Assistant Principal: Safeguarding

Learning Community Trust; Telford; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension provision

Wellbeing support

Family-friendly policies

Salary sacrifice schemes

Free parking

Job summary

New Road Academy is seeking an experienced senior leader to join the team as Assistant Principal: Safeguarding and Designated Safeguarding Lead. You will lead safeguarding, drive improvement and work with families, pupils and external agencies to secure safe, inclusive learning.

You will shape strategy, support colleagues, and collaborate with wider Learning Community Trust safeguarding initiatives, ensuring high standards of protection and professional practice across the academy.

Qualifications

• Experienced secondary leader with strong safeguarding expertise.
• Ability to lead people and influence whole-school practice.
• Excellent safeguarding knowledge and up-to-date legislation understanding.
• Experience working with pupils, families and external agencies.
• Ability to develop colleagues and ensure consistently strong safeguarding practice.

Responsibilities

• Lead safeguarding and child protection across the academy and contribute to school improvement.
• Develop and manage the safeguarding team; use data and pupil voice to identify priorities.
• Collaborate with Trust DSL networks and contribute to wider safeguarding activity.
• Ensure safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and integrated into daily school life.

Skills

DSL experience

Leadership

Safeguarding knowledge

Secondary education

Strategic planning

Job description

Full Time, Permanent, Leadership/Teacher Contract, Salary: L12 to L16

Accountable to: Vice Principal for Behaviour and Pastoral

Make a difference where it matters most.

New Road Academy is looking for an exceptional leader to join our senior leadership team as Assistant Principal: Safeguarding and Designated Safeguarding Lead.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced school leader and safeguarding professional who wants to have a significant impact on the lives of young people.

At New Road Academy, we want safeguarding to be much more than systems, processes and compliance. We want every young person to feel safe, listened to, included and supported to achieve. We are looking for someone who shares that ambition and has the leadership skills, professional curiosity and determination to make it a reality.

As a visible and influential member of our senior leadership team, you will lead safeguarding and child protection across the academy while contributing to the wider strategic leadership and improvement of the school. You will ensure that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and that excellent practice is embedded in the everyday life of the academy.

This is a role with real breadth. You will work closely with leaders responsible for attendance, behaviour, SEND, inclusion, mental health and personal development, ensuring that we understand the barriers faced by our most vulnerable pupils and respond to them effectively. You will maintain high aspirations for pupils who have or have had a social worker and consider their attendance, engagement, progress and attainment alongside their safeguarding needs.

About you

We are looking for an experienced secondary leader who combines excellent safeguarding knowledge with the ability to lead people and influence whole-school practice.

You will bring:

• successful teaching and leadership experience in secondary education;
• substantial experience as a DSL or Deputy DSL, including managing complex safeguarding cases;
• strong knowledge of current safeguarding practice and legislation;
• experience of working effectively with pupils, families and external agencies;
• the ability to develop colleagues and secure consistently strong safeguarding practice;
• excellent professional judgement and the confidence to challenge when necessary;
• a strong understanding of the connections between safeguarding, inclusion, attendance, behaviour and educational outcomes; and
• an unwavering commitment to giving every child the opportunity to success.

The opportunity

As Assistant Principal, you will have the opportunity to shape safeguarding strategy and practice across New Road Academy.

You will lead and develop the safeguarding team, provide professional leadership to colleagues, use safeguarding information and pupil and family voice to identify priorities, contribute to academy improvement, and help ensure that the curriculum and wider experience of school respond effectively to the needs of our young people.

You will also have the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues across the Learning Community Trust, contributing to wider safeguarding and school improvement activity. The role specifically contributes to the wider LCT learning and inclusion frameworks and includes involvement in Trust DSL networks, supervision and peer-review activity.

The Learning Community Trust is a growing multi-academy trust working across primary, secondary and specialist education.

Our values of A Trust with Heart and Never Leave a Child Behind sit at the heart of this particular role. We are looking for a leader who will champion those values and ensure that our most vulnerable young people receive the protection, support and opportunities they need to thrive.

In addition to a comprehensive induction and ongoing professional development, we offer opportunities to learn and collaborate with colleagues across the Trust, alongside our wider employee benefits including pension provision, wellbeing support, family-friendly policies, salary sacrifice schemes and free parking where available.

Could this be your next leadership opportunity?

If you are an experienced safeguarding leader with the ambition to contribute to the wider leadership of a secondary academy, we would really like to hear from you.

For full details of the role, please refer to the Assistant Principal: Safeguarding and Designated Safeguarding Lead role information pack, including the full job description and person specification.

What we can offer you

The Learning Community Trust is a growing multi-academy trust, working collaboratively across primary, secondary and specialist academies to provide excellent education and life chances for children and young people. Our values of A Trust with Heart and Never Leave a Child Behind sit at the heart of this particular role..

In addition to a comprehensive induction and a commitment to ongoing professional development, instructional coaching and career progression, we offer a range of employee benefits including pension provision, wellbeing support, family-friendly policies, salary sacrifice schemes, free parking where available and the opportunity to collaborate across a diverse and ambitious Trust.

For full details of the role, please refer to the Assistant Principal: Safeguarding role information pack, including the full job description and person specification.

Closing date for applications: 16 Nov 26

Interview date: TBC w/c 23 Nov 26

The Learning Community Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, children’s barred list check and, where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check. An online social media check will be undertaken for all shortlisted candidates prior to interview. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (2013, 2020 and 2023). Guidance on disclosing convictions can be found on the Ministry of Justice website . Under the Immigration Act 2016, candidates for customer-facing roles must meet the

necessary standard of spoken English. It is an offence to apply if barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children. Any offer of employment is subject to medical fitness, satisfactory references, right to work in the UK, satisfactory online checks and an Enhanced DBS check. Applicants must have current right to work visa status; this role does not support visa applications.