Jo Perrin - Head of School Support, Adviser, Services For Education

Jo Perrin is a seasoned Education Adviser with a strong background in safeguarding. She has held key roles as a Designated Safeguarding Lead, secondary school teacher and pastoral lead in the education sector. Facilitating training to enhance the knowledge and skills of professionals working directly with children and young people is her passion.

With a wealth of experience in teaching PSHE and expertise in childhood trauma from her time as a foster carer, Jo is dedicated to supporting organisations that work with children and vulnerable adults on safeguarding issues.

She is actively involved in professional safeguarding groups in the West Midlands and is currently collaborating on a research project with colleagues from the University of Birmingham focusing on FGM awareness within communities. Jo has worked as a West Midlands' Adviser for national PSHE resources, presented at the Sex Education Forum National Members' Event and authored an advertorial for PSM magazine, and articles for both SEND magazine and SecEd.

Jo's expertise extends to training on topics such as Safer Recruitment and Mental Health at Work. She is also a facilitator for the nationally recognised NPQSL and NPQ SENCO qualifications, supporting senior leaders in education. Her contributions to publications and development of resources for RSE provision have been well-received by schools nationally and internationally.

With her extensive experience and dedication to professional development, Jo Perrin is a highly respected figure in the field of education. Her guidance on safeguarding, mental health awareness, personal development, and relationships education is highly valued within the industry.

Read articles written by Jo Perrin here.

Lucie Welch – Adviser, Services For Education

Lucie Welch has worked in Primary Education for over 15 years, holding a range of leadership positions including Assistant Headteacher, Designated Safeguarding Lead, Attendance Lead and Designated Teacher for Looked After Children. Having worked across several local authorities and multi-academy trusts, Lucie has developed extensive expertise in safeguarding and supporting children and young people to thrive both academically and personally.

At Services For Education, Lucie is a member of the Safeguarding Team, working with schools, colleges, trusts and other educational settings across Birmingham and beyond. She delivers statutory safeguarding and training, supports organisations through safeguarding audits and reviews and works collaboratively with leaders to strengthen safeguarding culture and practice.

Alongside her safeguarding work, Lucie leads the impactful Health for Life programme across Birmingham, supporting schools to promote healthy lifestyles, wellbeing and positive outcomes for pupils, families and wider communities. Drawing on her extensive school leadership experience, she also contributes to teacher development through her previous work with the SCITT programme and as a facilitator of the Early Career Framework (ECF), supporting trainee and Early Career Teachers to build the knowledge, skills and confidence needed for successful careers in education.

Read articles written by Lucie Welch here.

Emma Mudge - Adviser, Services For Education

Emma has more than 20 years' experience in primary education and has worked in a variety of roles, including Assistant Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher and Acting Head Teacher - working at the forefront of school leadership and improvement for the majority of her career.

Emma now works as an Educational Adviser, sharing her experience and knowledge to continually promote and improve the standard of teaching and learning in English, develop and extend the safeguarding culture within schools and to support leaders with their school improvement implementation overall.

Supporting schools with the accuracy of their writing assessments is an important part of her role, using her expertise as the moderation and monitoring manager to inform, train and support teachers and school leaders.

Emma is also part of the team which delivers the Health For Life programme (improving the healthy opportunities for primary aged children) and has delivered the NPQSL for 3 years, where she proudly supports the development of our aspiring leaders in the city.

Read articles written by Emma Mudge here.

After training in DSL across three local authorities and different providers, this is by far the best training I’ve been to!

It is excellent. The trainers are not regurgitating the legal documents. It’s hands on and practical with real on the ground “walk-through” advice of processes and forms.

Excellent. Absolutely excellent.

Beverley Walker-Gordon – Headteacher – The Orchards Primary Academy, Greenheart Learning Partnership

Services For Education recently carried out a safeguarding audit at Christ’s College Finchley and the experience was excellent from start to finish. The team were friendly, positive and compassionate, while also being diligent, thorough and highly professional.

