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Director of Safeguarding

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Salary: A remuneration package will be agreed depending on qualifications and experience.

This post would suit an emotionally intelligent, resilient and experienced practitioner with significant safeguarding experience and a genuine enthusiasm for working with children and young people.

The Director of Safeguarding (DoS) reports to the Deputy Headmaster who acts as line manager for the DoS, and the DoS then line manages the safeguarding work of three Deputy DSLs. The Director of Safeguarding also reports at two key committees – The Governors Curriculum and Pupil Welfare Committee and The Governors Safeguarding Committee.

About OSH

Old Swinford Hospital is one of the country’s leading state boarding schools. A large number of the School’s students are boarders who come from a wide range of backgrounds in the UK and also from the EU and overseas. A third of our pupils are day pupils, who usually go home after lessons, unless they are involved in sport or music, CCF or DofE. The School is now on an exciting journey to become fully co-educational by 2025. Girls joined us in September 2021 in Year 7, whilst the Sixth Form has been mixed since 2004.

OSH is calm place to work. It is inclusive, tolerant and welcoming. The atmosphere is supportive and orderly, and it is also very relaxed because for many of our pupils their school is also their home. Parents, pupils and staff are all on the same side and our pupils want to learn before going out into the wider world and making their own contribution to it.

We have recently had two very favourable Ofsted visits, one for boarding and one for curriculum. We enjoy a very good academic reputation and regularly feature in the lists of the most academically successful maintained schools. We’re not about league tables, however. We pride ourselves on developing in our pupils a balance of academic achievement, character and resilience and we’ve been doing this now for nearly 360 years.

Our extensive extra-curricular programme contributes to our pupils becoming happy, healthy and interested young people, for whom sport, music, art, drama, outdoor pursuits feature in their everyday lives.

A major building programme has recently been completed which includes a large extension to an already impressive sports centre, an all-weather floodlit sports pitch, a new teaching block with a specialist arts room, a performing arts centre and a new senior boarding house.

OSH is a strong, values driven community. At OSH, safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility. A subcommittee of the governing body meets with the DSL and Deputy DSL each month, and senior boarding and pastoral colleagues are all trained up to DSL level.

Three further Deputy DSLs complement the core safeguarding team of five experienced practitioners.

We are now looking for an experienced colleague to lead and manage this important area of School life as we grow in number. Currently, our Deputy Head is our DSL. Our intention is for the new Director of Safeguarding to become our chief DSL and report to him. Our Director of Safeguarding will also be a member of the Senior Leadership Team of the School.

Person Specification:

We are looking to appoint a capable individual who can work swiftly and thoroughly and keep the paramountcy principle at the heart of all safeguarding work.

We are seeking to appoint an experienced safeguarding practitioner who has worked at a senior level in an organisation which supports children and families and where that individual has worked with internal stakeholders as well as external agencies.

We are looking for a practitioner who is equally comfortable working on recording and reporting systems as he or she is working with and training up individuals or teams of individuals.

Finally, we are seeking to appoint an individual who is familiar with regulatory compliance, statutory guidance and inspectorates.

Job Specification:

Role and responsibilities

To act as DSL with lead responsibility, management oversight and accountability for safeguarding and child protection.

To lead on Prevent.

To lead on Online Safety and delivery of IT Standards.

To lead the support for all Springboard boarders at OSH.

Be responsible for the school’s records relating to safeguarding, including low level concerns.

To work with others in the school as well as safeguarding partners and other external agencies.

To maintain child protection files.

There are seven areas of competency and responsibility as follows:

1. Culture and raising awareness

2. Managing referrals (including allegations)

3. Recording and reporting (CP files)

4. Training

5. Supporting Vulnerability

6. Acting on Red Flagged Attendance

7. Compliance & regulation

Culture and raising awareness

Keeping safeguarding responsibilities high profile amongst OSH employees.

Ensuring a culture of safeguarding and listening to children is encouraged amongst all staff.

Ensuring that the OSH safeguarding policies and practices are known, understood and used appropriately.

Being known to pupils, parents and external stakeholders as the DSL

Being personally aware of which pupils are vulnerable and in what ways.

Maintaining links with all safeguarding partners

Sitting on the Safeguarding, Mental Health and Housemasters committees.

To review and agree the safeguarding arrangements of any external holiday lettings before the residential group comes on site.

Act as a source of support, advice and expertise for all staff.

