In this podcast episode, you’ll learn about:

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Kay Joel is a Senior Consultant at the NSPCC who works closely with schools to provide external consultancy. This includes undertaking safeguarding policy audits and visiting schools to verify safeguarding practices. She has also worked for over 25 years as a qualified teacher in primary and special education.

Our guest speaker, Helen, is the parent of a child who is in year one and provides us with an insight into what she has experienced as a parent.

📚 Related resources

> Take our child protection online course for schools

> Safeguarding responsibilities of schools in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales

> Read the updated statutory guidance on Keeping children safe in education by the DfE

> Discover what makes an effective anti-bullying policy


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Our host Chris Cloke and Gawain Griffiths, a Website Supervisor for the NSPCC discuss:

These episodes were produced as part of a partnership led by NCVO, funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Lottery Fund within the Safeguarding Training Fund programme.

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Chris Cloke was the Head of Safeguarding in Communities at the NSPCC for over thirty years.  He has a huge wealth of experience and knowledge in safeguarding, particularly within the voluntary and community sector where he has been a trustee and advisor to several voluntary groups. He has been a member of and worked closely with a number of local safeguarding children boards and was chair of the Anti-Bullying Alliance for many years.

Gawain Griffiths is a Website Supervisor for the NSPCC and focuses on content development on the Childline website. Gawain has worked at the NSPCC for nine years and has developed a wide range of online resources to help keep children and young people safe in the online and offline world.

📚 Related resources

> View our safeguarding resources for voluntary and community groups

> Learn more about online safety


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Through this episode, you’ll find out more about:

These episodes were produced as part of a partnership led by NCVO, funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Lottery Fund within the Safeguarding Training Fund programme.

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Chris Cloke was the Head of Safeguarding in Communities at the NSPCC for over thirty years.  He has a huge wealth of experience and knowledge in safeguarding, particularly within the voluntary and community sector where he has been a trustee and advisor to several voluntary groups. He has been a member of and worked closely with a number of local safeguarding children boards and was chair of the Anti-Bullying Alliance for many years.

Sarah Stanley is the Education and Development Co-ordinator for Brass Bands England and has created a safeguarding training course for its members with the help and guidance of the NSPCC. She now delivers this training to bands across the country.

Lisa Curtis is the Safeguarding Adults at Risk Manager and Deputy CEO of the Ann Craft Trust and has worked on various projects including the provision and development of services for adults with learning disabilities. She has continued to influence safeguarding and the delivery of quality services to vulnerable adults.

📚 Related resources

> View our safeguarding resources for voluntary and community groups


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This summer, we are releasing a compilation of episodes on key topics related to safeguarding children and young people within your community.  

Learn more about:

These episodes were produced as part of a partnership led by NCVO, funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Lottery Fund within the Safeguarding Training Fund programme.

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Helen Munn is the Head of Online Learning at the NSPCC and is responsible for the organisation’s elearning courses and our podcast programme. Prior to joining the NSPCC, she held a similar role at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Cate Meredith has been working for the NSPCC for 10 years as a Senior Consultant in our Safeguarding in Communities team. She shares her expertise with organisations in the voluntary and community sector to ensure their safeguarding responsibilities are supported, understood and met so that children and young people are kept safe.

Trupti Kavia is Head of Family Services for Home-Start in Barnet, Brent, Enfield and Harrow and has worked with the family support organisation for 15 years delivering efficient and effective services. As a Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO), Trupti is responsible for ensuring that safeguarding procedures are followed and staff and volunteers receive ongoing safeguarding training and support.

📚 Related resources

> View our safeguarding resources for voluntary and community groups


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In this episode, we focus on:

These podcasts were produced as part of a partnership led by NCVO, funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Lottery Fund within the Safeguarding Training Fund programme.

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Chris Cloke was the Head of Safeguarding in Communities at the NSPCC for over thirty years.  He has a huge wealth of experience and knowledge in safeguarding, particularly within the voluntary and community sector where he has been a trustee and advisor to several voluntary groups. He has been a member of and worked closely with a number of local safeguarding children boards and was chair of the Anti-Bullying Alliance for many years.

Cate Meredith has been working for the NSPCC for 10 years as a Senior Consultant in our Safeguarding in Communities team. She continues to lend her expertise to organisations in the voluntary and community sector to ensure their safeguarding responsibilities are supported, understood and met, so that children and young people are safe. 

