Paulina’s family come from Poland and she moved to the UK with her parents when she was 8. She has some mild learning difficulties and when she started secondary school the school queried whether there was some bullying from peers at primary school and Paulina appears to have quite low self-esteem.
She has had very few discernible friends at school but recently told a TA she has found a new group of friends from the estate where she lives. She is quite proud they are friends with her as they are slightly older children.
School staff have noticed some behaviour changes in lessons. Paulina is answering back, some homework is not on time or incomplete (when it used to be to a good standard). Staff suspect she isn’t getting sufficient sleep and she’s been heard saying to peers that she spends hours online at night to her new friends.
Her parents don’t speak English fluently but they have contacted school saying they are worried about Paulina coming home from the park late. School tries to get more information and finds out it was only 20 minutes late so they don’t take it any further.
Paulina was previously somewhat of a “tomboy” but now seems to be developing an interest in make up and clothes, but her “unique” taste means peers at school mock her – she says to a staff member she isn’t bothered because her new friends like her look.
In a PSHE lesson about Healthy Relationships Paulina’s responses to a scenario situation suggest that she feels people should do what others want to “earn” friendships. The teacher tries to gently challenge this but she is firm in her views that the character in the scenario is lucky to have friends and can’t expect friendships for nothing in return.
A teaching assistant from the school who lives locally reports to the Head of Year that he saw Paulina at the weekend outside of some local shops with older youths, and that Paulina was “dressed inappropriately” for her age. This is recorded but no further action is taken as it was out of school hours and seen as just one person’s opinion.
In a Relationships and Sex Education lesson about sexting Paulina seems to be disengaged, behaviour is louder than usual and unfocussed. She refuses to participate and when other pupils demonstrate “victim blaming” language she shouts out that the other students are “just little kids and don’t understand mature relationships”.
Her only school friend later reports to a member of staff that Paulina has been showing naked pictures of an “older lad” on her phone and she says it’s her boyfriend.
School staff talk to Paulina and she says they are in love and she’s sent naked pictures back.
School involve parents but mum says Paulina “consents” and that all children experiment and urges school not to take things further with any authorities.
Referrals are made to social services and the police.
Lucie Welch taught in primary schools for over 13 years, holding the roles of Assistant Head of School, Designated Safeguarding Lead, Designated Teacher for Looked After Children, Attendance Lead as well as many subject lead roles.
Through the role of DSL, Lucie has garnered huge experience and knowledge of safeguarding which she is passionate about sharing with schools both across Birmingham and nationwide. With a strong understanding of policies and procedures, as well as safeguarding in schools at a day-to-day operational level, Lucie can provide bespoke consultancy and training on a host of safeguarding related topics.
Lucie also leads on PSHE and RSE and has a focused interest in children's emotional health and wellbeing, understanding how trauma and adverse childhood experiences can impact children, as well as educating staff and pupils on Sexual Violence, Sexual Harassment and Harmful Sexual Behaviour in schools.
Lucie is also a part of our Health for Life team and helps deliver the Early Career Framework on behalf of the Best Practice Network.
Jo Perrin taught PSHE in schools for over a decade and held the role of Designated Safeguarding Lead and pastoral lead. She currently works as an Education Adviser for Services For Education which allows her to combine her experience in schools with a personal knowledge of childhood trauma as a former foster carer.
In addition, Jo worked as a West Midlands’ Adviser for a national PSHE resource, has delivered a presentation to the Sex Education Forum National Members’ Event and has created a variety of RSE resources as part of her role for Services For Education.
Jo’s advisory experience is not limited to training school staff as she works with non-education based organisations to support them in safeguarding and emotional health and well-being aims and is an affiliated trainer for Mental Health At Work.
Tricia Bunn - Former Adviser, Services For Education
Over a career spanning 20 years, Tricia has been involved in primary education in a variety of contexts – as a teacher; senior leader; headteacher (within an LEA and within an Academy) and teacher educator. She is an experienced, successful headteacher, having led two schools since 2010.
