St Mary’s Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. At St Mary’s we invest time in ensuring that children get extra support if times get tricky for them and their families.
Designated Safeguarding Leads
Designated Safeguarding Lead – Ms Sahrah Chaudhri (Assistant Headteacher)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads – Mrs Sarah Lewis (Headteacher), Mrs Anna Woodward (Deputy Headteacher), Mrs Emily Kerr and Ms Alba Ramon (SENCOs), Mrs Sara Bowles (Learning Mentor), Mrs Melanie Davis (Teaching Assistant/ELSA/SALT) and Mrs Michelle Woodward (Teaching Assistant/ELSA). You can contact them at dsl@stmarysprimary.org.
Governor (with responsibility for safeguarding in our school) – Mrs Rosie Davies
Sharing concerns
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
Everyone in the community has a responsibility for safeguarding children – not only whilst they are in school.
- If you have any concerns about a child, a family or a member of staff you can contact us at dsl@stmarysprimary.org or speak to one of the DSL team.
- If you have concerns about the actions of behaviour of the Head teacher please contact the Chair of Governors by leaving a letter in the school office.
- Alternatively the Surrey Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) can be contacted on 0300 470 9100 or out of hours on 01483 517 898, email cspa@surreycc.gov.uk (for concerns about a child) or ascmash@surreycc.gov.uk (for concerns about an adult)
A copy of our Safeguarding policy can be found here.
Online Safety
For support with all aspects of online safety please visit out Online Safety page
Prevent Duty
We actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.
You can find out more about it in our Parent Pamphlet .
Photos and videos
Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and videos of their children’s school life we are very mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and this includes the use of photographic and video images.
Any photographs or videos taken by parents, carers and relatives at school productions, sports days or other events are for the enjoyment of individual families. They must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This would include publishing images in any form of print or on the internet including social networking sites. This is emphasised before concerts and shows etc.
We understand that in exceptional circumstances a parent or carer may not wish their child to be photographed or videoed in this way. If this is the case then please contact the headteacher to discuss how this can be best achieved.
Occasionally, the local press will be invited to take photographs of school events and special achievements. We like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parent information meetings, newsletters and on our display screens around the school. If you do not wish photographs of your child to be used for these purposes, then please contact the Headteacher.
Support for Families
We are aware that our families are often facing complex challenges which have a big impact on them and their children. Please do not hesitate to contact us if this is true for you – you would be surprised about the sorts of things we can help with!
In addition there is a new Surrey Family Information Service
Website: surreycc.gov.uk/fis
Email: surrey.fis@surreycc.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 200 1004
Events: surreycc.gov.uk/directory
The website is a sources for the thousands of organisations and services in Surrey that can help you and your family.
- Search-for information about keeping you and your family health and safe
- Support-your child’s education and development
- Discover-mental health and wellbeing services
- Find-local parent support groups and services
- Stay up to date-with local events, activities and information
Support for Bereavement
You may find these documents helpful if you need to speak to your child about someone who has died.
Children’s Understanding of Death at Different Ages
Explaining to Young Children that Someone Has Died