About

Safeguarding Support Limited is a multi-award winning company providing specialist safeguarding training, audits, supervision, policy development and advice to the education sector.

Our commitment

The team at Safeguarding Support Ltd is committed to provide professional, effective support to those educational professionals working to promote the welfare of children.  

Put simply, we care about the people who care.

Our vision

A world in which all children are protected from abuse, regardless of any personal or social characteristics, and that the welfare of children is paramount.

Our journey

Safeguarding Support Ltd was founded in 2015 by highly respected Safeguarding Consultant Yvonne Sinclair. Based in West Yorkshire, we serve hundreds of clients throughout England.

We are proud of our award winning achievements

  • NSPCC Approved Trainer
  • Keighley and Airedale Business Award for New Business of the Year
  • Special Recognition for Small Business of the Year
  • Leading Specialists in Safeguarding Audits
  • Digital Enterprise TOP 100, Leeds City
NSPCC Approved Trainer logo

The company is led by Yvonne Sinclair, for whom safeguarding is a passion. Yvonne is a well-respected Safeguarding Consultant who has a wealth of safeguarding and child protection experience.  She developed the role of National Safeguarding Officer for a children’s charity, and was responsible for leading and developing safeguarding compliance, policy and training for staff and volunteers working 1-2-1 with children. 

Yvonne is:

  • AET qualified
  • Awarded NSPCC ‘Certification of Competence for Child Protection and Safeguarding’
  • Trained in child protection by the NSPCC
  • Accredited Safer Recruitment Consortium Trainer
  • Member of:
    • The Association of Child Protection Professionals (formerly BASPCAN)
    • Child Protection in Education (CAPE)

Yvonne’s recruitment ethos is simple – she focuses on working collaboratively with passionate professionals, and the high standards she has for herself extend naturally to her staff. 

Meet the team...

What makes us come to work every day energised and ready to do our best is working with people like YOU.  We have so much respect for those on the front line of safeguarding and child protection.  Each member of staff at Safeguarding Support Ltd is dedicated to supporting you in your setting.  

Abigail Havon

Carol Stephenson

Catherine Dodds

Rachel Priestley

Shelley Armstrong

Join us!

We are always interested in hearing from passionate safeguarding practitioners who share in our vision. 

Proud to support

Members of

Certificate of Competence for Child Protection and Safeguarding Training

Accredited Trainer

Guest Safeguarding Associate

Abigail Havon

Abigail is an experienced AET qualified trainer who began her safeguarding career in the charity sector.  There she was a regional manager and part of the safeguarding leadership team.  She was involved in writing policies and procedures, developing, and delivering training and supporting staff and volunteers to work 121 with children struggling with their literacy. 

She has worked in a variety of business environments gaining experience in different sectors. She has always chosen roles that call for collaboration and communication to bring the best out in people and projects to completion.  Abigail passionately believes that empowering educators to work together as part of a safeguarding team will lead to better outcomes for children and young people. 

As part of the SSL training team her role focuses mainly on delivering virtual training. 

Abigail lives near the Jurassic Coast and enjoys long walks and caring for her jungle of houseplants.  

Carol Stephenson

Carol has spent her entire career teaching in Bradford primary schools. Most recently she was Head Teacher of a large, outstanding, multi-academy trust, inner-city
school where she gained Local Leaders of Education (LLE) status.

Carol is a highly experienced Designated Safeguarding Lead and safeguarding Governor, with an extensive range of expertise, skills and knowledge. It was through this depth of experience that she became a dedicated representative of Bradford Children’s Safeguarding Board. In June 2019, Carol was awarded a Bradford Safeguarding Champions lifetime achievement award 2019 for her continued work in safeguarding the children of Bradford.

Carol is in-house trained and is NSPCC certified to deliver Child Protection and Safeguarding training.

In her spare time, Carol enjoys working on her allotment. 

Catherine Dodds

Catherine is an experienced Head Teacher whose career in the primary independent sector has spanned 28 years; culminating in leading an ‘Excellent’ prep school (Independent Schools Inspectorate) and an ‘Outstanding’ day nursery (Ofsted). She is a retired member of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS).

Catherine spent eight years as a Deputy Head and DSL in a large Junior department of a through-school before embarking on headship in a stand-alone prep school. Putting children’s safety and happiness front and centre of all initiatives, she was committed to continuous evaluation and strengthening of safeguarding arrangements as well as providing reflective supervision for her DSL team. A passionate educator, Catherine enjoys delivering training, supporting colleagues with CPD and advocates sharing best practice.

Two teenage sons keep life at home ‘entertaining’ and Catherine also enjoys watching live comedy, singing and tinkering in the garden.

Rachel Priestley

Rach has a background in Business Development and Administration, gaining much of her knowledge and experience through her 19 year career with the NHS working within the executive office, community services and public health. 

Before moving on from the NHS, Rach supported the Chief Executive, the Chairman and the Trust Board of a local NHS Care Trust, which managed Children’s Services. Her responsibilities spanned across HR, Finance, Governance, Compliance, Risk, systems and processes, and internal training. Rach also supported the Children’s Safeguarding Lead with safeguarding investigations.

In 2017, she left the NHS to pursue a successful self-employed career supporting business to grow, with flexible business development and administration support, which she continues to do on a part-time basis.

Rach is in house trained, and is passionate about delivering outstanding services and enjoys working as part of the safeguarding team to achieve a common goal.

In her own time, she loves spending time outside, and long walks with the two family dogs. 

Shelley Armstrong

Shelley joined Safeguarding Support in 2020 as an experienced AET-qualified freelance trainer, and now enjoys working across the business, keeping clients as up to date as possible with the ever changing challenges facing safeguarding children in education.

Whilst we aim to simplify safeguarding, Shelley’s passion is to ensure engagement, pride and confidence through training and support. Shelley enjoys applying the competencies gained in different industries and environments to researching, designing, and developing materials for those with the responsibility to safeguard children, and in return has enormous respect for their commitment.

Her experience across the private business sector brings commercial skills to training and her background in psychology and counselling ensure courses are designed and delivered with the learner in mind.

Shelley lives in Yorkshire and enjoys walking her springer spaniels – come rain or shine!