Do you want to have the freedom to make a real difference to the lives of young people at school?
Do you want to be part of a movement advocating for a more inclusive education system?
Do you want the opportunity to change the culture of how young people are supported within the school system?
Title: Safeguarding Lead
Reports to: Director of Programmes
Start date: Late August 2023
Location: National Role, could be based in Birmingham, Manchester or London
Hours: Full Time
Salary: £35,000 – £40,000 (experience depending)
Deadline: 5PM Monday 24th July
Whilst safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility we are looking for a passionate individual to have strategic oversight of the strategic direction as well as being designated safeguarding lead. Our model is deeply embedded in the schools and lives of the young people we work with and need someone to ensure we are both compliant with legislation but also supporting the most vulnerable in the most impactful way. We need someone who is deeply committed to young people and is strategic, thorough and adaptable.
You will be highly motivated, with high standards for yourself and others. We’re seeking someone caring, ambitious and creative who loves working with colleagues and schools. You will have a strong moral compass, experience working with young people and a proven commitment to supporting the most vulnerable.
Before you skim the job description, please remember you don’t have to tick all the boxes for the role to apply. We all experience a bit of imposter syndrome, including the staff here at Football Beyond Borders. If this role pulls you and you believe you could make a difference then apply anyway or reach out to us to discuss more!
Who are we?
FBB is one of the leading educational charities and youth brands in the UK. Established in 2014, we have undergone impressive growth in the past couple of years and are now at an exciting stage of our journey. We currently work with 2000 students across 130 Secondary School programmes in Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Lancashire, Yorkshire, London, Kent and Essex. Alongside this, we have built strong partnerships with a host of brands such as Nike. In the next stage of our journey FBB aims to become the leading specialist charity for disengaged young people and the best place to work with young people in the UK.
Young people are at the heart of everything we do. From decisions made at Senior Leadership and our Board, to how we design activations with partners to ensure young people get the most out of them. We’re working in a system that has been designed to limit the potential of many young people, and we know that to make real change, we need to work hard and differently. FBB can be fast-paced and intensive at times, but our focus on working culture and support is prioritised to ensure staff are in a position to ‘Go Beyond’ for young people.
We place relationships at the heart of what we do. That’s not only about our work with young people, but equally important with our colleagues. We strive to do things differently at FBB. We don’t believe that work should be the thing you dread on a Sunday evening. If you’re keen to throw yourself into new environments and develop meaningful relationships with people from all walks of life, then FBB is the workplace for you.
We’re also BIG on learning. This means that we dedicate a full day of everyone’s week to learning and development, during this day practitioners take part in our innovative training programme which includes chances to receive training from external experts, connect with colleagues and reflect. As a young and ambitious team, we are constantly finding the next opportunities to develop. We like to throw our hat in the ring for things we’ve never tried before. FBB is a place where you can be introduced to multiple different aspects of work: our focus on cross-team collaboration means you’ll have the opportunity to work on projects in Brand, Comms, Operations, Culture and Programmes. We also don’t mind the conventional stuff: there’s an FBB reading list, opportunities for reflection and external training budgets too!
FBB is recognised in the sector as innovative and thought-leading. We are always on the hunt for talented and ambitious people to join the team and contribute to our vision of becoming a leader in supporting young people to thrive and become the best versions of themselves.
Role Overview
The Safeguarding lead has the responsibility for ensuring the organisation has the appropriate frameworks, strategies and monitoring in place to assure the safeguarding of adults, children and young people and to support staff to implement the frameworks, strategies and associated procedures effectively. A key element of the role is to ensure that all concerns are escalated immediately according to policy and procedure to enable the appropriate action/s to be taken. The Safeguarding Lead will also work closely with the rest of FBB’s Programmes Leadership to drive forward the organisation’s approach to safeguarding to ensure that FBB is supporting the most vulnerable as effectively as it can.
Main duties:
1. Lead on all aspects of Safeguarding across the organisation, staying fully informed of all current risks ensuring the programmes team, Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Trustees are able to identify and respond as necessary. Lead on the response to safeguarding disclosures.
2. Ensure all regulatory standards in relation to Safeguarding are maintained providing frontline staff, SLT and Trustees briefings on any changes or deviation to practice including the detail behind this change in safeguarding compliance. This will include keep up to date with legislation and statutory guidance and ensuring that FBB’s policies and procedures are compliant. An important part of this is keeping FBB in line with safe recruitment guidance and keeping up to date the single central record.
3. Lead on and provide support and oversight of staff, volunteers and stakeholders with safeguarding responsibilities within the service provision to enable quality improvement in schools and services. Ensure that FBB staff and trustees have the right level of training to effectively safeguard young people and meet their needs, this includes providing written and verbal updates to SLT and trustees.
4. Develop the organisations safeguarding strategy working closely with leaders in the organisation constantly reviewing the needs of young people and adapting FBB’s approach accordingly. Work collaboratively with partner schools to ensure that FBB is providing the best possible support for young people that meets the needs of schools.
5. Provide advice and support to practitioners and outside agencies in particularly complex cases. Provide a wellbeing and welfare lens to FBB’s approach to supporting the most vulnerable. This will also include attending external meetings e.g. TAF meetings.
Your Team
This role is a truly collaborative role, working right across the organisation, with partner schools and external organisations.
