Keeping our children safe is our absolute priority. You can find further information regarding our approach to Safeguarding in our policies, but should you need to speak to a Designated Safeguarding Lead, or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, at the school then please phone the office on 01794  388381. You can then ask to speak to Paul O'Brien (DSL), Hannah Davey (DDSL), Kim Marten (DDSL), Kate Meeker (DDSL) or Sam Boot (DDSL). Further contact details can be found on the 'Contact Us' section of our website.

We thank you for your cooperation in helping us to keep our children and all community stakeholders as safe as we can.

Keeping Children Safe – Your Role

What should you do if you are worried about the safety of any child? If it is an emergency situation, where you are concerned about the immediate safety of a child you should call 999. To make a safeguarding referral as a member of the public, the number you should call is 0300 5551384. We all have a key role in keeping all children safe. If you are worried, report it to those who can help.

We had our whole school safeguarding training again recently, and a key thing to remember is that safeguarding does not stop at the school gate - we can all make a difference to a young person’s life.

School Use of Images September 2026

Dear Parents and Carers,

At King's Somborne CE Primary School, the safety and wellbeing of our children will always be our highest priority.

In the summer, national safeguarding guidance issued by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) highlighted growing concerns about the misuse of children's imagesonline. The guidance encourages schools, parents and carers to carefully consider how children's photographs are shared publicly, particularly in light of emerging technologies that can manipulate images in harmful ways. [nationalcr...ncy.gov.uk], [iwf.org.uk] We discussed this in great detail at a recent Governors meeting, too.

As a result, we will be gradually moving towards the use of faceless or non-identifiable photographs on our school website, newsletters and other public communications. This means that where photographs are used, they will increasingly be taken from angles that do not clearly show children's faces, or will focus on activities, achievements and learning rather than identifiable images of individual pupils.

Many families will already be familiar with this approach, as it mirrors the practice we have adopted on our Instagram account for some time.

We recognise that this is a change, and in many ways it is a sad reflection of the challenges that schools and society now face. One of the great joys of school life is celebrating children's achievements and sharing the wonderful experiences that make our community so special. However, after careful consideration, we believe this is an important and proportionate step in helping to safeguard our pupils.

Please be assured that we remain committed to capturing and sharing the life, learning and spirit of our school. We will continue to celebrate our children's successes, showcase exciting opportunities and give families a window into school life. The only difference is that we will do so in ways that reduce the risk of children being identifiable in publicly available images.

If you would like to read more about the guidance that has informed this decision, you can find information from the National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation here:

National Crime Agency guidance:
New guidance for parents and carers as AI-manipulated images of children become a growing concern [nationalcr...ncy.gov.uk]

Internet Watch Foundation guidance:
AI Child Sexual Abuse Imagery: Advice for Parents and Carers [iwf.org.uk]

Thank you for your understanding and support as we continue to place safeguarding at the heart of all that we do.

Yours sincerely,

Paul O'Brien