Gold is more than a badge — it’s an ongoing partnership, with #TeamSGF acting as your critical and trusted friend. We are here to help you strengthen practice and be inspection-ready all year round.
For organisations that live safeguarding every day and lead the way for others.
The Gold Standard is our highest level of recognition.
It is awarded to organisations that:
Gold Standard organisations receive:
As part of the Gold Standard, #TeamSGF will act as your critical and trusted friend, providing:
The Gold Standard is a powerful commitment to safeguarding at the very highest level, recognised and understood by your community, and supported by independent expert guidance.
Linda has worked within the safeguarding profession for nearly 30 years in a variety of sectors, and organisations and has experience in education, charity frontline services supporting survivors of abuse and in more recent years within the sports sector at club, league, and National Governing Body level.
With a passion to share the knowledge and experience gained during this time Linda founded Safeguarding Together Ltd in 2022 a safeguarding consultancy service that tailors support packages to meet the needs of organisations across the UK.
Linda’s belief that everyone has the right to be and feel safe feeds her passion for enhancing safeguarding culture and empowering best practice.
With 18 years of experience in education, Adam Duckers brings a wealth of knowledge from both mainstream and special education settings. For the past three years, he has served as a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), championing student welfare and safety across the school community.
Adam is deeply committed to creating inclusive environments where every student feels safe, valued, and empowered to succeed. He believes that a positive school climate is built on trust, care, and high expectations. His passion for integrating modern technology into education has helped schools provide safeguarding support around the clock, ensuring no student is ever left behind.
Driven by a belief in equity and excellence, Adam works tirelessly to ensure all learners have access to the best possible educational experience.
Martin is the Safeguarding Assurance Manager for Children’s Services and Education at Keys. Martin monitors safeguarding trends and patterns across incident reports, producing monthly assurance reports for the Leadership Team. He also analyses complaints, concerns, compliments and serious incidents to identify lessons learned and strengthen practice. Working closely with regional and service managers, Martin provides safeguarding advice and oversight, liaises with external partners including Ofsted and LADOs, delivers face-to-face training and drop-in sessions, and conducts safeguarding compliance checks to ensure children and staff are safe and supported.
Passionate about safeguarding and exceptional investigation when safeguarding fails, Ian is delighted and honoured to be invited to share those skills and his experience with the wider safeguarding community and support the aims and objectives of ‘Safeguarding Fundamentals’.
A founding member of British Cycling case management group, former trustee of the National Working Group for CSE, and professional supervisor of the DSL at Stonyhurst College, Ian has investigated many serious breaches of safeguarding measures in both a civil and criminal context.
Before joining Peterborough United, Rachel spent many years working within the education sector, where she served as a Designated Safeguarding Lead. In that role, she was responsible for ensuring that children felt safe, supported, and heard principles that continue to guide her practice today.
Her experience in schools provided Rachel with a deep understanding of the challenges young people face, both inside and outside the classroom. She worked closely with staff, families, and external agencies to create environments where children could thrive and speak openly about their concerns.
Rachel’s journey from education to professional sport demonstrates the power of transferable skills and a steadfast dedication to protecting others. Her leadership ensures that Peterborough United not only meets its safeguarding responsibilities but also sets a standard for care, respect, and child advocacy within the football community. she is a strong advocate for empowering young people to speak up and participate in decisions that affect them. She believes that safeguarding is most effective when children feel confident to express themselves, knowing they will be listened to and respected.
At the heart of Rachel’s work is a simple but profound belief:
“Every child deserves to be safe, to be valued, and to have a voice that’s truly heard.”
Jane is a leadership and wellbeing coach. A former executive leader and headteacher, she has 28 years of education experience, including 10 years in headship, and 25 years as a DSL. Latterly she was the safeguarding lead across a specialist education trust, serving children with social, emotional and mental health, complex education and health needs.
Jane has a passion for inclusion and relational approaches to education, which led her to be headteacher of an SEMH school. Her school was once described as ‘a family’ by staff and students alike in an Ofsted report. For children to feel safe they need to know they belong, are heard and matter. It is only when this is in place that children feel connected and will speak out and seek support. As such, Jane believes safeguarding goes well beyond policy, more so it is a culture that is experienced by all.
It’s a passion for the individual and the group that continues to drive Jane. Wellbeing matters. Being heard matters. Feeling included matters. Having your needs met, matters. This is at the heart of who she is.
Gary has developed a strong reputation for driving safeguarding cultural change within professional football. Through his inclusive leadership and collaborative approach, he has helped transform safeguarding practice at Norwich City and embedding culture. Using unique branding and innovative methods he ensures the club remains proactive and progressive.
Before joining Norwich City, Gary enjoyed a successful policing career, leading investigative teams across a range of vulnerability areas. As a member of the National Child Sexual Exploitation Peer Support Team, he supported multiple police forces in developing and improving their safeguarding responses through inspection and audit.
He currently serves as the Board Safeguarding Champion with the County FA and chairs a unique Anti-Slavery Network Business Group, which aims to strengthen collaboration between the commercial and statutory sectors.
Jenny has worked as a Safeguarding Professional for over 35 years. She is highly experienced with a demonstrated history of working within Law Enforcement and Multi-Agency arenas, skilled in Criminal Investigations, Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice and Safeguarding arenas.
Jenny has worked as an advisor for police officers and social workers specialising in Safeguarding and Child Protection Investigations to direct both criminal and civil investigations.
