Inclusion & Safeguarding Lead

iO Sphere
· Remote or London (UK)
· Part-time

You know the difference between a support plan that exists and one that's actually happening. You've watched learners with real needs slip through the gap between the two — the adjustment agreed in a meeting, written down, and then never quite delivered. Closing that gap, for every learner, is the job.

We're growing fast, and we're creating this role to own how inclusion actually works here — not the policy, we have that, but the practice. The person who makes sure every learner who declares a need gets it, that our coaches are equipped to deliver it, and that when a safeguarding concern comes up it's followed through to the end rather than left open and drifting.

The role

Is every learner who's declared a need actually getting what was agreed, or just what was recorded? Are our coaches confident supporting the person in front of them, or improvising? Is a safeguarding concern tracked and closing out, or sitting open? Could we show an inspector — today, without a scramble — that the support each learner received was real?

Those are your questions. You'd own:

• Inclusion as a culture, not a checklist. Embedding inclusive practice into how we deliver — the default way coaches teach, adjust and support — and bringing us better strategies rather than waiting to be told the current ones. This is the strategic core of the role: you're raising how the whole business supports its learners, not processing forms.
• ALS briefings. Running Additional Learning Support briefings so every coach understands the needs in their cohort and builds the right adjustments in from day one, not at the first review when it's already late.
• The one-to-one follow-through. Owning the inclusion one-to-one journey end to end: the conversation happened, the need was genuinely understood, the adjustment was agreed — and then the part that actually matters, that it's being delivered in practice and not just filed. You have to want this part. Noticing the learner who's gone quiet and getting to them on the Tuesday has to be the bit of the week you'd do all day.
• Safeguarding follow-through, with the DSL. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead owns safeguarding; you make sure nothing they've flagged drifts. Every concern with a clear next action and owner, chased and closed, documented to KCSIE standard, escalated the moment it slips. Keeping safeguarding a live, human part of the culture — not a log nobody reads.
• Evidence that holds up. Keeping Aptem accurate and audit-ready, so at any moment — including an Ofsted inspection — the record reflects the care the learner actually got. Not background admin: the evidence is how we prove the support was real.

Someone who's worked in safeguarding, inclusion, SEND or learner support in education, training or apprenticeships, and understands why the paperwork exists without ever mistaking it for the point. You hold sensitive information with complete discretion and work naturally alongside a DSL. You can carry dozens of open threads and close every one without being chased. You keep records that are accurate, timely and inspection-ready — bonus if you already know Aptem.

And you communicate with warmth and clarity, so learners and coaches trust you quickly.

The non-negotiable one: you have to genuinely care about learners. Not the idea of them — the actual people, on the actual difficult days. If that's obvious about you, we should talk.

Ideal but not essential: experience in an apprenticeship or Skills Bootcamp provider working to the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework, familiarity with Aptem, and Level 3 Safeguarding or DSL training — or the appetite to work towards it.

Because it's a genuine ownership seat, not a…