For three years Tricia was Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at the University of Wolverhampton. In this role she was Module leader for English and Lead Tutor for the PGCE. Tricia is part of our School improvement team and is a tutor on the SFE primary initial teacher training programme.
She is the Lead English Adviser and co-leads on our curriculum development programme. Another key part of her most recent work has been embedding an understanding of cognitive theory into CPD, and ensuring this is the basis of work going forward.
After teaching for 25 years, Liz worked as an advisor with Services For Education for over 10 years leading on Mental Health, Emotional Health and Wellbeing before becoming an independent consultant. As well as working with schools Liz has presented key note talks, workshops and research findings at national conferences.
Liz has written 4 books and teaching resources that are used across the country by schools and other professionals working with children. Liz also works as a schools’ engagement trainer for the Anna Freud Centre, a Wellbeing Award advisor for Optimus Education and is a Protective Behaviours practitioner and trainer.
Charlie Laffan – Independent Integrative Counsellor
Charlie is an Integrative Counsellor who works with adults and children, delivering family support, mentoring and counselling.
She has extensive experience of providing specialist support with families and individuals in schools, and across a wide range of sectors.
Charlie’s counselling has a holistic approach and is tailored to the client’s needs. She brings this philosophy to mentoring and family support, providing therapeutic and practical interventions for young people and families.
Julia brings over 20 years experience in Education and Social Care. Her roles have included school advisor, national safeguarding programme developer, strategic lead in SEND and Safeguarding and qualified systemic supervisor in multiple contexts. With understanding of the daily challenges of a DSL in a school setting and wider safeguarding considerations, Julia brings knowledgeable and sensitive insights alongside practical tools, to generate solution focused actions for individual cases and the whole school system.
Edwina Langley – Lead Attendance Officer, Birmingham City Council
Edwina Langley is the Lead Attendance Officer for Birmingham City Council. A qualified social worker with a Masters’ degree in Social Science, and experience in family support, Edwina has worked in the city for 26 years, working directly with schools. Currently, Edwina leads the Education Legal Intervention Team providing statutory support and advise to schools relating to school absence, legal processes and related early help.
Sandra Passmore – Former Adviser, Services For Education
Sandra has extensive experience in safeguarding, health and wellbeing and evidence based practice. She has worked nationally with key government departments (Departments of Health and Education) to help shape strategy and policy whilst still retaining the focus on working for the best outcomes for children and young people.
She has a PhD on the psychology of health related choices which has informed the development of award winning, evidence based programmes such as Health for Life in primary schools and Health for Life in nursery schools which have been proven to have a sustainable impact on improving the health and wellbeing of children and families.
Sandra led the development and delivery of the DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead) training for SFE. She was pivotal in expanding the remit of the safeguarding work to also include issues such as domestic abuse and sexual violence and harassment within the education context.
Sandra’s passion for improving the lives of children has led her to develop work within Public Health and managed RCT (Randomised Control Trials) on the effectiveness of interventions such as the daily mile. Additionally, Sandra has written books for teachers and pupils as well as peer reviewed academic journal papers.
Marsha Blissett - Adviser, Former Services For Education
Marsha has over 18 years’ experience of teaching and senior leadership in schools within the West Midlands. She is passionate about the power of education to create knowledge, build confidence, and break down barriers to opportunity. She works with senior leaders, middle leaders, and governors to develop capacity and bring about rapid improvement through supporting them in effective self-evaluation, evaluating the impact of the curriculum and conducting quality assurance across the school.
Her particular areas of focus are Personal Development and Culture and Ethos, including Safeguarding.
Marsha works closely with SEND – the platinum thread, providing advice and guidance on the most effective ways to promote desirable outcomes. She helps to develop an understanding of best practices and processes, as well as appropriate tools and resources.
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