Director of Safeguarding

Director of Safeguarding

If you are ready to add further value to our Educational Support Team and to work alongside a brilliant staff and school leadership team, then you will find this job extremely rewarding.

About the role

We are seeking to appoint a dedicated Director of Safeguarding who is committed to protecting and empowering young people. You will on all aspects of safeguarding across the organisation, ensuring the highest standards of protection and wellbeing are upheld for our students and the community we serve. As the Director of Safeguarding, you will support our most vulnerable children and help all pupils to thrive and will work closely with the senior leadership team and the Director of Inclusion to achieve this.

You will lead on the implementation and delivery of our safeguarding strategy and will direct and facilitate the development of safeguarding policies, training and procedures.

You will join a strong staff community responsible for supporting students, parents, teachers and the academy to establish a supportive and nurturing learning environment in which children can make good academic progress.

The successful candidate will have:

• Experience of safeguarding, working with children/young people in education, social work, youth work, etc., particularly managing child protection cases and investigations
• In-depth knowledge of the range of additional support/agencies which assist students
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to maintain effective working relationships with a variety of stakeholders

Ark Victoria Academy provides pupils with an excellent education through an ambitious curriculum, personal development and character programme, and an extensive student experience and extra-curricular offer. Although we are a large school, we are able to retain a family feel, to nurture our pupils through their schooling and ensure that they flourish and leave us with the skills and qualifications necessary to continue their journey of life-long learning in a university or career of their choice.

Our school values and virtue pathways are crucial to our culture and ethos, they are also part of the way we work and learn together and have been instrumental to us on our school improvement journey. Our values of Ambition, Resilience and Kindness permeate our curriculum, our culture, school and our learning community.

It is for these reasons that Ark Victoria Academy was judged to be significantly improved in all areas from the 2019 ‘Good’ inspection, by Ofsted, in October 2024: ‘This is a school which lives out its values in full for the benefit of children in Nursery to the pupils in Year 11…pupils thrive at all stages of Ark Victoria Academy…as the school knows its pupils very well, they are very well supported to engage with the school’s ambitious curriculum’. The full report (September 2024) can be found here: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50262921  

We prioritise staff development with a strong emphasis on securing expert subject knowledge from our teachers, strong teaching and leadership and a focus on excellence for our pupils and staff.

Diversity and inclusion:

We aim to build a diverse and inclusive organisation where everyone – staff and students – can do their best work and achieve their full potential. We want to reflect and represent diverse perspectives across our organisation because we know that doing so will make us stronger and more effective. To know more about Ark’s diversity and inclusion commitments, please click on this link.

Safeguarding statement:

Ark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in its academies. In order to meet this responsibility, its academies follow a rigorous selection process to discourage and screen out unsuitable applicants. 

Ark requires all employees to undertake an enhanced DBS check. You are required, before appointment, to disclose any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. Non-disclosure may lead to termination of employment. However, disclosure of a criminal background will not necessarily debar you from employment - this will depend upon the nature of the offence(s) and when they occurred. To read more about Ark’s safer recruitment process, please click this link.

Please note we will be reviewing applications on an on-going basis and this role may close earlier than advertised depending on the level of response. We strongly encourage to submit your application at your earliest convenience.