The Arch

Ep 10 - Safeguarding in plain sight, with Marcus Dickinson

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In this episode I sat down with Northern Arch Learning partnership's DSL Lead Marcus Dickinson and I asked:

  1. What’s changed in safeguarding over the last five or six years since Covid?
    • What concerns are you seeing more often now than before the pandemic?
    • Are pupils coming to school with different needs?
    • How did lockdown change children’s digital worlds?
    • Are weekends and holidays now more complex digitally than before?
    • What makes school sometimes the only stable or safe place in a child’s life?
      • Why do routines and predictability matter so much for vulnerable children?
      • What is it about predictability that helps children feel safe?
      • How does uncertainty show up emotionally or behaviourally in school?
      • Why are some pupils far more sensitive to change than others?
      • What role does trauma or instability play here?
      • What is it about the run-up to holidays that can increase anxiety and vulnerability for some pupils?
        • We often see holidays as a positive thing — but why can that feel very different for some pupils?
        • What changes in behaviour might staff notice in the final weeks of term?
        • What’s happening beneath the surface for some children as a break approaches?
        • Are there other points in the year that raise safeguarding risk? (Christmas, long weekends, exam season, summer holidays, transitions between schools)
        • Why do events like the World Cup or Euros change family dynamics for some households?
          • How can alcohol, gambling or financial pressure escalate risk?
          • How do schools prepare for periods that historically bring greater safeguarding demands without alarming students?
          • What do you wish every listener truly understood or appreciated about the home pressures that some of our students live with?
            • How has your safeguarding work changed the way you understand pupils’ lives beyond school, and your role as a professional?
              • ...more
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              The ArchBy Northern Arch Learning Partnership