Oldham College is proud to have successfully met the Leaders in Safeguarding standards and achieved their prestigious award.
The Leaders in Safeguarding Award is a quality mark that acknowledges and celebrates highly effective safeguarding arrangements and is awarded following an in-depth audit against 16 key safeguarding standards.
To achieve this award, our safeguarding practices, staff recruitment and training, policies and procedures as well as our learners’ views were externally reviewed, before being quality assured by a Scrutiny and Validation Panel.
The review found that Oldham College has “a clear and transparent culture throughout the organisation, which supports safeguarding and promotes the welfare of children and adults at risk.”
It also highlighted that “safeguarding and child protection are prioritised at the College and remain at the forefront of strategic planning and processes. For example, leaders have opened a Safeguarding Hub within the College where learners can go for support.”
Other highly regarded aspects of college life were the ‘broad and varied’ enrichment offer, and the team of Youth Workers, recognising “the value of professionals working in the College who learners can choose to approach and engage with.”
The review also commended our collaborative work, finding that: “the College works highly effectively with other organisations involved in the welfare and protection of learners,” and “The College is very well embedded within the Oldham local area and works particularly effectively with the local authority and regional housing and support organisations…The quality of individual support provided for learners is outstanding due to highly effective partnership work.”
Overall, the award demonstrates our dedication to upholding excellent safeguarding standards and proactive continuous improvement to keep students safe.
“This award validates our approach that, across the College, everyone has a responsibility for Safeguarding. Our dedicated and specialist Safeguarding & Wellbeing team continue to lead the way in driving contextualised safeguarding approaches and innovative personal development programmes. It is our ongoing commitment to provide a safe and highly supportive environment for every learner.”
Alan Benvie, Vice Principal