They approached the process with great sensitivity, ensuring staff felt supported throughout. Importantly, they took the time to understand our school context, highlighted our strengths, and provided fair and honest findings.

The feedback was detailed and constructive, with excellent advice on how we can continue to strengthen safeguarding and improve the experiences of both students and staff. We are very grateful for their guidance and would not hesitate to recommend them.

 Ruth Hill – Headteacher – Christ’s College, Finchley

I’ve been a DSL for over 15 years, but only undertook the Services for Education DSL training for the first time in recent years.  When I attended, I couldn’t believe the difference in quality; the SFE course was detailed, comprehensive and met the exact needs for a DSL working in a school or college.  Looking back, I was shocked by how poor my previous DSL courses were in comparison and recommend the SFE DSL course to everyone I can.

When I was looking for a training session about Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) for a safeguarding conference, it felt that contacting SFE was the perfect starting point.   They took the time to liaise with me about exactly what my delegates needed from the session and then presented a perfectly pitched session that was thought provoking, informative and engaging.  Given the poor quality of some training providers out there, it is fantastic to have the Services for Education team as highly trusted providers of training.

ADAM CROSS – PRINCIPAL AND DSL – MANDER, PORTMAN, WOODWARD INDEPENDENT COLLEGE

SFE’s visit balanced rigour, professionalism and superb knowledge with kindness, understanding and clarity.

They interacted well with both pupils and staff, ensuring they got the best out of all their groups. Their willingness to create a bespoke plan for the audit was welcomed.

It was particularly good to work with people from elsewhere in the country who could provide a fresh perspective on our working practice.

 Julian Waterfield – Headteacher – St Anne’s Catholic School and Sixth Form, Southampton

Amazing course with excellent trainers. Gained knowledge and skills which I will now be able to put into action and reflect on in practice. The trainers were really engaging and gave examples which were really interesting and resulted in me understanding it better.

Maryam Hussain – Springfield Primary Academy

One of the best updates I have attended, the training will support the critical reflection of the DSLs in my school

Sukhbinder Gosal – World’s End Junior School

Course leader was absolutely fabulous. So nice to have someone relatable, not being out of the classroom long, delivering courses. Message of the course was received well due to the level of empathy and understanding of our role. Thank you very much!

Sophie O’Neill Class TEacher – St Bernards Catholic Primary School

Great opportunities for an honest discussion across schools and to see successes from other schools and to see and compare and share good practise tips.

Assistant head teacher

At Services For Education, the expertise of our safeguarding team allows us to a wide variety of specialist safeguarding courses to suit all job roles that involve both working directly with children and working in a child-based setting. Our courses cater from whole staff general safeguarding training, to courses required by statutory guidance such as DSL courses and Safer Recruitment, to focused information and guidance on specific safeguarding issues such as CSE, FGM, safer recruitment or sexual violence and sexual harassment. We offer a mix of online and face to face sessions to suit all needs. We also have a regularly updated online safeguarding subscription, containing training webinars, blogs and resources providing clear, concise and up-to-date guidance in the field of safeguarding.

To discover more information about safeguarding services we offer, click on the relevant tiles below, contact us here or call us on 0121 366 9950.

“By coming on these courses, you can rest assured that your staff will be trained to their jobs effectively, to do all that they can to keep your children safe from harm.”

Jo Perrin – Services For Education

Services For Education is an experienced provider of certificated education safeguarding training, working with over 1100 delegates each year. Our training is linked in to national and local policy and practice and we are experts by experience as all of our experienced advisors are former DSLs themselves. They are also members of several inter-agency strategic groups including SGIE (safeguarding and education sub group of Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership), BAFGM (Birmingham against female genital mutilation). Everyone attending our main courses has access to a copy of our comprehensive safeguarding handbook and additional resources.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 is clear that all governors should receive safeguarding training on induction. This course covers how to develop a successful strategic oversight of safeguarding practices in your setting, looking at statutory requirements and also discusses best practice in creating a culture and ethos with safeguarding at its heart. Our DSL training is linked in to national and local policy and practice and we are experts by experience as all of our experienced advisors are former DSLs themselves.