Start date: September 2026 expected to end Friday 26th March 2027
Salary: £25,653 per annum FTE
Working hours: Term time only plus 10 days, 32.5 hours per week between 08:30 and 16:00 Monday to Friday.
The 10 days out of term that you would be required to work are:
- 25th and 26th August 2026 - New staff INSET days
- 27th and 28th August 2026 - All staff INSET days
- 1st and 2nd September 2026 - Pupil induction
- 4th and 5th January 2027 - Spring term INSET days
- Plus two discretionary, as needed
Application deadline: Monday 1st June
Interviews week commencing: Monday 8th June
Early applications are encouraged and the School reserves the right to interview before the closing date in order to secure the right appointment.
Overview of the Role:
Working across Culford School and reporting to the Assistant Head (Safeguarding and Wellbeing) who is DSL, the Safeguarding and Attendance Officer (SAO) will join our Pastoral team and work as a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) alongside the DSL who is the Assistant Head (Safeguarding and Wellbeing) and the Assistant Head (Pastoral and Boarding).
The work will include active casework, keeping meticulous records, tracking trends and suggesting improvements with the aim of continually enhancing the School’s approach to safeguarding and ensuring that a culture of safeguarding is embedded in all areas. They will have responsibility for managing the safeguarding training process for staff, ensuring that all staff receive regular and appropriate safeguarding training. They will work closely alongside the Safeguarding team (we currently have six DDSLs) and will take particular responsibility for liaising with outside agencies, such as social services and the police, on the School’s behalf. The SAO will also take responsibility for attendance and monitor, analyse and intervene with student attendance, persistent absence and punctuality across the school. The SAO is a non-teaching role.
Person Specification
Essential qualifications, experience and skills
- Prior experience of working within a safeguarding role, or within Children’s Services.
- Knowledge of the legal and procedural framework relating to safeguarding, including the roles and responsibilities of services and engaging with them.
- Previous experience of keeping accurate, detailed, safeguarding records and writing concise reports.
- High levels of literacy and numeracy.
- Strong IT skills, particularly with the use of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint or the Google Suite for Education (Docs, Sheets, Slides).
- Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the demonstrable ability to flex your style to work with, and meet, the needs of a variety of different groups.
- The ability to juggle competing tasks, to organise your time and to prioritise effectively so nothing slips through the cracks.
- Flexibility and a ‘can-do’ attitude, and a desire to work within a fast-paced role with quickly changing priorities.
- A high degree of personal integrity and the demonstrable ability to deal with confidential information with discretion and professionalism.
- Excellent team-working skills which embody proactivity, enthusiasm and a hands-on approach.
- Optimism and emotional resilience combined with an understanding that you may be involved with potentially distressing situations in the course of your work.
- The ability to actively reflect on your own practice, and the willingness to undertake training and take on board advice and constructive feedback.
- Supportive of the Methodist ethos of the school
- Commitment to equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice
Desirable qualifications, experience and skills
- Relevant professional qualifications at graduate/post-graduate level
- Experience working in an educational environment similar to Culford
- Experience of working with professional agencies, such as Social Services and the Police
- Experience of designing and delivering safeguarding/child protection training
- Experience of or an interest in Youth Mental Health First Aid training
Safeguarding: Key duties and responsibilities
- To proactively promote an explicit safeguarding culture and ethos with values and behaviours that are both articulated and lived at each level of the School.
- To provide safeguarding support to the DSL.
- To support members of staff (e.g. pastoral staff, teaching staff, medical staff and counselling staff) and advise on safeguarding and welfare cases.
- To support the Assistant Head Safeguarding and Wellbeing to keep clear records of all work regarding safeguarding to help ensure the school is compliant with inspection requirements where safeguarding matters are concerned.
- To assist the Assistant Head in regularly reviewing current safeguarding policies, practices and processes and advise on improvements, including improvements to safeguarding management systems and their use.
- To support with the preparation for safeguarding audits and inspections as required.
- To build your personal knowledge and understanding of local and community resources and statutory services and develop supportive and effective working relationships with them.
- To work with the DSL in managing safeguarding referrals to the Police, LADO, Children’s Social Care, CAMHS, etc., liaising with the Assistant Head (Pastoral and Boarding), Deputy Head or Head as appropriate.
- 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
- To plan and deliver area specific safeguarding training to operational staff working in different areas around the school
- To meet regularly with the Network Manager to monitor the School’s IT filters and consider the appropriateness of blocked content and follow up as required.
- To be responsible for writing and sending weekly safeguarding information pings.
- To actively engage with national and local trends, to enable the school to prepare proactively for emerging issues and promote training accordingly.
- To work closely with the pastoral teams to support and upskill staff working closely with children.
