Designated Safeguarding Officer (Term Time Only)

Department: Student Services

Employment Type: Permanent - Part Time

Location: Borehamwood, England, Boreham Wood Football Academy

Key Responsibilities

• Safeguarding expertise and advocacy: Act as a key source of safeguarding knowledge across the College, advocating for students identified as vulnerable or at risk and demonstrating sound understanding of procedures and the complex issues they face.
• Referrals and casework: Lead on referrals, action queries appropriately and in line with KCSIE, GDPR and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023, and lead on collaborative strategy meetings involving relevant professionals.
• Records and quality assurance: Maintain accurate, up-to-date safeguarding records that evidence how risks are identified and mitigated, supporting compliance, quality assurance and inspection readiness.
• Specialist area lead: Take ownership of a specialist safeguarding area such as CCE, CSE, VAWG, misogyny/misandry or online safety, developing expertise and sharing best practice across the College.
• Training and awareness: Lead on the planning and delivery of safeguarding training for staff and promote key safeguarding updates to staff and students across all campuses using College platforms.
• Partnership working: Develop and sustain effective relationships with internal teams and external agencies including social care, the police, health services and other statutory partners to ensure joined-up, effective safeguarding responses.
• Statutory compliance: Support the Designated Safeguarding and Prevent Lead to ensure Governors, Senior Management and staff fulfil their statutory obligations under relevant legislation and guidance.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• A relevant Level 3 qualification
• English and Maths at Grade 5-9 or equivalent
• Designated Safeguarding Officer training completed within the last 3 years
• Proven experience and understanding of child protection procedures, referral processes and legislation
• Proven experience of adult safeguarding and referral processes
• Proven experience of multi-agency working
• Experience of supporting and working with vulnerable students in mainstream and more complex needs settings (e.g. EHCP, LAC, YOT, CP, CiN)
• Experience of Serious Safeguarding Reviews
• Excellent report writing and record keeping skills with high attention to detail
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build trusted relationships with young people, families, staff and external professionals
• Ability to negotiate, manage conflict and work effectively under pressure
• High level of integrity, confidentiality and understanding of GDPR and information-sharing protocols
• IT literate with working knowledge of Microsoft Office and safeguarding-related systems
  Willingness to travel and work across all main College campuses
• Commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and safeguarding

• A higher-level qualification in safeguarding, social work, education or a related field
• Experience delivering safeguarding training to staff
• Experience working in a further education or post-16 setting
• Specialist knowledge in areas such as CCE, CSE, VAWG, online safety or Prevent

Benefits