Safeguarding Policy Review & Development

Ensuring the effectiveness and compliance with the law, protecting the welfare of both children and those supporting them

With our Policy Review and Development service, Safeguarding Support Limited will support your Trust Board, Governors, Management Committees and Senior Leadership Team with how the changes in legislation affect your day to day operational practices with safeguarding policy help.

Our range of policy development and review service packages can ensure your policies are not only updated annually in accordance with legislation but also on an ongoing basis as and when changes in Department for Education (DfE) and government policy are published. This will ensure effectiveness and compliance with the law at all times, fully protecting the welfare of both children and those supporting them in your setting.

The typical safeguarding policies we support our clients with include:

Frequently asked questions

Yes, we can support you with the development and standardisation of one or your whole suite of bespoke safeguarding policies, in accordance with latest legislation e.g. Keeping Children Safe in Education, Working Together to Safeguarding Children, Statutory Framework for Early Years etc.

Yes. We can review your internally developed policies, and provide written assurance of compliance.

If we identify there are amendments needed to ensure compliance against the latest statutory and best practice guidance, we will suggest clear recommendations for you to implement. 

Yes, our Annual Policy Management Service packages provide updates as necessary. We are constantly reviewing and making revisions where necessary, in line with the latest statutory and best practice guidance

Yes, mid-year updates will be communicated to Policy Clients. For clients subscribed to our Annual Policy Management Service, we will update your policy(ies) for you and send you revised documents for dissemination.

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.