Jenny is a qualified trainer and assessor and has a thorough understanding of developing and delivering bespoke Safeguarding training packages to Multi-Agency audiences
Jenny now works as the Safeguarding Manager for a County Football Association and is the primary point of contact for all safeguarding concerns. She is responsible for managing investigations, and acting as a link between staff and external agencies. Her key roles include managing referrals, providing advice and support to staff, ensuring staff are trained on safeguarding, keeping accurate and secure records, and liaising with statutory agencies like social care and the police.
Anna is Safeguarding Manager at Fauna & Flora, an international conservation charity, where she leads on embedding safeguarding practices across global programmes.
She also brings experience from safeguarding in the youth and sport sectors. Anna served in Cumbria and Thames Valley Police, first as a response officer and later as a detective on a Child Abuse Investigation Unit. Her frontline experience informs her commitment to creating safe environments and breaking down barriers that prevent survivors from reporting abuse.
With 20 years of safeguarding experience, Kim brings extensive expertise across education leadership, sport, and the creative industries. Dedicated to building safer systems and positive cultures, she has set benchmarks for safeguarding excellence in both regulated and unregulated sectors.
A proven leader, she has guided departments through Ofsted inspections with notable improvement and achieved a BSI accreditation- a first for broadcast- recognising the safeguarding model she embedded to raise standards across the industry.
Passionate about creating environments where every child feels safe, valued, and able to thrive, Kim believes safeguarding must be consistent, transparent, and accountable- ensuring no child is left behind.
With over 24 years of experience in education across Europe, Africa, and Asia, Helen Caroline Bowen—currently Head of School at King’s College India—has dedicated her career to ensuring that schools are not only academically excellent but also safe, nurturing environments where every child can thrive.
Her leadership spans the British Curriculum, including IGCSEs, A Levels, and the IB Diploma Programme, alongside extensive experience as a Designated Safeguarding Lead and member of safeguarding teams worldwide. Helen has established comprehensive safeguarding frameworks across diverse cultural contexts, developing policies, systems, and procedures that uphold international standards while respecting local needs.
Trained through the NSPCC and COBIS Safeguarding Alliance, she specialises in managing complex safeguarding cases and designing proactive, child-centred strategies. She delivers safeguarding and child protection training to staff at all levels, embedding a culture of shared responsibility.
An active member of The Balloon Crew—a global child protection and wellbeing network—Helen contributes to international discussions, podcasts, and workshops that promote trauma-informed practice.
As a Gold Assessor for Safeguarding Fundamentals, Helen champions safeguarding as the foundation of every successful learning community, supporting schools to create environments where all children feel safe, valued, and able to flourish
David has recently retired from a 36 year career in the voluntary sector, where he has worked at a senior level for a number of charities both in the UK and overseas. Most recently he brings experience gained from working with young people with complex disabilities and from leading a 16-25 year old national special education provider.
Having led national providers in both care & education David understands the key role that safeguarding plays in both spheres and this has helped him achieve a number of ‘outstanding’ awards from both Ofsted and CQC.
He is passionate about helping not-for-profit leaders recognise the key role that organisational culture plays when it comes to safeguarding and the direct link that exists between organisational culture and leadership behavior.
David now works supporting CEOs and senior Directors on a 1-1 basis, and acting as a trustee, for a variety of not-for-profit organisations.
Lizzie brings a wealth of knowledge from 24 years working in a specialist education settings, fulfilling various roles within this time. For the past 9 years she has been part of the safeguarding team and has been the Designated Safeguarding Lead for the past 4 years.
Lizzie plays a key role in championing the safeguarding culture within school empowering staff confidence and competence, ensuring safeguarding is everyone’s top priority. The children are at the heart of all decisions made and she has a passion to ensure behaviour is viewed and understood as communication, particularly for those that are non-verbal communicators, developing strategies to give every child a voice. Lizzie was recently described as ‘tenacious’ in an Ofsted inspection as she remains professionally curious and challenges appropriately.
Lizzie is working with the local safeguarding partnership to strengthen the county’s response to Harmful Sexual Behaviour and is a trained to deliver Developing an Understanding of Harmful Sexual Behaviour course.
With over 25 years of safeguarding experience, Sian Jorgensen is Director of Encompass Safeguarding and Founder of ©️SAFE Interviewing. She began her career as a Child Abuse Investigator for the State of Florida before taking on safeguarding and counselling roles in international schools worldwide. More recently, she qualified as a safeguarding social worker in the UK, working on the frontline, including as part of the Department for Education’s Social Workers in Schools (SWIS) project before starting Encompass Safeguarding Ltd in 2022.
Having lived and worked internationally for over two decades, Sian brings a rare blend of global insight, frontline experience, and leadership to safeguarding in international education. She supports schools with high-level, contextually appropriate training and guidance, alongside expert crisis management during complex child protection cases.Her practice is grounded in internationally recognised safeguarding standards, research, and lived experience - helping schools navigate risk, strengthen systems, and foster safe, compassionate cultures.
As the creator of ©️SAFE Interviewing, she champions trauma-informed, child-centred approaches that are legally robust and culturally relevant. Sian is widely respected across the international school community and works closely with leaders and safeguarding teams to embed clarity, confidence, and accountability at every level.
Company Number: 13599724
©️ Safeguarding Fundamentals Ltd - All Rights Reserved
English English 
Italian
French
Spanish
Polish
Latvian