Safeguarding
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) - Ciara Neli
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSL):
Jane Ronan Claire Reynolds Jorgina Joseph
Contact - dsl@stmarysrcpriory.haringey.sch.uk 020 88009305
Date of most recent whole school safeguarding training - 1st September 2025
Schools play a vital role in safeguarding the well-being and safety of all children. Safeguarding refers to the actions we take to protect children’s health, safety, and rights, ensuring they can learn and thrive in a secure environment.
Excellent safeguarding is achieved through an embedded culture, with collective responsibility. Where safeguarding is embedded in the school culture, as it is at St Mary’s Priory, it is not an isolated process; it is a natural and integral part of everyday life for both staff and pupils.
The Layers of Safeguarding that form our Safeguarding Culture:
1. Legislation
We work fully within statutory DfE guidance called Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). This guidance underpins all our safeguarding practice, including our policies, procedures, and safer recruitment processes.
2. Policy
The key policy is our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, which sets out our procedures and protocols to safeguard our children and protect their welfare. This is supported by other key policies, including:
3. Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) holds overall responsibility for coordinating safeguarding practice, supporting staff and liaising with external agencies. The DSL is the main point of contact for any safeguarding concerns. Our DSL is Ciara Neli. If you have any safeguarding concerns, please contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) at dsl@stmarysrcpriory.haringey.sch.uk
4. Staff Training
All staff receive annual safeguarding training, ensuring they understand their responsibilities and can recognise signs of abuse or neglect. DSLs and Deputy DSLs receive enhanced training appropriate to their role.
5. Working with Agencies and Partners
We always share relevant information with other agencies to promote the wellbeing of children. Effective communication and collaboration with parents, social services and other professionals is essential. Please click here for more information about Haringey's Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).
6. Creating a Safe Environment
At St Mary's, we are committed to providing a calm, nurturing, and secure environment where children feel safe both physically and emotionally. Our policies and daily practice support positive behaviour, strong relationships, and inclusion (Anti-bullying; Online Safety; Behaviour).
7. Curriculum
We have developed a curriculum that supports children with the knowledge and skills to make safe choices and keep them from harm, both in school out outside, and also online. Through our Relationships and Health Education and PSHE (including Online Safety), pupils learn how to make safe choices both in school and beyond.
8. Monitoring, Review and Impact
Safeguarding is rigorously monitored and regularly reviewed by governors and leaders to ensure effectiveness. We also welcome external scrutiny from the Local Authority and other partners to ensure safeguarding remains a dynamic and continually improving aspect of school life.
At St Mary’s Priory, safeguarding is a shared responsibility. We are proud that our children report feeling safe, and we remain fully committed to maintaining a strong, responsive, and child-centred safeguarding culture.
Operation Encompass
We are working with the Metropolitan Police Service as part of Operation Encompass. This is the notification to schools that a child (under 18) has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic incident. This will ordinarily be done by the start of the next school day. Operation Encompass will ensure that a specially trained member of the school staff, known as a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), is informed. The DSL can then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to ensure the wellbeing of the child.
PREVENT
From the 1st July 2015, schools and childcare providers have been issued with new advice and social media guidance to help them keep children safe from the risk of radicalisation and extremism.
The advice has been published to coincide with the new prevent duty, introduced as part of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, which legally requires a range of organisations including schools to take steps to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
Schools and childcare providers already play a vital role in keeping children safe from harm, including from the risks of extremism and radicalisation, and in promoting the welfare of children in their care.
The Prevent Duty: DfE Guidance (June 2015) can be accessed here: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/439598/prevent-duty-departmental-advice-v6.pdf
See link below for government guidance and support for parents, carers and educators.