Designated Safeguarding Lead

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is a member of the School’s Senior Leadership Team and takes lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection across the institution, supported by a safeguarding team comprised of two Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads, and four counselors. The role holder ensures that safeguarding is embedded into all aspects of school culture, leads on multi‑agency collaboration, manages child protection referrals, and provides strategic guidance to colleagues, trustees, and external agencies.

The DSL has management oversight of a Safeguarding Administrative Assistant and the School Nursing team.

• Act as the primary point of contact for local authority children’s social care, local safeguarding partners, and police (where the case leads to safeguarding/child protection

• Refer cases of suspected abuse, neglect, or harm immediately to Children’s Social Care, the Local Authority Designated Officer, Channel/Prevent, or the police, where required

• Lead and support early help assessments for children who require additional support before reaching statutory intervention thresholds

• Attend and contribute actively to child protection conferences, core groups, and multi‑agency risk assessment conferences

• Maintain confidential, accurate, detailed, and up‑to‑date child protection records (separate from academic records), adhering to data protection (GDPR/Data Protection Act) standards

• Securely transfer child protection files to new educational settings when a student transfers, confirming receipt and ensuring seamless continuity of care

• In partnership with the Board of Trustees, monitor safeguarding trends within the school to inform local risk assessments and policy development

• Assist the Human Resources Department with maintaining a compliant, accurate and continuously updated Single Central Record, advising on and signing pre‑employment risk assessments where required and permissible

• Serve as the School’s Attendance Champion, works in partnership with the divisional attendance officers, monitoring and reporting attendance concerns to the local authority

• Ensure the school’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy is updated annually, publicly accessible, and aligned with statutory DfE guidance.

• Ensure all staff (including temporary and supply staff) receive safeguarding induction training and understand their duty to report concerns immediately

• Provide regular safeguarding updates, refresher training, and Level 2 training for employees and supply staff as appropriate, as well as arranging Level 3 training for the appropriate role holders

• Promote a child‑centric environment where children feel heard, respected, and safe to disclose concerns

• Chair weekly meetings with divisional safeguarding teams, discussing safeguarding cases and advising on appropriate next steps

• Monitor and approve tutoring and enrichment arrangements

• Complete formal DSL training at least every two years to maintain expertise in safeguarding policy, local multi‑agency procedures, and legal updates

• Update knowledge and skills regularly (at least annually) on emerging safeguarding issues, including online safety, peer‑on‑peer/child‑on‑child abuse, exploitation (CCE/CSE), radicalisation, domestic abuse, and filtering/monitoring systems

• Oversee the online safety policy and collaborate with TILM leadership to ensure effective filtering and monitoring infrastructure

• Manage concerns relating to student cyberbullying, online harassment, cybercrime (e.g., Cyber Choices programme), and digital safety…