Designated Safeguarding Lead (Maternity Cover)

WELCOME TO COLTON HILLS Many Minds, One Mission A community school is one which has the ethos of everyone working together as a family towards our shared goals, which can be summarised with our school values: PRIDE – Participation – Respect – Integrity- Diversity – Excellence At Colton Hills we believe that every child is entitled to the highest quality learning experience, irrespective of their starting point.

There are no barriers to high achievement and no excuses for not succeeding. In every lesson students are exposed to powerful knowledge and culturally rich experiences. Every day we are learning and reflecting on how we have improved ourselves. Through this, we maximise academic attainment so students can go to and through university and thrive in a top profession. All students will leave Colton Hills highly numerate and literate with meaningful qualifications that prove this.

They will also leave equipped with both the skills and self-belief to engage with the wider world so that they can change it for the better. Every Child, Every Lesson, Every Day Colton Hills has been judged as a ‘Good’ school in both 2015 and 2018, and we are committed to improving that judgment in our next inspection – not for our own glory, but because we know we will be giving our students the best deal possible.

The school encompasses a rich, harmonious and multicultural community and is committed to the development of all students, up to and including our growing sixth form. The school is situated to the south of Wolverhampton’s city centre, on a site surrounded by green space and fantastic views across hills and fields. We also benefit greatly from a wide range of fantastic facilities for our staff and students, including an on-site swimming pool, AstroTurf pitch, dedicated Sixth Form block, flexible breakout spaces across the school and a large theatre often used by groups in our local community for performances.

We are a school with a real family feel, with a strong House ethos that underpins our work. With a healthy financial picture and strong school governance in place, we are now seeking to expand our staff to create the best possible experience for our students every day, to develop their confidence and aspiration by surrounding them with inspiring adults delivering an exciting curriculum. We are offering a fantastic opportunity to someone committed to the success and welfare of our children – leading all safeguarding practices at Colton Hills as our Designated Safeguarding Lead.

There is nothing more important to us than the safety, happiness and welfare of our students, and this post encompasses all elements of safeguarding at our school. We do not believe that safeguarding should be anyone’s second priority, so we give this role the highest priority at Colton Hills, making safeguarding the sole focus of this post. In addition, the successful candidate will sit as a member of our SLT, attending all meetings and having a chance to make sure that safeguarding is always at the forefront of our minds.

We have a school community in which children are safe and well-cared for, and our staff are committed to being vigilant and raising any concerns that they see to our Safeguarding Team, which includes five qualified DDSLs who will support the work of the DSL. The previous postholder established robust systems and a culture of reporting which the successful candidate will need to ensure remains strong over the coming years.

We have embedded the use of MyConcern as our central portal for reporting safeguarding concerns – managed this caseload and ensuring that key cases are prioritised will be a major part of the role. Beyond this, however, the role also includes strategic elements and the chance to impact on our whole-school curriculum to make sure that all young people are taught how to safeguard themselves before any concerns are raised.

The successful candidate will have extensive experience of working with young people, preferably in a