MAT Strategic Safeguarding Provision and Assurance Review
Client Type
A Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) — Strategic Safeguarding Review (West Yorkshire Region).
Summary of client
A large Multi-Academy Trust committed to positioning safeguarding not just as a peripheral compliance function, but as a core driver of educational excellence, pupil wellbeing, and social equity. Driven by their “Ways of Being” values, the Trust oversees a diverse portfolio of schools requiring consistent, cross-directorate assurance.
Summary of client requirements (what they asked for, why they asked for it)
The Trust sought a comprehensive, high-level strategic review of their overarching safeguarding provision against the MAT Safeguarding Assurance Model to:
- Validate Compliance & Beyond: Independently evaluate their existing compliance framework and mature “family-first” culture.
- Assess the Central Ecosystem: Audit the efficacy of their central safeguarding team’s risk-based reviews, case-file audits, and CPOMS quality assurance frameworks.
- Identify Strategic Gaps: Uncover opportunities to transition from reporting purely operational activities to measuring meaningful, long-term impact (“How much safer are our children this year?”)
What I provided.
Delivered a robust, 22-page external Executive Trust-Level Assurance Review evaluating the 7 Domains of Strategic Provision:
- Holistic Framework Audit: I Systematically benchmarked Trust practices, using the Strategic Safeguarding Trust Framework – focusing on Safeguarding Culture & Governance, Policy/Procedure, Staff Understanding, Data Intelligence, Multi-Agency Collaboration, Family Support, and the Safeguarding Curriculum
- Triangulation of Evidence: I reviewed the Trust Safeguarding Team’s self-evaluations, audited statutory compliance checks (SCR and KCSIE), and conducted interviews with school leaders and DSLs.
- Collaboration Eco-system Mapping: I provided a blueprint to optimize information sharing, resources, and respectful mutual challenge across different Trust directorates.
Key Results
The review successfully validated an exceptionally strong, ambitious safeguarding ecosystem while providing a definitive strategic roadmap for future improvement:
- Psychological Safety & Trust: Confirmed that central support was experienced as being “done with, not to,” fostering deep professional trust and emotional resilience via reflective supervision.
- Innovative Inclusion Validated: Highly commended the Trust’s pioneering deployment of internal Alternative Provision (AP) in all secondary schools and their dedicated “Poverty Proofing” initiatives.
- Shift to Proactive Intelligence: Facilitated the transition toward local risk profiling, using triangulated CPOMS trends, attendance data, and student wellbeing surveys.
- Future-Proof Roadmap: Delivered 5 clear, high-level action recommendations to the Board, including creating an impact-driven intelligence dashboard, maximizing stakeholder voice, and building an integrated AI/Digital safety strategy.
Testimonial
“It’s a really well-written report that absolutely captures our strengths. From the start, it’s felt collaborative, and your approach has fed into that all the way through. The recommendations give us plenty to think about and get our teeth into moving forward.”
— Director / Safeguarding Executive, Multi-Academy Trust