Bedford School is seeking to appoint a highly organised, proactive and discreet Safeguarding Officer to support the school’s safeguarding and pastoral provision.

Working closely with the Designated Safeguarding Leads in the Upper School (Deputy Head Pastoral) and Prep School (Assistant Head Pastoral), the Safeguarding Officer will play a key role in ensuring a strong safeguarding culture across the school.

 The role involves providing high-quality administrative and pastoral support, maintaining accurate and confidential safeguarding records, and monitoring and responding to safeguarding alerts through systems such as CPOMS and Smoothwall.

The postholder will also support attendance processes, working with pastoral and admissions colleagues to monitor and respond to attendance concerns, and contribute to compliance with statutory safeguarding requirements, including Keeping Children Safe in Education and the Independent Schools Inspectorate Framework.

This is an important and rewarding role that would suit a candidate with excellent organisational and IT skills, strong attention to detail, and the ability to handle sensitive information with professionalism and discretion. The successful candidate will be a confident communicator, able to build effective working relationships with staff, pupils and parents, and demonstrate a genuine commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

This role is term time plus six weeks in the school holidays. The hours of work are 8.30am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday (flexibility can be discussed at interview).

If you have any queries regarding this vacancy, please email hr@harpurtrust.org.uk or call 01234 369500.

 Applicants are encouraged to apply early, as we may interview exceptional candidates ahead of the closing date. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive sufficient applications.

Closing date: Monday 6th July 2026

Interview date: Friday 10th July 2026

Further details and an application form can be found on our website: Work With Us | Vacancies and Careers at Bedford School

Please note: All applications must be submitted via the official application form. We are unable to accept CVs.

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive working environment. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that a diverse team enriches our school communities and helps us better meet the needs of our students.

The Harpur Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful applicant will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and other pre-employment checks.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The Trust is therefore permitted to ask applicants to declare all convictions and cautions on a self-declaration form in advance of interview (including those which are “spent”, unless they are “protected” under DBS filtering rules), in order to assess suitability to work with children.

Bedford School is part of The Harpur Trust