Safeguarding
Mendlesham Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and visitors to our school to share this commitment.
Who Can Help?
There are four members of staff who have the overall responsibility for the safeguarding and welfare of our pupils (including the prevention of radicalisation) – Angela Thomas (SENDCo & DSL), Liz Churchill (Leader of Learning/ADSL), Tessa Sait (Executive Headteacher/ADSL) and Sarah King (Head of School/ADSL). ALL staff take their responsibility for safeguarding our pupils very seriously and will follow procedures to ensure that our pupils are always safe, cared for and happy.
Our board member with responsibility for safeguarding is Gillian Orves who is also the co-chair of our Local Advisory Board.
What To Do If You Have A Concern
If you have a concern about a child, please speak to Angela Thomas (DSL), Liz Churchill, Tessa Sait or Sarah King (ADSLs). They will be able to help get any necessary advice and support.
Alternatively, if you are worried that a child or young person is at risk of abuse or neglect, please contact Customer First on 0808 800 4005. Unless you are a professional who works with children or adults, you will not have to give your name, and as long as you are not a professional who works with children, your conversation will be treated confidentially.
All our staff and volunteers are appropriately trained in Safeguarding and all have current Enhanced DBS checks. We follow Suffolk County Council’s guidelines for ‘Safer Recruitment’ when employing new staff. We are trained in the ‘Prevent Duty’ and take this very seriously.
Any parent volunteers must also be DBS checked before helping in class, and all tradespeople such as builders, plumbers, engineers etc who may need to work in the school, are also DBS checked and are only permitted pre-authorised entry.
We have an electronic system of locks on our doors so that we know children are completely safe inside our building and ‘strangers’ are not able to enter.
Please see our policies page for our Safeguarding and Anti-Radicalisation Policy and other related policies.
Keeping Children Safe in Education
UK Gov resource for Keeping children safe in education