Designated Safeguarding Lead

John Watson School, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX33 1NN

4 days remaining to apply

• Job start date

  2 September 2024

• Closing date

  7 July 2024 at 11:59pm

• Date listed

  14 June 2024

Job details

• Job role:
  • Other leadership roles
  • Pastoral, health and welfare
  • Other support roles
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time: Hours: 37.5 hours per week, employed for 39 weeks, term time only, plus 2 weeks equivalent to ensure cover through holidays
• Contract type: Permanent
• Pay scale: Grade 12 point 35 - £41,496 to point 38 - £44,539 (pro rata)

What skills and experience we're looking for

Qualifications and Training

Essential

• GCSE (or equivalent) in English and Maths

• A Levels (or equivalent)

• Level 3 DSL Qualification

Desirable

• Degree

Experience

Essential

• Proven track record at safely managing risk

• Experience of working with children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

• Line managing others

• Successful track record in advocating for children and young people with disabilities

• Experience supporting families from a wide range of cultural backgrounds

• Experience of managing safeguarding across an organisation

• Working effectively with relevant agencies, including challenging decision making where necessary

• Ensuring good safeguarding practice across a team of people

• Experience of handling sensitive data and upholding the principles of confidentiality

• Training others

Desirable

• Education/Health or Social care background

• Experience of advocating for vulnerable adults

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• Proven track record in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with staff and other stakeholders

• Knowledge of Safeguarding in relation to children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

• Expert knowledge of legislation and guidance on safeguarding and working with young people

• Ability to produce high quality electronic reports, minutes, and records of communication and logs of safeguarding concerns

• Ability to work with a range of people with the aim of ensuring the safety and welfare of children and young people

• Good IT skills, including previous use of cloud based, collaborative platforms like Google for Schools

• To have the required knowledge base to justify why you are responding to any concern in any given way

Desirable

• Experience of maintaining Strategic overview of Safeguarding related records across an organisation

• Awareness of local and national agencies and organisations that provide support for children and their families

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Positive outlook

• Professional manner

• Meticulous

• Compassionate

• Open minded

• Solution focused

• Resilient

• Self-aware

• Reflective

• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment

• Excellent time management skills

What the school offers its staff

About The School

Many of our children and young people live in Oxford and its environs, but we also draw from rural South Oxfordshire and much further afield, including Buckinghamshire. We have a strong reputation and are over subscribed.

We are passionate about ensuring that our children and young people reach their full potential and achieve maximum levels of independence as a result of their education. The whole staff team is committed to keeping children and young people safe and to do so they recognise their need to advocate on their behalf in the wider community, including when working with multi-disciplinary teams.

Judged as Good by Ofsted in October 2022, we see ourselves as a school that is on a continuous journey of school improvement. The county recognises our strong work in the field of safeguarding. We establish respectful relationships with all our children and young people through our understanding of their special educational needs, assessment of their skills and abilities, alongside carefully planning their next steps.

As a welcoming and caring community, we are dedicated to ensuring that each individual meets their potential. We recognise talent and support career progression, with a number of support staff opting to take routes to teaching and internal promotions to school leadership roles. We very much believe in nurturing staff and ‘growing our own’ talent.

The school is situated on two sites a mile apart in Wheatley/Holton. There has recently been considerable investment in our accommodation to develop our expanding provision. This means that as well as ensuring beautiful learning spaces for both indoor and outdoor learning, there are a suite of office spaces on each site.

We share our campuses with Wheatley Primary and Wheatley Park schools, facilitating opportunities for inclusion. We work with sixth formers from Magdalen College School and host PGCE and Paramedic students from Brookes University and Health and Social Care students from City of Oxford College.

If you share our passion for making a real difference to the lives of children and young people with special needs, this could be the opportunity you are looking for. In return for your contribution to our team, you will work in an environment, which is innovative and in a role which is rewarding and fulfilling. We will provide you with induction and training and the opportunity to join the Local Government Pension Scheme, one of the largest public sector pension schemes in the UK. This is an exciting time to join our team.

Our Vision is to develop a love of learning for life through providing high quality education that respects and celebrates our pupils' unique strengths and abilities.

Our values SLICE underpin all aspects of life and learning at our school

Safety We believe that all of our pupils should have a safe and positive experience within school and beyond where they learn key skills to keep themselves and others safe.

We aim to…

• ensure all pupils access a safe and caring environment for them to thrive, through rigorous safeguarding and by providing a low arousal environment

• empower pupils to have a voice that is listened to and valued by those within their school community and beyond

• provide staff with training to maintain a highly skilled and experienced workforce to support pupils’ physical, mental health and wellbeing

• identify and offer pupils the opportunity to develop skills to keep themselves safe, learning to manage risk through age-appropriate positive risk taking and engagement with the local community and beyond

Learning We believe that our pupils are entitled to the best educational experience offering challenge and high quality teaching.

We aim to…

• ensure a curriculum that offers challenge, is inspirational and meaningful for all pupils that links directly to individual learning outcomes using curriculum pathways developed through our expertise in SEND and autism

• provide our staff with a range of professional development, workshop and in-house training opportunities to maintain the highest quality teaching and learning

Independence We believe that independence should be fostered in all pupils respecting their unique strengths and abilities.

