Leading Safeguarding - Digital - 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.

Find out more about the conference in the Chair's video message.

Ann Marie Christian, International Safeguarding Consultant and Trainer

Ann Marie Christian has worked in child protection for 30 years, including as a qualified social worker for 26 years. She was a school based social worker in 1999 and managed social workers in schools for a local authority as well as being the safeguarding advisor to schools.  Ann Marie delivered multi agency training for the LSCB. She has worked as a LADO, safeguarding advisor, social work manager, along with leading school improvement work. An independent safeguarding consultant since 2010, Ann Marie does associate work with the NSPCC, Premier League, Boarding School Association, local authorities, international and boarding schools, education, faith, arts, early years and charity settings. She is an author and writes regular articles on safeguarding.

Mike Glanville, Chief Safeguarding Officer, The Safeguarding Company

Mike is a co-founder and the Chief Safeguarding Officer at The Safeguarding Company. A former child protection officer, Mike served as a UK police officer for 30 years and as an Assistant Chief Constable had overall responsibility for all aspects of safeguarding and public protection in his force. In his current role he oversees the development and delivery of safeguarding training and customer success using his experience to deliver high-quality services and support across a wide range of sectors. Mike has also been a school governor since 2010 and is currently the Chair of Governors at a primary school located in Dorset, UK.

Debbie Innes-Turnill, Safeguarding Consultant and Child Protection Lecturer

Debbie is an independent safeguarding consultant supporting organisations and individuals with their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. She specialises in auditing policies and procedures, action planning and training, as well as providing ongoing safeguarding supervision. She has 30 years’ experience as an educator at all levels of education, from pre-school to University.  She currently lectures, part time, on an advanced child protection Master’s degree, in addition to supporting the Bachelor’s and Master’s in social work. Her academic research includes: child abuse and poverty, self-regulation and issues pertaining to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Hear from Debbie about her informed early intervention workshop and her governance workshop.

Monica Bhogal, Director, Schools Consent Project

Monica practised as a solicitor for 15 years, specialising in defamation and privacy claims. She is the Director of the Schools Consent Project, a charity which sends lawyers into schools to teach 11-18 year olds the legal definition of consent and key sexual offences, such as rape, sexual assault, and ‘sexting’, through interactive workshops. She is passionate about educating and empowering young people, by ensuring they have accurate and comprehensive knowledge to enable them to enjoy respectful, fulfilling relationships. By making the next generation confident of their legal rights, able to communicate their boundaries, and respectful of those boundaries in others, she believes we can support the wider cultural change that we are all looking to achieve, not just in our schools but in society as a whole.

Dina Parla, Trust Safeguarding Lead, Voyage Education Partnership

Dina has worked within the safeguarding and child protection arena for over 20 years within the private sector and Children Services, moving across to education as the Trust Safeguarding Lead at Voyage Education Partnership in 2018. Over the last four years, she has been focusing on supporting both existing and prospective academies, driving consistency within the Trust, maintaining aligned autonomy, ensuring a holistic approach whilst providing assurances to the Chief Executive Team. Dina's favourite quote is, 'Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be,' by Rita Pierson.

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

Luke Ramsden is an award-winning senior deputy headmaster and senior safeguarding lead at St Benedict’s School in Ealing.  He started his teaching career at Tonbridge School where he was Head of History and was then a Housemaster at Ampleforth College before moving to Ealing.  In his role as Senior Deputy Head he is responsible for the day-to-day running of the school, as well as the pastoral oversight of all the students and overseeing the school's PSHE programme (among a number of other roles) In his time at St Benedict's the school has become a flagship school for safeguarding and pastoral care, with the happiness of every student placed firmly at the heart of all the school does. This led to the award of Pastoral Leader of the Year 2021-22 by the NACPE (National Association for Child Protection in Education). Luke regularly talks at educational conferences, and also writes on safeguarding, pastoral care, and in particular the use of data to inform excellence in both these areas.  Among other positions Luke holds outside St Benedict’s he is chair of the Independent Safeguarding Advisory board for The Safeguarding Company, is a trustee of the School's Consent Project charity, and has recently joined the National Executive Committee for the NAPCE.

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.

Find out about Ella's keynote on evidencing and enriching your safeguarding culture in this short video. Hear from Ella about her growing as a safeguarding leader workshop.

Jason Tait, DSL and Co-Founder, The Student Voice

Jason is the Director of Pastoral Care and Designated Safeguarding Lead at TASIS The American School in England. He is also co-founder of The Student Voice, a child-centred, preventative tool, for addressing student concerns and promoting safe student communities in a simple and measurable way. Jason is passionate about creating brave spaces that empower young voices and inspire society to develop safer communities.

More speakers to be announced shortly!