Safeguarding Teenagers in Schools and Colleges - Speakers

Ella Savell-Boss
Director of Safeguarding for Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust and Director of ABC Training

For the past decade, Ella has worked in the ever changing and complex field of safeguarding and is currently the Safeguarding Manager at Shireland Collegiate Academy in the West Midlands. She is also founding Director of Aspirational, Bespoke, Creative Training Ltd, whereas of 2014 they have offered bespoke training courses relating to all aspects of safeguarding work and staff development.

Dai Durbridge
Partner, Browne Jacobson LLP

Dai specialises in advising schools and academies on all pastoral education issues, including admissions, exclusions, parental complaints, use of force and searching pupils. A recognised safeguarding expert, he regularly supports schools on complex safeguarding issues including handling disclosures of abuse, managing allegations against staff and parental consent.

Mark Donkersley
Managing Director, eSafe

eSafe is a unique service designed to help education leaders meet their statutory safeguarding duties, including those defined by the Prevent duty and the Department for Education (Keeping Children Safe in Education). Mark often provides briefings on safety in the digital environment to HM Government, as well as State and Federal government in Australia, because of the unique insight eSafe has into the behaviour and health of young people in the UK.

Gill Sommers
Safeguarding Consultant

Gill has spent the last 18 years in further education and training, working as Director of Students at an FE College and senior lead for safeguarding across three campuses. This involved ensuring staff and volunteers were fully trained and prepared for working with young people. Gill is also a former police officer, with a keen interest in how serious case reviews inform legislation and good practice.

Bradley Busch
Director, InnerDrive

Bradley Busch is an HCPC registered and BPS Chartered Psychologist. His company, InnerDrive, has worked with over 200 schools – helping staff and students improve their mindset, resilience and performance under pressure. Outside of education, he consults with elite athletes that include Premiership Footballers and athletes who medalled at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Craig Pinkney
Criminologist and Urban Youth Specialist

Craig Pinkney is a Criminologist, Urban Youth Specialist and Lecturer in the School of Education, Health and Community at University College Birmingham. He is an experienced Youth Worker with over 14 year’s experience as an Outreach Worker, Transformational Speaker, Gang Exit Strategist, Mediator, Mentor and Filmmaker. He is the UK Lead for the EUGANGS Project..

Maxine Thomas
Senior Educational Safeguarding Consultant

Maxine has managed learner/safeguarding services within the Further Education Sector for 30 years. She is an Independent Reviewer for Child and Adult Practice Reviews alongside Multi Agency Professional Forums.  Her areas of specialism have been the development of learner, well-being /safeguarding services.   She is Vice Chair of the Pembrokeshire Integrated Local Operational Group (LOG) for Safeguarding, and is Vice Chair of the Pembrokeshire CONTEST Board and a member of the regional Prevent and Channel panels. 

Samantha Garner
Director, Garner Education Services Ltd

Samantha is a well-established consultant and trainer in the world of SEN and Mental Health. Originally a music teacher, she has worked in the SEN arena for over 15 years and spent time as a SENCo in a large secondary school where she worked closely with the TAMHs project and ran Parent Groups as a qualified Triple P Facilitator. After this time she worked with LAC and SEMH children, qualifying as a CBT therapist and Child & Adolescent Counsellor. 

Nicky Hutchinson M.Ed
Education Consultant, Not Just Behaviour

Nicky was originally a primary school teacher. She worked for Bristol Education Authority for 17 years as a specialist behaviour consultant, advising schools on children’s behaviour, mental health and emotional well-being. She now has an independent consultancy ‘Not Just Behaviour’ and works nationally with universities, parents and schools on all aspects of parenting, child behaviour and emotional development. She also works as a therapist and wrote ‘Intervening Early’ a guide to young children’s behaviour.

Chris Calland M.A
Education Consultant, Not Just Behaviour

Chris was originally a secondary school teacher and she’s worked for Bristol Education Authority for 18 years as a specialist behaviour consultant, advising schools on children’s behaviour, mental health and emotional well-being. She has an independent consultancy ‘Not Just Behaviour’ and works nationally with universities, parents and schools on all aspects of parenting, child behaviour and emotional development.

Jon Bull, DECCA Team Manager, Sandwell Children’s Trust

The Drug Education, Counselling and Confidential Advice (DECCA) Team is Sandwell’s young person’s alcohol and drug service, and Jon has worked for them since 2000, and as Team Manager since 2008.

He has been the lead on various educational and specialist treatment programmes, and these in turn has led to DECCA having evidencable successes in terms of achieving targets and outcomes.

He is also a practicing integrative therapist, accredited through the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).