At St Mary’s we regard the safety and well-being of our children as paramount.

Safeguarding children is carried out in its widest sense and involves providing a stimulating and safe learning environment where a child learns to take appropriate risks and develops a range of social, academic and practical skills which enable him/her to thrive and stay safe. This includes developing life skills to avoid accidents, to learn how to make friends and understand how to manage potential bullies.

Children are kept safe by being provided with appropriate levels of independence and robust learning and play opportunities which enable them to develop a range of essential social and learning skills including resilience. Nevertheless, all children are potentially vulnerable and need the adults who are responsible for them including their school to adopt safe practices to ensure they are not exposed to inappropriate risk.

At St Mary’s all staff and volunteers receive the appropriate DBS check

Our internal records are coordinated into a single central register so that important information does not get missed.

The academy has appointed two Child Protection Officers. They are Mr North and Mrs Gardiner. Any member of staff, parent or member of the public with any concern about a child’s well-being should contact the officers immediately.

We work closely with social services and other agencies to provide the best possible support to our children.

In the modern world, the internet and other forms of electronic communication also provide a route of danger as well as offering lots of exciting learning and social experiences. The dangers to children from modern technology are based on the same issues as all forms of child protection and should be seen as such but because the dangers are often initially subtle and many children access technology more frequently than their parents we have given the topic a special section.

It is important at all times to appropriately monitor children’s use of technology.

The academy has a safeguarding policy which can be accessed via the following link: Policys

Download the Young Persons Guide to Keeping Children Safe