- To assist with pastoral investigations and support of pupils
- To act with professionalism, tact and diplomacy at all times, and with particular sensitivity with personal information related to safeguarding
- To observe health and safety procedures and working safely at all times
- To comply with all school policies and procedures including reporting any concerns to the appropriate person in relation to those covering child protection, health, safety, welfare, security, confidentiality and data protection.
Attendance: Key duties and responsibilities
- Work with the Pastoral Team to promote good attendance and punctuality across the school and to reward pupils for this.
- Ensure computerised registers are processed and any absence or lateness is identified in a timely manner.
- Liaise and meet with Tutors, Heads of Year and SLT with regard to attendance concerns and persistent absence
- Ensure Reception staff make first day absence phone calls to establish reasons for student absence once your physical checks have been completed. Coordinate searches for pupils missing from lessons and contact parents if necessary.
- Ensure tutors follow up any unexplained absence or medical evidence with parents.
- Liaise with parents for pupils with N Codes or agreed pupils for whom attendance is a cause for concern.
- Check the accurate completion of registers and alert Tutors and teaching staff to incomplete registers, working with line managers if persistent problems arise
- Liaise with staff to ensure all pupils are accounted for in registration and lesson registers and safeguarded in line with ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, including logging concerns on the school safeguarding monitoring system (iSAMS Wellbeing Manager).
- Keep abreast of any changes to government guidance on attendance and share updates with the Pastoral Team and Compliance Officer.
- Undertake relevant CPD to keep up to date with reasons for absence and Suffolk guidance.
- Deliver staff CPD to ensure understanding and compliance with new legislation or attendance policies
- Be familiar with the School's Attendance policy and contribute to annual updates.
- Monitor data through iSAMS and produce a weekly Absence and Punctuality Report for all pupils in each year group for intervention by Heads of Year and the Pastoral Team
- Identify groups of pupils whose attendance is below the national average. Produce a half termly summary of attendance across the school, showing pupils categorised as regularly or persistently absent.
- Contribute to termly and annual governance reports about attendance and prove weekly reports to the Assistant Head Pastoral and Boarding.
- Work with the nominated senior staff in each area of the School to process requests for leave received through My School Portal ,follow up details needed and communicate leave of absence decisions to parents.
- Record any truancy on iSAMS and inform the Assistant Head (Pastoral and Boarding) of this.
Culford School is a boarding and day school for over 850 children aged 1 to 18, set in 480 acres of beautiful Suffolk parkland, with an 18th century grade II mansion at its centre and three separate schools: the Pre-Prep & Nursery (ages 1 to 7); the Prep (ages 7 to 13); and the Senior School (ages 13 to 18).
We believe in educating the whole person to deliver a well-rounded, fulfilled individual with excellent academic results. Everything we do is informed by our firm belief that learning should be challenging, enriching and fun. Culford is a Christian school with a Methodist tradition. We see education as a transformational process that guides pupils towards academic success, clear moral values, and the development of leadership and a readiness for the world of adulthood.
Safeguarding
Culford School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants will be required to undergo a child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Flexibility and Variation:
This job description outlines the role as it stands at the date shown. Culford School periodically reviews job descriptions to ensure they remain accurate and relevant. Changes may be made following consultation with the post holder. While the aim is to agree on reasonable changes, the School reserves the right to change the job description following consultation.
All appointments are subject to pre-employment checks to meet vetting and barring requirements. For more information about that process please refer to the application form.
As an equal opportunities employer, Culford School is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.
We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join Culford School.
Culford School puts at the centre of its operation the safeguarding of the pupils of the school. There is a commitment to keep safeguarding at the forefront of every employee and volunteer’s mind. We encourage a culture of challenge, not just to act when there is a need, but also in the way we think to ensure the risks of harm to the pupils’ individual welfare are minimised.
Job applicants will undergo appropriate child protection screening and be subject to checks with previous employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service. Successful applicants must complete mandatory pre-employment training in safeguarding and other key areas before the commencement of employment.
Culford School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff to share this commitment. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974; pre-employment checks will be carried out, references will be sought and successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and other relevant checks with statutory bodies.
We comply with the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) code of practice and have a written policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders, both of which are available on request. As you have been shortlisted, you are required to declare any relevant convictions, adult cautions or other matters which may affect your suitability to work with children. As a result of amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (exceptions order 1975) in 2013 and 2020, some minor offences are now protected (filtered) and should not be disclosed to potential employers, and employers cannot take these offences into account.
If you are unsure whether you need to disclose criminal information, you should seek legal advice or you may wish to contact Nacro or Unlock for impartial advice. There is more information on filtering and protected offences on the Ministry of Justice website.
Nacro - https://www.nacro.org.uk/criminal-record-support-service/ or phone 0300 123 1999
Job Types: Full-time, Temporary
Contract length: 7 months
Pay: £25,653.00 per year
Benefits:
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Free fitness classes
- Free parking
- Gym membership
- On-site gym
- On-site parking
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