We aim to…

• respect and support our pupils aspirations in a positive way, optimising their unique strengths and abilities to maximise their potential

• develop pupils understanding of the community they live in and how they can make a valuable contribution to society

• model and teach the skills required to be independent in all areas of life, developing a range of skills that can be generalised an utilised at home, in the local community and adult life

• ensure all pupils and staff within the school community are treated equally and provided with the opportunity of making independent choices and participating in decision making

Communication We believe our pupils have the right to have their voices heard using their preferred method of communication

We aim to…

• work with multi-professional teams to ensure a bespoke approach to supporting and implementing communication strategies

• ensure all pupils are equipped with the tools and resources necessary to communicate effectively using their preferred methods of communication

• provide staff with the skills to use key communication approaches effectively when working with and supporting pupils

• respect all modes of communication recognising that speech is one mode of communication and that non-spoken communication should not limit the outcomes and potential of individuals

Engagement We believe that our pupils are entitled to a stimulating learning environment that inspires them to engage with their learning and interact with those around them.

We aim to…

• ensure that pupils unique strengths and abilities are recognised and celebrated through meaningful praise, positive reinforcement, displays and fortnightly newsletters

• create a stimulating environment that recognises individuals strengths and interests to support pupils developmental needs and learning styles

• use effective evidence based approaches that inspire and engage pupils with SEND, including Attention Autism

• engage and liaise with a range of external educational settings and local organisations that enable reverse integration and high quality opportunities, including Wheatley Primary School and Wheatley Park School, Magdalen College school (MCS), Music for Autism, Pets at Therapy and Lord’s Taverners Cricket

Further details about the role

Main Purpose

To ensure the implementation of the school’s Child Protection Policy, safeguarding processes and procedures. This includes contributing to the school fulfilling its statutory duties in respect of s157 of the Education Act 2002, s94 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, and other key statutory documents [including Keeping Children Safe in Education, Working Together to Safeguard Children].

The DSL will take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection across the school, including online safety

To act as the main point of contact for families and professionals supporting the welfare and safety of children

To promote a culture of listening to children, taking into account their wishes and feelings, working with teachers to gain these views using the child’s preferred method of communication.

To contribute to effective partnership working between all those involved with providing safeguarding services for children.

To advise and support members of staff on child welfare, safeguarding and child protection matters, liaising with relevant agencies, such as the local authority and police.

To retain ultimate lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection even where safeguarding activities are delegated to others including the DDSLs.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Undergo training to gain the knowledge and skills required to carry out the role and meet the expectations set out in KCSIE, including those outlined in the ‘Training, knowledge and skills’ section of annex C
• Update the school’s Child Protection Policy, at least annually, ensuring it reflects national and local procedures
• Ensure that all staff have access to and understand the school’s Child Protection Policy and procedures
• Ensure all staff have the required knowledge and skills to keep children safe at all times
• Respond appropriately to disclosures of abuse or other concerns which relate to the well-being of a child, in line with local and national procedures
• Where appropriate, refer concerns to the local authority children’s social care, or to other appropriate agencies, and ensure that concerns are acted on in a timely manner
• Ensure that children who are victims of abuse are supported appropriately and sensitively in the school environment
• Ensure robust Risk Management Plans are in place where required
• Liaise with external agencies in initiating or co-ordinating referrals for children
• When appropriate, act as lead professional and coordinate Team Around the Family/Early Help meetings.
• Maintain detailed, accurate, robust and secure electronic records in relation to welfare concerns and referrals
• Representing the school in all safeguarding meetings pertaining to pupils across the school
• Ensure effective information sharing, both within school, with the three safeguarding partners, other agencies, organisations and practitioners
• Understand and support the school with regards to the requirements of the Prevent duty and provide advice and support to staff on protecting children from the risk to radicalisation
• Work with the Headteacher, Deputy Headteachers, Extended Leadership Team and teaching staff to help promote the educational outcomes of children who are or have experienced child protection/welfare issues
• To understand the unique risks associated with online safety and have the relevant knowledge and up to date capability required to keep children safe whilst they are online at school
• Where required, liaise with other schools on the shared premises in order to keep the community safe
• Where required, liaise with statutory agencies e.g. the police and social care services and ensure they have access to all necessary information if requested.
• Report to the Governing body at intervals specified in the Child Protection Policy
• To continue to develop knowledge and expertise in all aspects of legislation and national and local requirements affecting the safety and welfare of children and young people. This will involve undertaking child protection and additional training as required, including attending the Local Authority’s DSL forums
• Take lead role in managing the transfer of Child Protection records and ensuring that any safeguarding and child protection records are obtained for new starters to the school
• Manage safeguarding data and produce safeguarding data reports as required.
• Ensure the School Central Record is completed accurately and kept up to date through liaising with the School Business Manager
• Support with parent/transport drop off and collection as required

Commitment to safeguarding

Safer Recruitment
John Watson School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
This post involves the type of work with children and young people that requires applicants to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service check. The possession of a criminal record will not necessarily prevent an applicant from obtaining this post. All users are considered confidentially and according to the nature of the role and information disclosed.

Applying for the job

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Apply for the job by following the link below

Visas cannot be sponsored.

Upload additional documents

If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.

Candidate Pack for Designated Safeguarding Lead.pdf - 784 KB (opens in new tab)

About John Watson School

• School type: Special school, ages 2 to 19
• School size: 110 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 2 to 19
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report (opens in new tab)
• School website: John Watson School website (opens in new tab)
• Email address: sbm@johnwatsonschool.org
• Phone number: 01865876716
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/john-watson-school (opens in new tab)

We cater for children and young people with Special Educational Needs from the ages of 2-19 years. The school is designated for SLD and PMLD pupils. The majority of the pupils are working at pre-KS1 levels. They are vulnerable learners with complex needs who need individualised provision to meet their medical and/or behavioural needs and to engage them in learning

Arranging a visit to John Watson School

To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email sbm@johnwatsonschool.org.

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