Policies

Health and Safety Policy

Nurse

The School Nurse is available to deal with minor injuries and to care for sick children until parents can pick them up. The nurse maintains medical records and dispenses medication needed during the school day. It is imperative that the School has a home telephone number and a contact person (other than a parent) on file to be used in case of emergency. She can be contacted on 07046227812.

Medication

The School Nurse must be informed of any prescription medication that a pupil is required to take at School. To dispense prescription medication to pupils, you must provide the School with a “Permit to Administer Medication Form” completely filled out and signed by the child’s doctor and parent before medication can be administered. All medication should be brought to the School Office in its original prescription container, labeled with the child’s name, the name of the medication, date of expiration and proper dosage. Children are not permitted to bring non-prescription medications to School. All medications must be dropped with the School Nurse in the Recovery Room.

Parents must inform the School of any allergies that their children might have. In addition, please notify the School Office in writing if your child has a chronic illness that may affect his or her performance at School.

It will be extremely important for you to report any contagious disease to the School. Your reporting will allow us to notify other parents of potential symptoms and avoid any wide spread epidemics.

Health Emergencies

In the event that a child is seriously injured or ill, parents/guardians will be notified. If the office is unable to reach parents in a reasonable amount of time or if the situation is an emergency, the Head of School will arrange to have the pupil transported to the hospital. If you do not want your child to be taken to the school hospital kindly indicate same in the Medical information Form.

The children’s’ health and safety is the School’s foremost responsibility. The following information describes the precautions taken to protect the wellbeing of all pupils. If your child has any specific health, safety or security need, please inform the School so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Parents must fill a MEDICAL FORM for each child at the start of each session to ensure up to date records. This can be picked from the School Office or downloaded from the School website: www.riversideschools.com.ng

Accidents

The School Nurse will administer initial treatments of minor injuries. The child’s emergency contact will be notified immediately by phone whenever medical treatment is administered and an incident report will be kept in the office. In such cases, it is especially crucial that the School has working phone numbers for pupils’ parents and for alternate contacts in the event that a parent is unavailable. Please be vigilant in keeping the School’s records for your child up-to-date. In the event of an emergency, the child will be taken to the hospital.

Illness and Injury

Parents will be asked to pick up their children when there is:

• Vomiting/severe diarrhea
• Serious Injury
• Temperature 37^o or above
• Red, swollen, draining eye
• Skin rash
• Pupil is unable to return to class after 20 minutes

Drills

Fire drills are a necessary routine for ensuring the safety of pupils and staff. All pupils and staff are expected to follow the established fire drill plan posted in each room of the School. When the fire alarm bell sounds pupils are expected:

To evacuate the building in a quick, quiet and orderly manner

To evacuate the building through the designated exits

When the all clear is given, pupils are expected to re-enter the building in a quiet and orderly manner. If you would happen to arrive during this practice drill, you will have to wait outside the building in your car until the drill is complete. The drill will usually take about 20 minutes.

Visitor Identification

To help ensure a safe and secure learning environment for your children, all visitors to RMS will be required to sign-in at the School’s Security Post and wear a visitor’s tag. Teachers and staff have been instructed to direct anyone not having a tag immediately to the office for identification. PARENTS MUST ALSO SIGN IN AND OUT WHEN PICKING THEIR WARDS OR PUPILS FROM SCHOOL

Kindly visit the School Office to pick up a Child Release Card if your child is not using the School bus service.

Child Protection Policy

RMS fully recognises its responsibilities for child protection.

Our policy applies to all staff, (teaching and non- teaching) working in the school. There are five main elements to our policy:

• Ensuring we practice safe recruitment in checking the suitability of staff to work with children.
• Raising awareness of child protection issues and equipping children with the skills needed to keep them safe within the school environment.
• Developing and then implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse.
• Supporting pupils who have been abused in accordance with his/her agreed child protection plan.
• Establishing a safe environment in which children can learn and develop.

We recognise that because of the day to day contact with children, school staffs are well placed to observe the outward signs of abuse. The school will therefore:

• Establish and maintain an environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk, and are listened to.
• Ensure children know that there are adults in the school whom they can approach if they are worried.
• Include opportunities for children to develop the skills they need to recognise and stay safe from abuse.

We will follow the procedures set out by the Nigeria Child Right Act (2003) by Safeguarding Children and take account of guidance issued by the Ministry of Education and Skills to:

• Ensure we have a designated officer for child protection who has received appropriate training and support for this role.
• Who has been appointed/assigned to be responsible for child protection.
• Ensure every member of staff (including support staffs, teaching and non-teaching) and PTA Chairperson knows the name of the designated officer responsible for child protection and their role.
• Ensure all staff (teaching and non-teaching) understands their responsibilities in being alert to the signs of abuse and responsibility for referring any concerns to the appointed officer or staff responsible for child protection.
• Ensure that parents have an understanding of the responsibility placed on the school and staff for child protection by setting out its obligations in the school prospectus.
• Develop effective links with relevant agencies and co-operate as required with their enquiries regarding child protection matters.
• Keep written records of concerns about children, even where there is no need to refer the matter immediately.
• Ensure all records are kept securely; separate from the main pupil file, and in locked locations.
• Develop and then follow procedures where an allegation is made against a member of staff (teaching and non-teaching)
• Ensure safe recruitment practices are always followed.

We recognise that children who are abused or witness violence may find it difficult to develop a sense of self-worth. They may feel helplessness, humiliation and some sense of blame. The school may be the only stable, secure and predictable element in the lives of children at risk.  When at school their behaviour may be challenging and defiant or they may be withdrawn. The school will endeavour to support the pupil through:

• The content of the curriculum.
• The school ethos which promote a positive, supportive and secure environment and gives pupils a sense of being valued.
• The school behaviour policy which is aimed at supporting vulnerable pupils in the school.  The school will ensure that the pupil knows that some behaviour are unacceptable but they are valued and not to be blamed for any abuse which has occurred.
• Liaison with other agencies that support the pupil such as Social Services providing organisations.