Archives

Deadline approaching: Senior Mental Health Lead Training Grant

Senior Mental Health Lead Training Grant We are fast approaching the deadline for settings to claim a senior mental health lead training grant. We understand take up has been encouraging...

The Benefits of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in Safeguarding

The Benefits of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) In Safeguarding CPD links formal and information learning directly to your professional practice and is an investment in yourself. CPD in Safeguarding provides...

GOV.UK Guidance: School inspection handbook for September 2023

School inspection handbook for September 2023 GOV.UK has released the 2023 Ofsted guidance for inspectors on how to carry out inspections for maintained schools and academies (England), which will come into...

Summary of changes: Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023

Summary of changes: Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 The DfE has released their draft version of KCSiE 2023 – download a copy HERE. The guidance is for information only, and...

Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges

Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges Over the Easter break the DfE introduced new filtering and monitoring standards, Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges,...

Safeguarding and the National test of the UK Emergency Alert Service

Safeguarding and the National Emergency Alert The government is rolling out a new Emergency Alert system. The alert will be sent to a mobile phone or tablet and used to...

New Legislation in force in England and Wales banning child marriage

New legislation banning child marriage has come into force in England and Wales today, 27th February 2023. The new legislation now makes it illegal and a criminal offence to exploit vulnerable...

The Prevent Duty and your wider safeguarding obligations

Many of our schools have reported seeing a rise in misogynist incidents happening in school, experiencing the verbal harassment of female teachers from some students, who often resonate with the...

Rachel Priestley

Rach has a background in Business Development and Administration, gaining much of her knowledge and experience through her 19 year career with the NHS working within the executive office, community services and public health. 

Before moving on from the NHS, Rach supported the Chief Executive, the Chairman and the Trust Board of a local NHS Care Trust, which managed Children’s Services. Her responsibilities spanned across HR, Finance, Governance, Compliance, Risk, systems and processes, and internal training. Rach also supported the Children’s Safeguarding Lead with safeguarding investigations.

In 2017, she left the NHS to pursue a successful self-employed career supporting business to grow, with flexible business development and administration support, which she continues to do on a part-time basis.

Rach is in house trained, and is passionate about delivering outstanding services and enjoys working as part of the safeguarding team to achieve a common goal.

In her own time, she loves spending time outside, and long walks with the two family dogs. 

Shelley Armstrong

Shelley joined Safeguarding Support in 2020 as an experienced AET-qualified freelance trainer, and now enjoys working across the business, keeping clients as up to date as possible with the ever changing challenges facing safeguarding children in education.

Whilst we aim to simplify safeguarding, Shelley’s passion is to ensure engagement, pride and confidence through training and support. Shelley enjoys applying the competencies gained in different industries and environments to researching, designing, and developing materials for those with the responsibility to safeguard children, and in return has enormous respect for their commitment.

Her experience across the private business sector brings commercial skills to training and her background in psychology and counselling ensure courses are designed and delivered with the learner in mind.

Shelley lives in Yorkshire and enjoys walking her springer spaniels – come rain or shine!

Abigail Havon

Abigail is an experienced and AET-qualified trainer with a strong foundation in safeguarding, having begun her career in the charity sector. During her time there, she served as a regional manager and a key member of the safeguarding leadership team, where she contributed to the development of policies and procedures, designed and delivered training, and supported staff and volunteers working one-to-one with children in schools. 

 

In her current role with Safeguarding Support, Abigail primarily leads the Reflective Supervision programme.  Supervision is a process where through 1-2-1 meetings and in a group setting, structured support is given to safeguarding professionals across England. The programme focuses on helping DSL’s and DDSL’s manage complex workloads, reflect on their practice, build resilience, and promote wellbeing—enabling them to sustain their capacity to protect and support vulnerable children and families.

 

Abigail’s professional journey spans a variety of sectors and business environments, always in roles that demand strong communication, collaboration, and a people-centred approach. She is deeply committed to empowering educators to work collectively as part of a safeguarding team, believing this collaborative approach leads to better outcomes for children and young people.

Based in the Midlands, Abigail enjoys long walks and tending to her ever-growing collection of houseplants.

Carol Stephenson

Carol has spent her entire career teaching in Bradford primary schools. Most recently she was Head Teacher of a large, outstanding, multi-academy trust, inner-city
school where she gained Local Leaders of Education (LLE) status.

Carol is a highly experienced Designated Safeguarding Lead and safeguarding Governor, with an extensive range of expertise, skills and knowledge. It was through this depth of experience that she became a dedicated representative of Bradford Children’s Safeguarding Board. In June 2019, Carol was awarded a Bradford Safeguarding Champions lifetime achievement award 2019 for her continued work in safeguarding the children of Bradford.

Carol is in-house trained and is NSPCC certified to deliver Child Protection and Safeguarding training.

In her spare time, Carol enjoys working on her allotment.