A church that is safe for all
Our activities must be safe for all, with safeguarding policies and practices that promote a safer church. We take safeguarding seriously and are always seeking to review our systems to ensure that we are appropriately monitoring issues as they arise.
Who can I turn to?
If you have questions regarding safeguarding, or need to raise a concern or make a disclosure regarding church-related abuse, please contact our Parish Safeguarding Officers.
safeguarding officers
Our Parish Safeguarding Officers are Pip and Liam Cuttell. The Safeguarding Officer's role is to ensure the implementation of the Diocesan and St Andrew’s safeguarding policies. You can email Pip and Liam or contact them by calling the Parish Office on 01865 311 212.
Seek support from outside
You can also contact the Safeguarding Team at the Diocese of Oxford with safeguarding issues on 01865 208290 safeguarding@oxford.anglican.org. If you would rather seek help from outside the church, you can contact:
NSPCC Child Protection Helpline: 0808 800 5000 (free and open 24 hours). Phone if you are worried about a child.
Child-line: 0800 1111 (free and open 24 hours). Phone if you are a child or young person and are worried about anything.
National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247 (lines free and open 24 hours). Phone if you are experiencing domestic abuse.
Hourglass (Formerly Action on Elder Abuse) Helpline: 080 8808 8141 (free phone Monday to Friday 9-5pm). Provides support to families suffering with abuse of older people
Samaritans Helpline: 08457 90 90 90 (open 24 hours). Phone if you feel you are struggling to cope and need someone to talk to
Details of further organisations that can help can be found on the Diocese of Oxford website.
Safeguarding training
Safer Recruitment
If you are applying for, or hold a role in church where you have contact with children, young people or vulnerable adults, it is a legal requirement to be ‘safely recruited’ even if you have been recruited for a similar role in your place of work. The safer recruitment process includes signing a confidential declaration form, providing two referees who will be contacted to provide safeguarding references, having 3 yearly enhanced DBS checks appropriate to the role, and safeguarding training. The ministry lead and safeguarding administrator will help with the process.
Safeguarding training may vary for different roles. Those who are safely recruited, as above, will need to complete online Church of England Basic and Foundation Safeguarding training and those involved in pastoral care are required to complete online Church of England Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse (RADA) training. These are updated every three years.
If you have any queries about safer recruitment or safeguarding training, please email Anne Dorman