus on the subject and turns a negative subject into a positive one. It sets a minimum standard for school security. https://www.tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk/safer-school/