Leading Safeguarding - Speakers

Dai Durbridge, Partner, Browne Jacobson LLP

Dai is an expert education lawyer at Browne Jacobson and heads up the North West team.  Dai advises schools, academies and MATs on frontline education matters, including school admissions and exclusions, parental complaints, GDPR and all safeguarding issues. As well as supporting schools with everyday safeguarding issues – positive DBS disclosures, overseas checks, parental consent, school-wide compliance and safeguarding culture – Dai also manages complex safeguarding issues for schools, such as serious allegations against staff and pupil fatalities, and also supports schools with the press interest that flows from those issues and implementing post incident action plans to learn from those experiences. Dai also carries Optimus’ MAT safeguarding audits to support Trusts with improving safeguarding practices at each academy and developing consistent approaches and structures that support best practice trust-wide safeguarding.

Kevin Crompton, Independent Scrutineer of children’s safeguarding Gloucestershire

Director of Kevin Crompton Solutions Ltd, Kevin established his company following over 35 years in public service and offers interim management, problem solving, leadership and management development.  Contracts have included taking on the role of the Chair of the Local Children's Safeguarding Boards in Sutton, Merton and Northamptonshire. He worked as part of the team to establish an Early Intervention Foundation in the U.K (2013). His current assignments include: advising Gloucestershire County Council on the improvement of their children’s services; advising Devon County Council’s Children’s Scrutiny committee; and he is Gloucestershire’s independent scrutineer for children’s safeguarding. He is also Chair of the East Midlands Academy Trust (EMAT).  As  Chief Executive at Haringey Council (March 2010 to October 2012) his work included improving children’s services following the tragic death of Peter Connelly and the response to the riots in Tottenham in 2011. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive of Luton Borough Council (November 2005 to February 2010). 

Debbie Gardner, Safeguarding Trainer, MyConcern

Debbie retired from South Wales Police in 2017 after completing 30 years’ service. During her career she became an accredited Detective working on the Criminal Investigation Department in Cardiff until 2001. She became the lead for Rape and Serious Sexual Offences writing Force Policy and developing the Sexual Assault Referral Centre to improve services for children and adults. Following promotion to Detective Sergeant, Debbie worked in the Public Protection Department within the Vulnerable Adult team. She worked closely with other statutory partners to ensure that vulnerable people had a voice and were able to access the criminal justice system fully supported. Debbie worked closely with members of the Cwm Taf Safeguarding Board to develop the first Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) in Wales. This hub is the single point of contact for all professionals to report safeguarding concerns and has significantly improved the sharing of information between agencies to protect the most vulnerable children and adults from harm. Following her retirement, Debbie has worked as an independent trainer and has delivered training in all areas of safeguarding.

Liz Hood, Safeguarding Trainer, MyConcern

Originally coming from a background in education as a Secondary Music Teacher, Liz has also gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Since completing her studies, she has continued to work with Women’s Aid and New Pathways, counselling individuals that have experienced domestic and sexual violence. Liz’s specialities include mental health support, increasing wellbeing within the workplace and working with individuals who have experienced trauma. Safeguarding has been prevalent throughout her career, underpinning the services that she has provided for establishments working with both children and adults.

Natasha Lawrence, Safeguarding Manager, MyConcern

Natasha is passionate about safeguarding children and protecting those vulnerable within our society. During her policing career she specialized in sexual offences and interviewing vulnerable adults and children. As a detective on the Child Abuse Investigation Team she completed advanced interview courses and specifically interviewing sex offenders (CEOP). As an acting Detective Sergeant on the Safeguarding Referral Unit, she managed incoming referrals around adults and children and requests under Sarah’s Law, working closely with partner agencies. Natasha also qualified as a Police Trainer and was instrumental in creating a new Joint Interview (ABE) course and delivering safeguarding and sexual offences training to new police recruits and trainee detectives.

Alan Mackenzie, Online Safety Consultant

Alan is an independent consultant who has specialised in the area of online safety since 2007. Speaking in hundreds of schools and conferences every year, Alan is passionate about the positive and appropriate use of technology and the huge benefits that can be realised through global connectivity and collaboration; he believes that good digital skills are vital in order to help children and young people embrace the wonderful opportunities whilst mitigating the risks.

Shahana Knight, Founder and Director of TPC Therapy Ltd 

Shahana Knight is the founder and director of TPC Therapy Ltd, a mental health service for children and young people. Shahana manages a team of play therapists who work with children in schools, adoption, fostering and homicide. She is also the founder of the ‘Therapeutic Schools Programme’ through which she is working with schools across England to put children’s wellbeing at the core of education. Pioneering a vision for all schools to become therapeutic schools, her unique approach has been recognised by BBC newsround and BBC Teach who have both featured Shahana. A finalist in the upcoming Ladies First awards 2020, in both ‘inspirational women’ and ‘business entrepreneur’ categories, Shahana writes a regular segment in Head Teachers Update. She is also governor of a primary school and sits on two foster care panels.

Luke Ramsden, Senior Deputy Headmaster and Senior Safeguarding Lead, St Benedict's Ealing

Luke Ramsden is Senior Deputy Headmaster at St Benedict’s School in Ealing.  Having studied History at University College, Oxford as an undergraduate and then postgraduate, he started his teaching career at Tonbridge School where he was Head of History and Assistant Housemaster.  He went on from there to be a Housemaster at Ampleforth College before moving to Ealing where he lives with his wife and their three daughters, all of whom attend St Benedict’s School themselves.  Luke is senior safeguarding lead at St Benedict’s and has wide experience of pastoral leadership in both day and boarding schools.

Ella Savell-Boss, Safeguarding Consultant and Trainer

Ella is an NSPCC accredited Safeguarding and Child Protection Trainer, providing training and consultancy for over 15 years to schools and organisations. Ella works locally, nationally and internationally, including Singapore, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. Ella prides herself on her approach to bespoke training content, working across the vast spectrum of safeguarding topics. As the former Director of Safeguarding for the Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, Ella has managed safeguarding cases and teams in one of the most deprived areas in the UK. Ella’s specialist safeguarding subjects include: being a Home Office approved anti-radicalisation and extremism trainer; forced marriage; child sexual exploitation; designated safeguarding lead trainer; and emotional health and wellbeing. Ella can also help organisations look at the support they provide to their staff for emotional health and wellbeing and work on team building, how to manage difficult conversations, and responding to disclosures. As a trained person-centred and Gestalt therapist, Ella is also able to provide supervision sessions for those holding a responsibility in safeguarding and needing advice and guidance as well as emotional support for themselves.

Briony Williamson, Head of Training, SafeLives

Briony Williamson is Head of Training at SafeLives, a UK charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse. Since joining SafeLives in 2012, Briony has developed and delivered training for a range of specialist domestic abuse practitioners and also for multi-agency professionals including police, health and social care. In the last 12 months, SafeLives has trained over 15,000 frontline staff, to improve the response received by those affected by domestic abuse. Briony is a qualified youth worker, with a background working in mental health services, and has experience in various roles in community-based domestic abuse services, including Marac Idva and Court Idva. She is an outreach worker and partner worker for court-mandated and voluntary perpetrator programmes.

Michael Spellman, retired Detective Inspector

Michael is a retired Detective Inspector spending the last ten years of his service specialising in child protection. He was the initial lead on the Khyra Ishaq investigation, has sat on a number of Serious Case Reviews and safeguarding children board sub-groups and helped established the first Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub in the West Midlands.