Boosting staff confidence to support learners achieve – Fay’s four weeks at The Learning Foundry
At The Learning Foundry, keeping our learners, staff and employers happy and safe is one of the key ways we help everyone to achieve their full potential.
Fay is one of the newest members of The Learning Foundry team, joining as our Safeguarding and SEND Lead. Fay has a wealth of experience in safeguarding and in the education sector and we’re excited to have her supporting our teams at The Learning Foundry.
After over a month in the role, we caught up with Fay to see how she’s getting on…
“I worked in Further Education when I first qualified as a teacher and loved the passion that came with the young people and adult learners. After nearly 10 years I was ready for a change and I branched out into special needs education working with vulnerable students aged 11 to 18 years old. I was excited by the developments and new courses on offer here so that’s why I’ve joined The Learning Foundry.
“The job was a great match for my experience, skills and qualities, I’d done a similar job before. Before this role I was a Deputy Head, Safeguarding Lead and SENCO.
“Working in safeguarding means ensuring learners are safe and happy throughout their learner journey. With The Learning Foundry’s links to local employers and access to work placement opportunities are great, we ensure our staff and learners are safe wherever in the TLF network they are.
“Behind the scenes of all of these offers, safeguarding is our number one priority. It ensures that all staff, learners and employers feel safe, happy and confident that any concerns and issues are dealt with correctly in a timely and effective manner.
“I do lots of forward-facing work to work towards this. Every day starts with reviewing any safeguarding referrals we have open, collecting information and completing actions. I then check in with my learner support team to discuss any learners who require support or staff concerns that may have been raised. Behind the scenes I may be reviewing our policies and procedures, organising staff training and working with colleagues to ensure our curriculum and education is accessible for those with educational disabilities or difficulties.
“This means The Learning Foundry keep compliant and learners stay safe and happy.
“Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility because it directly applies to everyone – whether that’s employers, staff or learners, across all sites and courses.
“A good safeguarding policy means that everyone at The Learning Foundry is supported. Safeguarding training improves staff confidence to support learners and ensures that learners have access to the right resources to achieve.
“The culture at The Learning Foundry makes this easy. Everybody is supportive and flexible, allowing you to work in ways you work best. It’s open, physically and metaphorically, an open door policy – we work transparently and promote British Values throughout. Everyone is happy to help, answer questions and share best practices.”
To find out more about the work Fay and her team do, view our learner support page, here.
Or get in touch with their team directly: safeguarding@thelearningfoundry.org.uk