Your key relationships within FBB will be with:
- Director of Programmes. You will work very closely with this person to develop FBB’s overall safeguarding strategy, identify risks and advise on adjustments that should be made to training for staff and the FBB programme.
- School Programme Managers. These people lead our practitioner teams. You will work closely with these people to ensure that we are complying with safeguarding policies but also to understand the ongoing challenges within safeguarding.
Your Development
FBB aims to lead the field in supporting vulnerable young people in schools and safeguarding is a key part of this vision. For us Safeguarding is not just a tick-box exercise but something that underpins our work with young people. We do not want to see safeguarding as something that constrains our work but instead informs and guides our approach to ensure that we are always considering the wellbeing and welfare of the young people we work with. We are looking for someone to lead this area of our work. This will mean being involved in devising organisational strategy, inputting into the direction of the FBB programme and contributing to our practitioner development. In this role you will get the opportunity to work with other senior leaders in the organisation, trustees and school leaders. FBB is committed to staff development and has a development budget which can be accessed by staff to take part in external training, supervision or coaching. FBB is an ambitious charity with plans for continued growth over the coming years and with that comes opportunities to grow with the organisation and take on more responsibility.
Your Experience
Important Things About You….
- You will be committed to social change and supporting the most at risk young people in our schools
- You will be someone who cares for their colleagues and strives to get the best out of them
- You will have excellent interpersonal, emotional intelligence and communication skills
- You will have effective processes for managing multiple caseloads and projects
- You will be a leader of Safeguarding by, professionally demonstrating, promoting and encouraging effective staff and student well-being at all times
Professional Experience and Qualifications
- You will have evidence of recent experience of working within the field of Safeguarding
- You will have evidence of appropriate professional development for the DSL role
- You will have a detailed knowledge and understanding of safeguarding in relation to the education sector
And also consider applying if any of the following apply to you…
- You have worked in schools supporting young people
- Have qualifications in counselling
- You have experience of training within schools
- You have experience in youth work
Recruitment Process
Football Beyond Borders aims to be representative of the community we are working with. We recognise that having the strongest workforce possible means hiring and developing the best people across all races, ethnicities, religions, age groups, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities.
We’re not just committed to being an equal opportunity employer, we actively celebrate diversity in all its forms. Let us know if we can do anything to make the application or interview process more accessible. If you are invited to interview, we will at that point ask you for any accessibility requirements or preferences.
FBB is committed to adopting a safe recruitment process and follows the NSPCC safer
recruitment procedures that have safeguarding at their heart. The appointment will undergo an enhanced DBS check.
Shortlisting, interviews and reference checking
When shortlisting, we will be looking for evidence that you have the knowledge, experience and skills to do the job as detailed in the person specification and job description. These provide the criteria against which your application will be assessed.
You must fill in the application form and are requested NOT to submit a curriculum vitae. All applications will be taken seriously and contacted regarding the outcome of their application.
All applications will be taken seriously and contacted regarding the outcome of their application.
Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed. There will be 3 stages to the interview process:
Stage 1: A 30 minute online call to get to know candidates and talk more about the role
Stage 2: A selection day which focuses on candidates fit with FBB
References from the previous and current employer may be taken up for shortlisted candidates. Please let us know about the sensitivity of taking up references prior to an interview.
Principles of the Model
We exist to transform the behaviour for learning and attitude to learning of students
who love football but are disengaged at school.
Our work builds on the strengths and potential of our young people through putting
their passion for football at the heart of their learning.
Our programme is built on the following four theoretical foundations:
Attachment Theory
Adolescent Neuroscience
Developmental Trauma
Humanistic Therapy
FBB works with young people for four years, through weekly interventions and holiday
programmes delivered in partnership with secondary schools across London and the
North West. The programme is targeted at Key Stage 3 students who are disengaged at school and come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. We know from
the evidence that Key Stage 3 is the crucial time to work with disengaged young people in order to prevent them from being excluded.
We believe real change can only be sustained through an embedded and holistic approach to our young people’s development. We work to become deeply embedded in the lives of our participants and in the communities we are based in. Our integrated approach is supported through intensive parental and teacher engagement achieved through parents’ evenings, teacher showcases and weekly text and phone updates.
SEL Curriculum
Our expert social and emotional learning curriculum takes place in the classroom and
on the football pitch. We explicitly teach social and emotional skills through passion-
led modules which tap into young people’s interests. We create transformational
learning experiences through our partnerships with Nike, Gillette and the FA, and these
complete with a public showcase at the end of each project. We see this as a key part in young people developing a more positive attitude towards learning. We use reflective
questioning on the football pitch to develop the social and emotional skill in focus.
1-1 Therapeutic Mentoring
Weekly one to one session to provide a safe space for our most At Risk students to work through the traumatic experiences which may be contributing to their challenging behaviour.
In-school support
We work alongside the school’s pastoral team to provide in school day behaviour and social emotional support. We conduct classroom observations, informal 1-1s, restorative meetings, reintegration meetings, target-setting parental engagement and much more.
Trips
We reward participants with visits and end of year tours built around exciting events
involving inspiring people from the world of football and media. Our students broaden
their horizons and develop positive habits.
For more information: Designated Safeguarding Lead Jobs – 2023 | Indeed.com
