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Form of workOld Swinford Services Ltd seeks to appoint a knowledgeable and dedicated Director of Safeguarding to lead this important area of School life.
This post would suit an emotionally intelligent, resilient and experienced practitioner with significant safeguarding experience and a genuine enthusiasm for working with children and young people.
Old Swinford Hospital is one of the country’s leading state boarding schools. A large number of the School’s students are boarders who come from a wide range of backgrounds in the UK and also from the EU and overseas. A third of our pupils are day pupils, who usually go home after lessons, unless they are involved in sport or music, CCF or DofE. The School is now on an exciting journey to become fully co-educational by 2025. Girls joined us in September 2021 in Year 7, whilst the Sixth Form has been mixed since 2004.
OSH is calm place to work. It is inclusive, tolerant and welcoming. The atmosphere is supportive and orderly, and it is also very relaxed because for many of our pupils their school is also their home. Parents, pupils and staff are all on the same side and our pupils want to learn before going out into the wider world and making their own contribution to it.
We have recently had two very favourable Ofsted visits, one for boarding and one for curriculum. You can see these via our website We enjoy a very good academic reputation and regularly feature in the lists of the most academically successful maintained schools. We’re not about league tables, however. We pride ourselves on developing in our pupils a balance of academic achievement, character and resilience and we’ve been doing this now for nearly 360 years.
Our extensive extra-curricular programme contributes to our pupils becoming happy, healthy and interested young people, for whom sport, music, art, drama, outdoor pursuits feature in their everyday lives.
A major building programme has recently been completed which includes a large extension to an already impressive sports centre, an all-weather floodlit sports pitch, a new teaching block with a specialist arts room, a performing arts centre and a new senior boarding house.
Other recent developments include a new off-site sports ground and a new food technology centre. From September 2021, university style teaching accommodation has enhanced and extended our campus in a new block, ‘Swinford Court’. In September 2024 we are opening our second girls boarding house.
OSH is a strong, values driven community. At OSH, safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility. A subcommittee of the governing body meets with the DSL and Deputy DSL each month, and senior boarding and pastoral colleagues are all trained up to DSL level.
Three further Deputy DSLs complement the core safeguarding team of five experienced practitioners.
We are now looking for an experienced colleague to lead and manage this important area of School life as we grow in number. Currently, our Deputy Head is our DSL. Our intention is for the new Director of Safeguarding to become our chief DSL and report to him.
Full details and an application form can be obtained from our school website:
The School reserves the right to close the job advert early where sufficient applications have been received and so we encourage early applications to ensure consideration for the post.
Old Swinford Hospital is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and applicants are required to undertake an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service check.
