Academy Safeguarding and Host Family Manager

Key Responsibilities

To support the Head of Safeguarding and Head of Academy Operations in delivering a child-centred, proactive safeguarding and wellbeing service across the Academy. Ensuring effective safeguarding practice, safe and supportive host family arrangements, and positive outcomes for all children and young people. Lead on safe recruitment and safeguarding training
- Ensuring safeguarding remains central to all Academy operations through the provision of regular, high quality training tailored to the specific safeguarding responsibilities of each role. Host Family Management
-Assess, approve and monitor host families, providing ongoing oversight and support to ensure children are safeguarded and receive safe, nurturing and appropriate care. Safeguarding Leadership
-Provide trusted advice, professional challenge and informed risk management to support effective safeguarding practice across all Academy activity. Safeguarding Partnerships and Risk Management
-Use effective relationships, professional curiosity, and informed professional judgement to identify, assess, and respond to emerging risks. Embedding preventative approaches across practice. Promoting the Voice of the Child
- Champion the voice of the child, rights and best interests of every young person in the Academy. Ensuring children feel safe, valued, cared for and able to thrive on and off pitch. Compliance & Record Keeping
- Maintain accurate, timely and comprehensive case records, ensuring safeguarding concerns, actions, decisions and outcomes are clearly documented. Quality Assurance and Improvement
- Lead and contribute to regular audit, using evidence and learning to inform continual progress, improved outcomes and planning for children. Safeguarding Culture and Shared Responsibility
- Promote a culture in the Academy in which safeguarding, care and wellbeing are shared responsibilities.

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

• Experience leading safeguarding within sport, education, health, social care, or a comparable safeguarding environment.
• Experience managing complex safeguarding concerns, risk assessments, and multi-agency working.
• Strong knowledge of safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance, and football safeguarding standards.
• Experience delivering safeguarding training, influencing practice, and embedding a positive safeguarding culture.
• Excellent communication, relationship building, and decision making skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels and work effectively within a multi-disciplinary environment.
• Maintain knowledge of emerging safeguarding risks, research, legislation, and best practice, ensuring the Academy's approach reflects the evolving safeguarding needs of boys and young men in elite football.
• Ability to engage effectively with children, young people, parents/carers, host families, and external agencies, ensuring the voice of the child remains central to decision making.

• Experience with in elite sport or professional football.
• Knowledge of academy football and the specific safeguarding, wellbeing, and developmental needs of boys and young men.
• Experience of supporting young people living away from home, including host family arrangements, education, welfare, and transition planning.
• Experience of transitional safeguarding and supporting young people into adulthood.
• Experience preparing for or supporting external audits and regulatory inspections, including liaison with the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC), Premier League, or The Football Association (FA).
• Understanding of the pressures, risks, and welfare considerations associated with talent development pathways in elite youth sport.