The Designated Safeguarding Team

Miss Kate Hennessy - Designated Safeguarding Lead & Education Social Worker

Mrs Roxanne Rutter - Alternate Safeguarding Lead & Head of School

Mrs Lorna Rourke - Alternate Safeguarding Lead & Executive Principal

Mrs Melanie Lowe - Alternate Safeguarding Lead & Assistant Principal 

Mrs Lucy Brown - Alternate Safeguarding Lead & Assistant Principal 

Mrs Andrea Flack - Phase Lead

Miss Jade Colclough - Phase Lead 

Mr Julian Campbell - Safeguarding Link Governor

Safeguarding Children is Everyone's Responsibility  

St Mary's Church of England Academy recognises that the welfare of every one of our children is paramount - the needs and wishes of the children will be put first. We take our duty to protect children seriously and will promote the welfare of those in our care as a matter of the highest priority.

At St Mary's Church of England Academy we are committed to safeguarding children. Our first priority is your child's welfare and we will usually discuss any concerns we might have about your child with you. There might be rare occasions, however, when we have to provide information to or consult other agencies such as Children's Services Social Care before we contact you. Our responsibility to do so is determined by the Inter-Agency Safeguarding Procedures, which can be found on the Suffolk Safeguarding Children Board website.

If you want to know more about these, or the Academy's Child Protection procedures, please speak to a member of the Designated Safeguarding Team.

Childline has launched a website aimed at children under the age of 12. This provides age appropriate content on topics including: bullying, family, friends, feelings, school, abuse and staying safe. It also includes games and therapeutic tools for young visitors to play and express how they are feeling.  

It also includes a facility where they can chat to a counsellor online - Click Here for Childline Website

To view our current Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, please visit our policies section of the website or follow the Policies link below. 

At St Mary’s,  we recognise the importance of supporting our children and their families. Often a little support put in place quickly is most effective. To do this we need to work together. Although we are an academy, we are still able to access the wide range of agencies and support networks provided by Suffolk County Council as outlined in the document ‘Prevention and Early Help Strategy’. If you or your child needs some support, you can access early help provision by contacting the school and speaking to the Principal, SENCo or Designated Safeguarding Lead. You can contact some of these agencies yourself if you wish and sometimes they will ask the school for a referral or more information. Examples of the help available can be found here.