Safeguarding Officer

**Overall Purpose**

To support the DSL in their role of promoting safeguarding in the school, setting a healthy and effective culture. They will carry out pastoral casework, keep accurate records and track trends in order to plan for training and educational needs. They will ensure that both teaching and support staff receive regular and appropriate training. This role would be ideally suited to someone who has a background in social care and education.

**Duties**

Safeguarding culture - working with the DSL:

- To be a deputy DSL.
- To help promote an explicit safeguarding culture and ethos within the school.
- To help ensure that safeguarding is at the forefront of school activity across the whole school, including the procedures followed by external groups and agencies.
- To promote the school as a beacon for outstanding safeguarding practice through its meticulous handling and recording of incidents.
- To support members of staff (e.g. Hsms, Assistant Hsms, teaching staff, medical staff and counselling staff) and advise on safeguarding and welfare cases.

Management, record keeping and information sharing
- To keep abreast of changes in statutory and regulatory safeguarding requirements (liaising with the School’s Director of HR / HR Manager).
- To ensure the school is compliant with inspection requirements where safeguarding matters are concerned.
- In partnership with the DSL, to update annually the School’s Safeguarding Policy and Child Protection Procedures.
- To review regularly current safeguarding policies, practices and processes and advise on improvements, including improvements to safeguarding management systems and their use.
- To ensure the School’s safeguarding and support mechanisms (e.g. policies, training, health and counselling provision etc.) are appropriately promoted, publicised and understood by pupils, staff and parents.
- To continue to support the low-level concerns policy, to ensure that concerns are managed appropriately, patterns identified, and emerging issues addressed at an early stage.
- To build your personal knowledge and understanding of, and developing supportive and effective working relationships with, local and community resources and statutory services, so that you are best able to deliver outcomes in the best interests of pupils and the school. These services include: the LADO, NHS, Police, CAMHS, Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, privately commissionable services and voluntary services.
- To work with the deputy DSLs and DSL in managing safeguarding referrals to the Police, LADO, Children’s Social Care, CAMHS, etc, liaising with the Deputy Head Pastoral or Head as appropriate.
- To monitor trends in pupil attendance and connect these with safeguarding concerns that are raised, taking action to help improve attendance where appropriate.
- To work closely with the Health Centre to understand issues affecting pupils from a safeguarding and wellbeing perspective.
- To take the lead for administrating the school’s online safeguarding reporting tool MyConcern, triaging all incoming concerns and allocating a lead professional and ensuring appropriate follow up.
- To maintain high quality safeguarding records and assist with the preparation of reports and production of management information to inform future practice. This includes keeping detailed logs of safeguarding concerns and proactively tracking trends via MyConcern.
- To share relevant safeguarding information where appropriate using tact and diplomacy.
- To oversee the appropriate sharing of safeguarding information when pupils are transferring into or out of the school.
- To use discretion in providing information both within and outside the school and ensure that confidentiality is maintained as appropriate regarding all pupil and staff matters.
- In discussion with the DSL, to review the thresholds framework for identifying levels of concern and appropriately manage cases.
- To take minutes of general pastoral and safeguarding meetings and confidential note taking as required.
- To engage actively with pupils, to ensure that pupil voice plays an important role in informing the school’s work in this vital area and that policies and practices are presented in a pupil friendly manner; and to ensure that pupil views and concerns related to safeguarding are heard and responded to.

Training and education
- To deliver safeguarding updates to staff as appropriate.
- To take responsibility for the coordination and organisation of all safeguarding induction and other related CPD training and record keeping, in some instances via Educare, including sending invitations and reminders to staff and governors and the retention of documentary evidence where required. This will involve working closely with the HR team and relevant Heads of Department.
- To work with governors to promote understanding of safeguarding and its demands at the governance level and to report regularly to them.
- To monitor