Ep 10 - Safeguarding in plain sight, with Marcus Dickinson

In this episode I sat down with Northern Arch Learning partnership's DSL Lead Marcus Dickinson and I asked: What’s changed in safeguarding over the last five or six years since Covid? What concerns are you seeing more often now than before the pandemic? Are pupils coming to school with different needs? How did lockdown change children’s digital worlds? Are weekends and holidays now more complex digitally than before? What makes school sometimes the only stable or safe place in a child’s life? Why do routines and predictability matter so much for vulnerable children? What is it about predictability that helps children feel safe? How does uncertainty show up emotionally or behaviourally in school? Why are some pupils far more sensitive to change than others? What role does trauma or instability play here? What is it about the run-up to holidays that can increase anxiety and vulnerability for some pupils? We often see holidays as a positive thing — but why can that feel very different for some pupils? What changes in behaviour might staff notice in the final weeks of term? What’s happening beneath the surface for some children as a break approaches? Are there other points in the year that raise safeguarding risk? (Christmas, long weekends, exam season, summer holidays, transitions between schools) Why do events like the World Cup or Euros change family dynamics for some households? How can alcohol, gambling or financial pressure escalate risk? How do schools prepare for periods that historically bring greater safeguarding demands without alarming students? What do you wish every listener truly understood or appreciated about the home pressures that some of our students live with? How has your safeguarding work changed the way you understand pupils’ lives beyond school, and your role as a professional?