In this first episode of Safeguarding in Focus, host Sam Eustace speaks with clinical psychologist Dr. Asha Patel, CEO of Innovating Minds, about how settings working with children can move from reactive responses to proactive, trauma-informed systems of care. Her multi-award winning organisation empowers schools and communities by delivering essential support and psychological services that promote emotional wellbeing. Drawing on her background in forensic and clinical psychology, Dr. Patel explores how children’s mental health needs have intensified over the last decade, why education settings are often expected to fill systemic gaps in care and how whole-school approaches can lead to meaningful early intervention. The conversation highlights that supporting not only students but also educators and leaders who are navigating increasing emotional and safeguarding pressures, is essential in effective safeguarding. KEY POINTS: Trauma-informed practice is about everyday interactions, relationships and culture. Effective safeguarding is predicated on staff support, including supervision and reflective practice. Whole-school approaches create sustainable change, allowing for earlier interventions and improving outcomes for children.

This episode of “Safeguarding in Focus,” hosted by Sam Eustace, features Lucie Welch, an expert in primary education and safeguarding from Services for Education. The discussion centers on how AI is transforming the safeguarding landscape in schools, exploring both the risks and opportunities presented by this rapidly evolving technology.

Key takeaways:

• Schools must address new safeguarding threats, including AI-generated explicit images, deepfakes, harmful algorithm-driven content, and unregulated AI companion chatbots.
• Effective AI safeguarding requires collaboration across IT teams, safeguarding leads, curriculum leaders, and senior leadership—not a single department.
• Rather than banning AI outright, schools should teach students AI literacy, critical thinking, and ethical use to prepare them for a technology-driven world.

The podcast concludes by stressing the importance of continuous staff training on digital indicators of harm, engaging parents and carers who may have less awareness of AI risks, and establishing forward-looking systems that can adapt to the rapidly evolving role of AI in children’s lives. Schools must view AI as a tool to support, not to replace, human judgment, empathy, and professional curiosity in safeguarding.

In this episode of Safeguarding in Focus a podcast presented by CPOMS, Dale Pickles (Director of B Squared) joins our host Sam Eustace for an insightful discussion on the critical role of student voice in safeguarding for children with SEND. Their conversation explores how schools can better understand and capture communication in all its forms, why meaningful listening must go beyond written notes and token gestures and how strong partnerships with families help build a fuller picture of a child’s wellbeing.

Together, they emphasize that effective safeguarding depends not just on collecting information but on responding to it in ways that help children feel heard, included and supported.

KEY POINTS:

1. Student voice must include all forms of communication, especially for children who do not communicate in traditional verbal or written ways.

2. Capturing pupil voice only matters if schools act on it, using what students communicate to shape support, practice and decision-making.

3. Strong safeguarding depends on listening to both students and families, since parent partnership provides essential context for understanding a child’s needs and experiences.

In this episode of Safeguarding in Focus, James Paul, CEO and Co-Founder of Voop joins host Sam Eustace for a thoughtful discussion on how smartphones have transformed the safeguarding landscape for vulnerable children and young people. Their conversation explores the double-edged nature of mobile phones as both a vital source of connection and a gateway to risk, especially for children in care, and considers how practitioners can respond with curiosity, coaching and practical guardrails rather than over-surveillance. The episode explores how effective online safeguarding depends on understanding the role that the internet and social media play in a young person’s identity, relationships and coping strategies, while balancing safety with privacy and trust.

KEY POINTS:

1. Smartphones can be both a lifeline and a risk for vulnerable young people, offering connection, belonging and emotional support.

2. Effective online safeguarding requires coaching, context and flexible guardrails rather than confiscation or excessive surveillance.

3. Practitioners must balance visibility into young people's digital lives with privacy and trust to prevent harm proactively rather than reacting to it.

Read Voop’s whitepaper on smartphone-enabled risk.