Telford College logo, white text stating Telford College with blue partly closed circle icon.

Director of Safeguarding & Student Support (DSL)

Application deadline
May 12, 2025 5:00 pm
Department
Student Services
Employment type
Permanent
37
Location
Telford College - Wellington, Telford
Salary
£61,800
Reporting to
Vice Principal Support & Performance
Potential interview date
From May 21, 2025
Vacancy reference
VN1103
About the role

OUR MISSION: “To be an outstanding educational provider for our community, ensuring that students achieve positive outcomes aligned to high aspirations, and through collaborative engagement, support employers to have the required skills to develop and grow their workforce.”

Due to ongoing expansion, restructure and internal promotions at Telford College, we have five director-level opportunities to join our Senior Leadership Team.

With a new sixth form centre soon to open in Telford’s Station Quarter, and multi-million-pound investment in the pipeline to reshape our Wellington campus, this is an incredibly exciting time to join our committed team and drive forward the next stages of our journey.

To support this growth and development, we are seeking candidates for the following senior roles:

  • Director of Automotive, Construction & Engineering
  • Director of Health & Care
  • Director of Quality & Performance
  • Director of Marketing & Admissions
  • Director of Safeguarding and Student Support (Designated Safeguarding Lead)

These roles are all integral to ensuring that our vision and objectives are realised and will play a key role in shaping the future of the College.

Following our recent inspection, Telford College is in an excellent position to continue expanding and evolving. We are heavily investing in our university-standard facilities, ensuring that our resources are innovative and supported by the latest hi-tech learning platforms.

We have an ambitious growth agenda, including relocating our Sixth Form provision to the rejuvenated town centre alongside our new Digital and Maths Hub.

We are looking for highly capable leaders who place students at the heart of everything they do and have an unwavering commitment to ensuring achievement for all.

These roles require high quality leaders and good communicators who can involve and engage with all college staff, motivating and supporting them to meet the needs of learners.

The College employs 426 staff and is a great place to work, with a warm, inclusive atmosphere. Our staff are recognised for their hard work and are encouraged to inspire each another, and to develop and grow.

These new positions offer a fantastic opportunity to drive a truly inclusive, student-focused agenda and to make a lasting impact on the future of Telford College.

Key Responsibilities
  • Be ambitious for the college, learners and staff.
  • Provide positive and inspirational leadership.
  • Ensure all areas of responsibility are focussed on supporting the college to deliver high quality learning experiences.
  • Support the Executive Leadership Team to develop policy and strategy.
  • Achieve the relevant strategic and operational objectives.
  • Act as the College’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), ensuring robust safeguarding practices are in place to protect all students.
  • Provide strategic leadership for the BeSafe Team, ensuring that safeguarding is embedded across all College practices, and advise the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and Corporation on safeguarding issues.
  • Represent the College in safeguarding matters, ensuring effective communication and collaboration with external agencies, including local safeguarding boards and social services.
  • Design and implement a strategic Student Support strategy that aligns with the College’s vision and drives student engagement, wellbeing, and progression.
  • Lead the creation of opportunities that enable students to build cultural and social capital, ensuring access to a range of extracurricular activities, high-quality experiences, and career-building initiatives.
  • Develop and implement strategies that increase student aspirations, with a specific focus on enabling students to access high-profile universities and top-tier vocational opportunities.
  • Build strong relationships with external agencies and organisations that can support student development, including universities, businesses, and cultural institutions.
  • Lead the monitoring and evaluation of student support services, ensuring that they are having a measurable impact on student outcomes, engagement, and aspirations.
Skills, knowledge and expertise

Qualifications and training

  • Educated to degree level or equivalent in a relevant field.
  • A relevant professional qualification in safeguarding or social care (e.g. Level 3 Designated Safeguarding Lead qualification)

Skills and expertise

  • Experience in developing partnerships with external organisations including universities, businesses and community groups to enhance student opportunities.
  • Proven ability to design, implement and evaluate a student support strategy that drives high expectations and outcomes for students.
  • Extensive experience in a strategic leadership role within further education, with a focus on student support, progression and safeguarding.
  • Strong track record in increasing student aspirations and supporting progression to high-profile universities and competitive careers.
  • Exceptional communication, interpersonal and presentation skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership, staff and external stakeholders.
  • In depth knowledge of safeguarding legislation and best practices within an education contact.
  • A commitment to continuous development, particularly in areas related to student progression, higher education access and safeguarding.
How to Apply

We look forward to receiving your application and knowing more about your qualifications, skills, personal qualities and experience that you would bring to the role and to Telford College. Please take time to review the job description.

Please complete the online application form with details of your full employment history (since leaving school, including education, employment and voluntary work) including reasons for any gaps in employment. This should also include a statement of the personal qualities and experience you believe are relevant to your suitability for the post and how this meets the job description and person specification requirements. Your application form will be re-produced in a standard format by the system (without personal identifiers) to assist us in our anonymised shortlisting process.

Under Section 7 of SVGA 2006 it is an offence to apply for the role if the applicant is barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children. The college’s safeguarding policies are available here. Under KCSIE (keeping children safe in education) guidance the college is committed to all pre-employment safeguarding checks, including online checks and candidate history. Therefore, please note upon clicking to apply you agree for these checks to be completed.