Assistant Head - Director of Safeguarding

Assistant Head
- Director of Safeguarding

This is a significant leadership opportunity for an experienced safeguarding professional who can combine expertise, sound judgement and compassion to ensure every pupil feels safe, supported and able to flourish. The successful candidate will lead safeguarding strategy and practice, oversee complex child protection matters, provide guidance and training to colleagues, and work closely with pupils, families, staff, governors and external agencies.

We welcome applications from experienced teachers, educational leaders and safeguarding professionals from related sectors. While experience in education is highly desirable, we are equally interested in candidates who have developed substantial safeguarding expertise through social care, local authority safeguarding services, the LADO function or other child protection settings.

OSH is a warm, inclusive and upbeat school community, where teachers enjoy teaching motivated and interesting young people in a calm and orderly atmosphere.

We enjoy a very good academic reputation, but we are not all about league tables. This school prides itself on a balance of academic achievement and outstanding opportunity for our students to develop as well-rounded people.

OSH is so much more than an 11-18 state school. It is a vibrant and morally driven community that seeks to send out into the wider world young people who can genuinely make a difference to the common good. Our former pupils may be found in Parliament; the media; the military; medicine; banking and finance; public service; science and research; the creative arts and the law.

What they all have in common is an optimism about who and what they are, and what just what they can achieve. They are both aspirational and humble. We work hard to keep them grounded, but always aiming high.

The environment, both in and out of the classroom, for pupils to grow, develop and enjoy their schooling, is underpinned by a deep commitment and can-do attitude shared by our staff, from teachers to cooks and sports coaches to the medical team.

Old Swinford Services Ltd seeks to appoint a knowledgeable and dedicated Director of Safeguarding to lead this important area of School life.

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 Designated Safeguarding (DDSLs). The DoS also reports at two key committees – The Governors’ Pupil Welfare and Behaviour Committee and The Governors’ Safeguarding Committee.

Old Swinford Hospital (OSH) is a strong, values driven community. At OSH, safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility. The core safeguarding team includes three DDSL’s and in addition, senior boarding and pastoral colleagues are trained up to DSL level. The DoS meets with the Governors’ Safeguarding Committee two or three times each term.

We are now looking for an experienced colleague to lead and manage this important area of School life as we grow in number. Our intention is for the Assistant Head
- Director of Safeguarding to become our DSL and report to the Deputy Headmaster. The Director of Safeguarding will also be a member of the School’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

The person we are looking to appoint will be:

• a capable individual who can work swiftly and thoroughly and keep the paramountcy principle at the heart of all safeguarding work
• an experienced safeguarding practitioner who has worked at a senior level in…