Our safeguarding consultancy services play a key role in empowering schools and colleges to fulfil their safeguarding duties effectively.
Expertise in Safeguarding
We use our wealth of knowledge and experience in safeguarding guidance, policies and procedures to provide schools and colleges with comprehensive guidance on creating and implementing a robust safeguarding framework tailored to their needs and ambitions.
Tailored Safeguarding Solutions
Our safeguarding consultancy services are tailored to your needs and ambitions. Each organisation has its own culture, systems, things to celebrate and things to improve. Our safeguarding partners take the time to understand your specific needs in the present and to plan effectively for the future.
Comprehensive Safeguarding Support
We offer a full range of consultancy support services including:
Safeguarding audits – We work together to determine the parameters of the audit and we deliver on what you need. This usually involves a full day on site with you plus some desk-based research, with the follow-up support of a safeguarding report with recommendations and post-audit support from us as needed. Clients typically ask us to evaluate leadership and governance, culture, policies and procedures, the management of safeguarding referrals, pupil or student voice, the environment and communications with stakeholders.
Inspection preparation and follow-up – We support clients to prepare for inspections including Ofsted, SIAMS and the British Council for organisations who play host to international students and support them with the implementation of post-inspection action plans.
Safeguarding Incident management – When difficult cases happen, we can support you with ensuring that appropriate response, investigatory and reporting procedures are followed. Cases may involve staff or students.
Safeguarding policy and procedure development – we help you to create comprehensive policies, procedures and guidelines to help you safeguard effectively.
The benefits of the consultancy support we offer:
Enhanced safeguarding practices which help to better safeguard children and vulnerable adults
Enhanced pupil/student sense of safety
Stronger safeguarding culture ensuring you fulfil legal and ethical requirements
Enhanced reputation and reduced reputational risks
Peace of mind
Safeguarding Audits for Schools and Colleges
Our safeguarding audits are designed to support schools and colleges in strengthening their safeguarding practices. We act as critical friends, working alongside staff to identify areas for improvement,and our goal is to help you enhance safeguarding procedures before any formal inspections take place, ensuring the best possible outcomes for pupils, staff, and the wider school community.
Our audit plans are bespoke, and we can add or remove sections to suit the needs of your setting. We tailor our approach to ensure it is relevant and valuable to your school or college.
Should you work with one of us for supervision, another member of the team will typically conduct your audit visit. This allows us to come into the setting free from pre-conceived ideas and enables us to offer honest feedback from ‘fresh eyes’.
Prior to the audit taking place, we will meet online to compile a draft agenda for the day. We appreciate that every setting is different, and we can be as flexible as you need us to be to make the day work best for you and your school or college community.
Throughout the course of the audit, we will use what we observe, hear and are told to gather information about various aspects of safeguarding in your setting. We break the audit down into the following sections, and ensure we have a comprehensive understanding of all of them before staring our report.
Parental Engagement
We like to meet with parent volunteers to discuss:
How the school/college communicates safeguarding expectations.
Whether parents feel involved in the safeguarding culture.
This is informal, and can be done at a time of day to best suit the parents. We usually find this is at the beginning of the school day.
Site Tour with Pupils
This is always our favourite part! We ask to be led around the setting by a small group of children/young people. This gives us a chance to talk to them and learn about their school/college experience, as well as allowing us to see the site so that we can assess:
Safeguarding signposting around the building.
Safe spaces for pupils.
General site security, including doors, buzzers, perimeter gates, fobs, and fencing.
Identification and management of potentially dangerous areas.
Leadership & Management
We always enjoy the opportunity to talk to the Senior Leadership Team. It’s a great opportunity for you to showcase the safeguarding in your setting and for us to gather information on:
The school or college’s safeguarding values, vision, and culture.
Governance and accountability in safeguarding.
Key achievements and challenges in safeguarding.
Priorities for the next academic year.
Safeguarding Record Review
During the audit we ask that we are given access to your recording system (such as CPOMS or MyConcern). This can be overseen by a staff member if you would prefer, and allows us to assess:
The quality and accuracy of record-keeping.
How incidents are logged and managed.
Compliance with safeguarding policies.
Safer Recruitment & Training Records
Usually working alongside your office team, we ask to see a selection of staff files, along with the Single Central Register. We would like to be able to see:
Recruitment procedures (interview notes, ID verification, social media checks).
A random selection of DBS checks for staff, including long-standing, new, non-teaching, and external contractors.
Staff safeguarding training certificates (including PREVENT, FGM, and safer recruitment training).
Governance
It’s always a pleasure to meet with a setting’s Chair of Governors and Safeguarding Governor. We appreciate that this may not be able to take place on the day of the audit visit and are happy to meet remotely at a convenient time where necessary. The session is informal and friendly, and we aim to find out:
How they oversee safeguarding policies and procedures.
Their confidence in challenging safeguarding concerns.
Priorities for safeguarding in the upcoming year.
Safeguarding in the Curriculum
Typically, this session takes place at the end of the school day, after the children have left. It is useful for us to meet with a range of teaching and classroom support staff to discuss:
How safeguarding themes are embedded in lessons.
Staff confidence in delivering safeguarding content.
Pupil awareness of safeguarding matters.
We also like to hear about how safeguarding is covered outside of the classroom, for example, through awareness days, visitors and assemblies.
Debrief with DSL
Review of key findings and recommendations.
Identification of strengths and areas for improvement.
Planning additional feedback where needed.
Please remember we are here to support, guide, and strengthen safeguarding practices in your school. This is a flexible and tailored process, ensuring it meets the specific needs of your setting while preparing you effectively for formal inspections.
Following the audit, we will provide a comprehensive report summarising our findings. If required, we also offer ongoing consultancy and support to help implement any suggested improvements, ensuring long-term safeguarding excellence.