Heidi Bradley is a Club Support Manager for England Athletics and leads on the development of safeguarding resources. She also sits on the NSPCC’s National Advisory Group for the voluntary and community sector.

📚 Related resources

> View our safeguarding resources for voluntary and community groups

> Browse our introductory safeguarding and child protection elearning courses


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The lead author of the report, Holly Bentley, a Senior Information Specialist at the NSPCC speaks about: 

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Holly Bentley is a Senior Information Specialist at the NSPCC leading on the organisation’s use of statistics and data. Holly has worked at the NSPCC for eight years and has managed the compilation and delivery of the ‘How safe are our children?’ report since 2013. Prior to working at the NSPCC, she was a librarian at the Guardian.

📚 Related resources and further reading

> Read the full How safe are our children? 2019 report

> Get an overview of data on abuse of adolescents in our 2020 report

> Find out more about preventing online abuse and harm

> Read a summary of risk factors and learning for improving practice around online harm and abuse

> Take a look at the NSPCC helplines report about online safety


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Tune into the podcast to listen to our experts discuss:

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Nicola McConnell is a Senior Evaluation Officer within the NSPCC’s Evidence Team who has over 20 years of experience in evaluating health and social care services for children and families, including training and supporting others to undertake this work. She has researched and published a range of evaluations across different topic areas such as child protection, domestic abuse and preventing child abuse as well as recently completed an evaluation of NSPCC’s early help services to military families.

Vicky Wainwright has worked as the Team Manager at the NSPCC’s Service Centre in Tidworth for the last three years where she has supported practitioners in delivering direct services to the local community. She is a qualified social worker who has previously worked within local authority safeguarding and child protection teams and has personal experience of the military as her husband is in the RAF.

📚 Related resources

> Read our military families evaluation report to learn more about our key findings

> Find out more about how early help/intervention services can reduce risk factors


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This episode features two of our Senior Consultants at the NSPCC, Donya Pourzand and Craig Keady, who discuss the importance of safer recruitment in educational institutions. 

They explore:  

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Craig Keady is a Senior Consultant for Education at NSPCC. He has worked extensively in the education sector and has experience in varied roles including safeguarding, leadership and management, special educational needs and inclusion in schools, multi-academy trusts.

Donya Pourzand is a Senior Consultant with the NSPCC Consultancy Service specialising in HR safeguarding. She has over 11 years of experience in HR and consultancy roles across the public and private sectors and now works on a consultative basis with schools and external organisations to explore ways to improve their HR practice for children and young people.

📚 Related resources

> Find out more about safer recruitment policies, vetting, disclosure and barring checks and managing allegations of abuse

> Get bespoke face-to-face training sessions on safer recruitment in education or take control of your learning with our online course

> Read our four top tips on how you can start incorporating safer practices in your recruitment processes


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We talk to the NSPCC’s Senior Educational Consultant, Kay Joel, about the following:

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speaker

Kay Joel is a Senior Consultant at the NSPCC who works closely with schools to provide external consultancy. This includes undertaking safeguarding policy audits and visiting schools to verify safeguarding practices. She has also worked for over 25 years as a qualified teacher in primary and special education.

📚 Related resources

> Read more about how you can protect children from bullying and cyberbullying

> Download a range of specialist training and resources aimed at teachers, schools and colleges

> Use our free online tool to assess your current safeguarding procedures


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Speak out Stay safe is our free safeguarding service that we’ve been running in primary schools since 2011. The programme is delivered by specially trained staff and volunteers with the help of our Speak out Stay Safe mascot, Buddy the speech bubble. Pupils are taught in a lively, memorable and child-friendly way.

Joining us in this podcast, we have Rose Bray, NSPCC’s Reach Development Project Manager for the NSPCC’s Schools Service, Karen Squillino who leads on our direct work with schools, and Katie, a parent whose son has taken part in the programme.

This podcast explores: 

Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Karen Squillino has a lead role in the development of the NSPCC’s Speak out Stay safe programme and is a registered social worker who has 28 years of experience in child protection and safeguarding.

Rose Bray is the Reach Development Project Manager for the Schools Service at the NSPCC. Her role focuses on ensuring the Speak out Stay safe programme reaches as many schools and children as possible. Rose is also a volunteer for the Childline service.

📚 Related resources

> Learn more about Speak out Stay safe


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