At St Katharine’s, safeguarding is at the heart of everything we do. We are fully committed to ensuring the safety, protection, and wellbeing of every child in our care. All staff, governors, and volunteers work together to create a secure, nurturing environment where children feel safe, valued, and respected.
We follow the statutory guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education and have robust policies and procedures in place to protect pupils from harm. All adults in school are trained in safeguarding and know how to respond to concerns swiftly and effectively.
Rooted in our Christian values of Love, Truth, and Forgiveness, we promote a culture of trust, openness, and care—where children know they can speak up and be listened to. We work closely with families and external agencies to ensure every child receives the support they need to thrive.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. If you ever have a concern about the safety or wellbeing of a child, please contact one of our Designated Safeguarding Leads immediately.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Miss Tormey (Headteacher).
Deputy DSLs are Mrs Veneziani (Deputy/Headteacher) & Mrs Botley (SENDCO). Mrs Botley is also our member of staff for looked-after and previously looked after children.
Our Safeguarding Governor is Tina Bennett.
Our Commitment to Safety
We believe safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility and all those directly connected (staff, volunteers, governors, leaders, parents, families and learners) are an important part of the wider safeguarding system for children and have an essential role to play in making our community safe and secure.
We recognise the importance of providing an ethos and environment within our school that will help children to be safe and feel safe. Children are respected and encourage to talk openly. We believe that the best interests of children always come first. All children have the right to be heard and all our staff understand safe professional practice and follow them to ensure that children receive effective support. We have a child-friendly safeguarding policy that is on display throughout the school.
Our core safeguarding principles are:
Prevention: positive, supportive, safe culture, curriculum and pastoral opportunities for children, safer recruitment procedures.
Protection: following the agreed procedures, ensuring all staff are trained and supported to recognise and respond appropriately and sensitively to safeguarding concerns.
Support: for all learners, parents and staff, and where appropriate specific interventions are required for those who may be at risk of harm.
Working with parents and other agencies: to ensure timely, appropriate communications and actions are undertaken when safeguarding concerns arise.
