At Garstang St Thomas Church of England Primary School, the safety and wellbeing of every child is our highest priority.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. We are committed to providing a safe, caring and supportive environment in which children feel secure, are listened to and know who they can talk to if they are worried about anything.
If you have any concern about the safety or wellbeing of a child, however small it may seem, please speak to a member of our safeguarding team.
Our Safeguarding Team
You can contact our Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Rachel Procter, below:
Telephone: 01995 603454
Email: dsl@garstang-st-thomas.lancs.sch.uk
Worried About a Child?
If you are concerned about the welfare or safety of a child, please contact the school and ask to speak to a member of the safeguarding team.
You can also contact Lancashire Children’s Social Care directly:
0300 123 6722
Is a child in immediate danger?
Don’t delay – call the police on 999.
Safeguarding Policies and Guidance
Our safeguarding arrangements and procedures are set out in our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.
Below are links to our current school safeguarding policy and the latest Keeping Children Safe in Education document:
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy (September 2026)
Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2026
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) is the statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges in England.
Operation Encompass
Our school participates in Operation Encompass, a partnership between schools and Lancashire Police which helps schools to support children who may have experienced or been affected by domestic abuse.
Through Operation Encompass, the police can provide appropriate information to the school following a domestic abuse incident involving a child or young person who attends our school. This enables us to provide appropriate support for the child when they are in school.
Information is received by a trained member of our safeguarding team, known as an Operation Encompass Key Adult. At Garstang St Thomas, our Key Adults are members of our Designated Safeguarding Lead team.
Information received through Operation Encompass is treated sensitively and confidentially and is only shared with appropriate members of staff where this is necessary to support and safeguard the child.
Further information about Operation Encompass is available from the Operation Encompass website: https://www.operationencompass.org/.
Prevent
As part of our safeguarding responsibilities, the school has a legal duty to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. This is known as the Prevent duty.
We recognise that protecting children from the risk of radicalisation is part of our wider safeguarding responsibility. Staff are trained to recognise and respond to concerns and follow the school’s safeguarding procedures where they are worried that a child may be susceptible to radicalisation or extremist influences.
Concerns about radicalisation are treated in the same way as other safeguarding concerns and should be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Further information about the Prevent duty is available from the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance
Remember – Please Report Concerns
Please never worry about raising a concern. You do not need to be certain that something is wrong.
If something you have seen, heard or been told causes you concern about a child’s safety or wellbeing, please contact:
Mrs Rachel Procter – Designated Safeguarding Lead
01995 603454
dsl@garstang-st-thomas.lancs.sch.uk
Alternatively, you can speak to any member of our safeguarding team.
If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.