Managing referrals

To assume the lead role in referring cases of alleged or suspected abuse to the appropriate authority.

Be the School’s liaison with LA children’s social care and with outside agencies, acting as the point of contact for the safeguarding partners, taking part in strategy discussions and inter- agency meetings and/or supporting other staff to do so, and contributing to the assessment of children.

Act as the investigating officer in all child protection matters which involve another member of staff, other children or other individuals, reporting to the case manager.

To represent OSH, either individually or as part of a group, at SPA meetings, case review meetings and POT meetings.

Monitor and manage reports of low level concerns.

Make and manage referrals to the Channel programme.

Make other referrals as appropriate and where necessary including to the Police, the TRA and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Provide advice, support and training to other staff on child welfare, safeguarding and child protection matters and ensure staff are supported during any referrals process.

Recording and reporting

To be responsible for ensuring that child protection files are kept up to date and secure.

To maintain oversight of MyConcern as our primary recording tool, working with other systems as appropriate and when they come online.

To record safe acceptance and distribution of CP files when pupils join OSH, and to ensure that files from OSH are sent to pupils’ new schools/destinations when they leave us as appropriate.

To work with admissions to clarify any references to vulnerability during the application process.

To be able to keep detailed, accurate, secure written records of concerns and referrals and understand the purpose of this record-keeping.

To report to the appropriate stakeholders on case files, patterns and trends in safeguarding, as well as the efficacy of our responses.

To monitor and report on safeguarding training needs and currency and to identify and drive new training opportunities for all colleagues involved in safeguarding work.

Understand relevant data protection legislation and regulations and the importance of information sharing, both within school and with safeguarding partners, other agencies, organisations and practitioners.

Training

To ensure that his/her own training is up to date and valid.

To act as the main safeguarding trainer at OSH, delivering whole school as well as small group training and including online safety training.

To offer 1:1 training and enhanced briefings whenever required by the Headmaster.

To oversee all Prevent training, acting as the Prevent lead at OSH.

Maintain up to date training in online safety and act as online safety lead at OSH.

Use supervision and feedback to critically reflect on learning and support needs.

Supporting Vulnerability

To act as lead for all Springboard boarders at OSH.

To liaise with the AHT QTL on the impact of any PP+ or pupil premium strategies in order to advocate for vulnerable pupils when working to close the gap.

To help promote educational outcomes by sharing the information about the welfare, safeguarding and child protection issues that children may have.

To lead on mental health support.

Participate in developing safeguarding aspects of individual welfare plans, working to support recovery and resilience building in individual children where appropriate.

Acting on Red Flagged Attendance

To call home, to follow up and to conduct home visits where persistence attendance is flagged as a concern.

To analyse attendance patterns on a weekly basis with the Deputy Head and Heads of Year

Compliance and Regulation

To be responsible for the ongoing audit and assurance of safeguarding procedures.

To advice on the strategic development of safeguarding and on policy.

To ensure whole school compliance with safeguarding training.

Prepare and maintain safeguarding risk assessments relative to both individuals and the school as a whole.

To liaise with and support the work of the careers co-ordinator in ensuring adequate welfare and safeguarding arrangements for placements and visits.

Other

To join the SLT of the School as an active member.

To model professional behaviour at all times to colleagues and members of the wider community

Undertake any other such duties as may be reasonably requested and which could include evening and weekend work

Seek the views of stakeholders, for example, via surveys and responding to these as appropriate.

Be proactive in communicating information to all stake holders.

Take an active part in boarding audits.

Have an understanding of national and local safeguarding issues.

Work closely with those nominated to act with him/her (as Deputy DSLs, for example) so that they can assist him/her and provide effective cover when required.

Remuneration & Hours

A remuneration package will be agreed depending on qualifications and experience.

Your hours as a Director of Boarding will be will be 37.5 hours per week, term time plus two weeks – one week at the end of term and one week at the beginning of term. Your work pattern will be Monday to Friday 8.30 to 16.30 with a 30 minute break, with some flexibility.

In line with current regulation you will, if you are eligible, be offered a workplace pension through NEST.

Equal Opportunities

Old Swinford Services Ltd welcomes applications for employment from all sectors of the community.

Suitability to Work with Children

Old Swinford Services Ltd is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and applicants are required to undertake an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service check.

The School reserves the right to close the job advert early where sufficient applications have been received and so we encourage early applications to ensure consideration for the post