Safeguarding Officer

Gospel Oak School, Tipton, West Midlands, DY4 0BZ

41 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  As soon as possible

• Closing date

  14 January 2025 at 10am

• Date listed

  26 November 2024

Job details

• Job role:
  • Pastoral, health and welfare
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: £28,980.74 - £30,967.54 Annually (Actual) Scale 6 Point 18-22

Safeguarding Officer job summary

The Safeguarding Officer will provide comprehensive support to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Student Support Team in dealing with all aspects of safeguarding and child protection and providing comprehensive health & welfare support to students.

Summary

• Work in partnership with teaching and other educational support staff within the school as well as the student's families.
• Ensure that staff are trained well to understand safeguarding policies, systems, and processes.
• Liaise and embed direct working relationships with external agencies.
• Ensure that pupils, staff, and parents know how to identify and report a safeguarding concern.
• Ensure that Gospel Oak School develops pupils’ confidence, resilience, and knowledge so that they can keep themselves mentally healthy.
• Ensure that pupils recognise online and offline risks to their wellbeing.
• Act as a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, providing high level support to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Specific Responsibilities:

Safeguarding and Child Protection

Completion of Risk Assessments

• Identify and assess risks to students' welfare and safety, implementing strategies to mitigate these risks
• Conduct regular reviews and update records

Incident Management

• Respond promptly and effectively to safeguarding concerns, following school protocols and statutory guidance
• Record and report incidents accurately and maintain detailed case files on MyConcern
• Action concerns from worry boxes which are emptied by reception fortnightly
• Manage SENSO alerts, offer support and guidance to students who have been highlighted

Training and Awareness

• Provide ongoing training and updates to staff on safeguarding issues, policies, and procedures
• Update the safeguarding briefing every fortnight, informing staff of key students
• Educate students individually or in small groups about safeguarding issues and how to seek help if needed

Multi-agency Collaboration

• Work closely with external agencies, including social services, the police, and health professionals, to ensure coordinated support for students
• Participate in multi-agency meetings and case conferences as required
• Ensure that meetings on calendar clearly shows which member of staff is attending

Family Liaison

Communication and Relationship Building

• Serve as the primary point of contact for families, especially those needing additional support
• Build positive relationships with parents and caregivers to foster trust and open communication

Support and Guidance

• Provide families with information, advice, and support on a range of issues, including parenting, health, and education
• Facilitate access to external services and resources for families in need such as Early Help Assessments

Home Visits

• Conduct home visits to understand better and address the needs of students and their families
• Use visits to assess home environments and offer tailored support

Parent Engagement

• Organise and participate in parent workshops, meetings, and events to encourage active engagement in their child's education
• Work with pastoral team to address parental concerns and provide mediation between families and the school when necessary

Student Support

Pastoral Care

• Work closely with the Pastoral team to offer emotional and practical support to students facing personal, social, or academic challenges
• Develop and implement support plans tailored to the needs of individual students and disseminate key information to staff via fortnightly safeguarding briefing
• Consistent duty point in restaurant in mornings, so students are aware of location and can come and meet if required
• Attend fortnightly inclusion meetings to share information and create action plans to support specific students

Early Intervention

• Identify early signs of issues such as abuse, neglect, mental health problems, or substance abuse.
• Work proactively to address these issues before they escalate, coordinating with pastoral team and external agencies to offer suitable support such as Early Help

Attendance and Behaviour Monitoring

• Work closely with Attendance team to monitor and support improvements in student attendance
• Work closely with Pastoral team to monitor and support improvements in behaviour of vulnerable students
• Implement strategies to re-engage students at risk of disengagement from school

Compliance and Reporting

Record Keeping

• Maintain comprehensive and confidential records of all safeguarding concerns and family liaison activities
• Ensure that all documentation is accurate, up-to-date, and securely stored
• Reporting
• Ensure all information is shared and agreed with the DSL
• Prepare regular reports on safeguarding and family liaison activities for meetings with parents and external agencies
• Ensure timely submission of statutory reports and compliance with legal requirements and any feedback is disseminated to all stakeholders

Audit Review

• Participate in internal and external audits of safeguarding practices.
• Regularly review and update safeguarding policies and procedures to reflect changes in legislation or best practices

Whole-School Approach

Culture of Safeguarding

• Promote a culture of vigilance and responsibility towards safeguarding within the school community by contributing to student, staff, and parent briefings
• Encourage all staff and students to be aware of and act on safeguarding

Community Links

• Build and maintain strong links with community organizations and services to support students and families.
• Participate in community initiatives that promote child welfare and family well-being

Whilst every effort has been made to explain the main duties and responsibilities of the post, each individual task undertaken may not be identified. Staff will be expected to comply with any reasonable request from a manager to undertake work of a similar level that is not specified in this job description. This job description will be reviewed annually, and the Principal reserves the right to alter the content of this job description, after consultation with the post-holder, to reflect changes to the job or services provided, without altering the general character or level of responsibility.

Next steps

If you are excited by this role and believe you have the vision and values to fulfil this challenge, then please contact the HR department on GOSHR@gospeloakschool.co.uk or by calling us on 0121 556 1351.

A visit to the school and an informal chat with a member of the SLT team is welcomed and encouraged prior to making your application.

Closing date: Tuesday 14th January 2025 @ 10am

Want to know more about Gospel Oak School?

Please visit our website www.gospeloakschool.co.uk, the Central Region Schools Trust website www.centralregionschoolstrust.co.uk and don’t forget to take a look at our promotional video.

The Central Region Schools Trust are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our students and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All our posts are subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure, 2 work references and other employment checks.

Commitment to safeguarding

Central Region Schools Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our students and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All our posts are subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure, 2 work references and other employment checks.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs are not accepted.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

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

About Gospel Oak School

• School type: Academy, ages 11 to 18
• Education phase: Secondary
• School size: 1217 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 11 to 18
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report (opens in new tab)
• School website: Gospel Oak School website (opens in new tab)
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/gospel-oak-school (opens in new tab)

Gospel Oak School, formerly the RSA Academy serves the borough of Sandwell, but due to its geographical position students join us from Wolverhampton and Walsall. In 2017 the school joined the Central RSA Academies Trust and has been working closely and collaboratively across the trust to offer greater opportunities for all. Over the last 5 years the trust has grown in size and strength, from September 2021 the trust is now an academy approved sponsor in its own right and the RSA will no longer sponsor the trust, although we will continue to work closely with the RSA. This changing relationship has provided the trust and the school to rebrand ourselves, the trust will now be known as Central Region Schools Trust and the school; Gospel Oak School.

The rebrand for the school has allowed us to reflect on the true heritage of the local community. The school is based in Gospel Oak and as a community we are very proud of our Black Country heritage, it is for this reason our new branding reflects the colours of the Black Country along with symbolic representation of the area, with the narrowboat which reflects the locality of the Gospel Oak canal basin, the oak tree for when the parish was so large the parishioners prayed under it once a month and the Black Country links to industry within the area.

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