Lead Safeguarding Officer

About the role

The role is for a Lead Safeguarding Officer in the Safeguarding in Education Team based in North Northants. The team works closely with social care education teams, local authority teams as well as safeguarding staff in early years, primary, secondary and further education settings and will be an effective conduit for information sharing and service development across Children’s Services and Education.

The post holder will work closely with the Team Manager for Safeguarding in Education and support with the operational delivery of Safeguarding advice and support to schools.

The Team sits within the Directorate of Education and reports to the Head of School Effectiveness Service.

The team are based in North Northants and operate on a hybrid working arrangement. The team consist of Service Manager, two Safeguarding Officers and a Business Support Manager.

The focus of the team is to build upon established operational relationships with educational and partner agencies and develop robust safeguarding pathways between education establishments including schools, Northamptonshire Children’s Trust and the LADO service.

Provide high quality safeguarding advice and support

Foster great professional relationships across settings and social care and other agencies

Gather and present complex information to both individuals and groups in a way they will understand

Complete safeguarding practice reviews with settings to develop, improve and support practice

Deliver targeted safeguarding training to Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), school staff and other multi agency colleagues

Represent the service at multi agency meeting

Liaise with other professionals at the Local Authority to share intelligence about education settings in order to provide a targeted and joined-up approach to school improvement

Work with partners / other services to address a range of safeguarding related issues through conferences and network meetings e.g. neglect and child exploitation, in order to reduce the issues that lead to increased safeguarding concerns

Participate in LA auditing process on behalf of education such as, Care Planning, Thresholds and Missing/Return Home Interviews.

Qualifications:

Qualified Teacher, Qualified Social Worker or equivalent.

Experience:

1+ year of post-graduate experience within a similar role.

Compliance:
Proof of ability to work and live in the UK. Current DBS check and references covering the last 3 years.

Travel:
Clean UK driving license with the ability to commute to and from work independently.

The Safeguarding in Education Team’s working pattern includes working from home, attending education settings and other venues in the community across Northamptonshire and occasionally out of the county, and some days working from our office at Bowling Gren Road, Kettering.

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28days, rising to 33days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.