Danes Hill School - Designated Safeguarding Lead

Summary

We are seeking an experienced, professional and child-centred Designated Safeguarding Lead to take operational responsibility for safeguarding and child protection across the school. This is a non-teaching role and would suit a candidate with a strong social work background.

Detail

We are seeking an experienced, professional and child-centred Designated Safeguarding Lead to take operational responsibility for safeguarding and child protection across the school. This is a non-teaching role and would suit a candidate with a strong social work background, together with the judgement, resilience and interpersonal skills required to work effectively with stakeholders from young children to adults in a busy independent school environment.

The successful candidate will lead on day-to-day safeguarding practice, ensuring that concerns are identified, recorded, assessed and managed appropriately, and that the school’s safeguarding arrangements remain robust, responsive and fully compliant. The role will require close and highly collaborative working with the school’s pastoral team, particularly the Deputy Head Pastoral, to provide the teacher-led and educational input in relation to pupils’ wider pastoral care, behaviour, attendance and school-based support. The Designated Safeguarding Lead will bring specialist safeguarding expertise, including risk assessment, statutory liaison, case management and multi-agency working, complementing and strengthening the school’s provision.

The postholder will provide expert advice and support to staff and families, maintain effective safeguarding records, liaise with children’s social care and other external agencies as required, support staff training and awareness, and promote a strong safeguarding culture across the school. The role will be based on a full-time, all year-round contract, although some flexibility may be possible for the right candidate around a term time or term time plus pattern.

This role offers a particularly attractive opportunity for the right candidate seeking to apply their safeguarding expertise within a supportive school environment. The position provides the chance to focus on high-quality, child-centred safeguarding practice, collaborative decision-making and preventative work.

Job title:

Designated Safeguarding Lead

Job purpose:

We are seeking an experienced, professional and child-centred Designated Safeguarding Lead to take operational responsibility for safeguarding and child protection across the school. This is a non-teaching role and would suit a candidate with a strong social work background.

Reporting to:

Head

Hours:

Full time (40 hours per week), all year round. Some flexibility will be required to attend meetings, case conferences, training or other safeguarding-related activity outside normal working hours where necessary.

Required:

As soon as possible

Salary:

£40,800 per annum FTE

Benefits:

Generous pension scheme. Free lunch on site during term time. Annual flu jabs, online EAP service and counselling. Training and development support. Parking on site.

Closing Date:

Monday 1 June 2026 at 9am. Please note that applications will be reviewed as they are received, and the recruitment may close ahead of this date, if the right candidate has been found.

Documents

• Staff and Job Applicant Privacy Notice PDF Document
• Staff Recruitment Policy PDF Document
• Staff equal Opportunites Policy PDF Document
• Designated Safeguarding Lead - May 2026 PDF Document