Main Purpose of the Role
The Safeguarding & Pastoral Director provides strategic leadership for the Pastoral Team and acts as the academy’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL).
The postholder will ensure all strategies are in place to promote high aspirations and our VOICE Values, removing barriers to learning so that every student can thrive.
They will champion an exceptionally inclusive culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and every student experiences a true sense of belonging.
To manage our behaviour support/pupil support areas.
Specific Duties and Responsibilities
1. Strategic Safeguarding Leadership (DSL)
- Act as the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), taking lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection across the academy.
- Provide operational oversight of safeguarding systems (CPOMS), ensuring they are robust, timely, and compliant with the latest KCSIE guidance.
- Coordinate and support the work of Deputy DSLs, ensuring consistency and effectiveness of safeguarding practice.
- Manage a complex caseload of safeguarding and vulnerable student cases, maintaining accurate and confidential records.
- Lead the academy’s commitment to professional curiosity and a child-centred approach when assessing risk and determining interventions.
- Act as the Designated Teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children.
- To review and action the daily filtering and monitoring reports from SENSO.
- Provide out of term emergency contact/support, as needed
2. Pastoral Leadership & the VOICE Ethos
- Line-manage the Pastoral Team, providing strategic oversight of wellbeing, supervision, performance management and professional development.
- Thread the VOICE values (Vitality, Opportunity, Independence, Community, Excellence) through all pastoral practices and reward systems.
- Liaise with Heads of Year to ensure highly effective planning and responses to students’ social and emotional needs.
- Support with transition Lead (to and from RBA), ensuring students settle seamlessly and hit the ground running.
- Oversee the development of documentation including student Support Plans and Risk Assessments for students with challenging behaviours.
3. Inclusion, Attendance & Multi-Agency Working
- Ensure attendance is recognised as a key safeguarding indicator, working with the attendance officer to remove barriers to learning.
- Monitor attendance and support/intervene where persistent absenteeism arises.
- Act as the primary point of contact for external agencies, including Social Care, Early Help, CAMHS, and the Police.
- Attend and contribute to multi agency meetings including Child Protection conference, Child in Need and Early Help Plus meetings.
- Promote a culture of belonging where every child feels safe and supported to achieve their full potential.
4. Extended Leadership & Academy Development
- As a member of the Extended Leadership Team (ELT), contribute to whole-school self-evaluation and strategic development planning.
- Attend Senior Leadership Team meetings and morning briefings as required
- Analyse pastoral and safeguarding data to identify trends, providing impact reports for the Senior Leadership Team and Governors.
- Nurture a supportive environment where staff and students feel confident reporting concerns in complete confidence.
5. Supporting Students:
- Identify strategies to help overcome individual students’ barriers to learning
- Use systems to monitor the behaviour and progress of students who are on targeted interventions
- Co-ordinate the development of students’ individual support plans and review ongoing progress towards set goals
- Support the transition of new students arriving or existing students returning to school, putting the necessary support in place to overcome any barriers to learning
- Promote high standards of behaviour and consistently implement the school’s behaviour policy
- Make sure each member of staff has access to, understands and can apply consistently, the school’s pastoral procedures and strategies, especially new staff
- Liaise with teaching staff to support monitoring activities on individual students’ behaviour
- Work with the attendance officer to monitor and implement strategies to improve the attendance of students who are on targeted interventions
- Work with the SENCO to identify students in need of additional support and to develop individual support plans
- Work with senior leaders to develop whole-school pastoral care policies and action plans
- Participate in senior leadership meetings, as required
- Oversee and timetable the external professionals visiting pupils, such a NHS coaching, counsellor and youth workers
6. Working with parents/carers
- Communicate with parents/carers following behavioural incidents to discuss the effectiveness of the support in place for their child
- Maintain regular contact with parents/carers to discuss their child’s progress, behaviour and attendance
- Build positive relations with parents/carers to encourage family involvement in their child’s progress
- Communicate with parents/carers about specific support in place for their child
- Build and refresh knowledge on the range of external support available that could support students’ individual needs
7. Administration
- Maintain accurate records of interventions and relevant meetings
- Facilitate the transfer of relevant student information inside and outside the school
- Complete relevant paperwork required by external agencies
8. Other areas of responsibility
- Work in line with statutory safeguarding guidance (e.g. Keeping Children Safe in Education, Prevent) and our safeguarding and child protection policies
- Work with the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) to promote the best interests of students, including sharing concerns where necessary
- Promote the safeguarding of all students in the school
9. Teaching
- This is a non-teaching role
10. Safeguarding and Safer Recruitment
- Ensure that the safeguarding arrangements within the academy are compliant with national guidelines and the Trust’s policies and procedures.
- Ensure all recruitment is in accordance with the safer recruitment guidance and conducted by suitably qualified managers.
- Nurture a supportive working environment where employees and students feel able to report behaviour/incidents of concern in complete confidence.
- Uphold the KCSIE Framework and ensure all are complaint in BEST Safeguarding Policy and procedures
- To undertake Safer Recruitment Training
Please note, while every effort has been made to explain the duties and responsibilities of the post, each individual task undertaken may not be identified.
Employees will be expected to comply with any reasonable request from the line manager/Principal to undertake work of a similar level that is not specified in this job description.
