The Appointment

As Duty Head, you will be the first point of contact for incidents that arise at the Derby Road campus, with responsibility for dealing and supporting site fire evacuations, ensuring students are attending lessons and not wandering around site, dealing with poor behaviour, immediate health and safety issues, initiating and following up procedures, collecting and reporting necessary information and any other emergencies in the absence of the designated manager. You will also be required to support, and undertake once fully trained, learner searches for suspected prohibited items e.g. drugs/weapons.

The role will often consist of ensuring that other managers with specific responsibilities are called to deal with incidents and to consult with colleagues in a variety of roles/departments across college to resolve issues or seek information. It is therefore essential that you can collaborate with individuals at all levels and can build trust and positive working relationships quickly and effectively.

You will have excellent observation, communication, and assertiveness skills together with the ability to remain calm under pressure and think on your feet. It is also important that you possess a sound understanding of college processes and procedures together with an empathy and awareness of current issues that young people are currently facing. Experience of working with young people/adults in a support situation is beneficial but not essential.

You will also possess excellent organisational and administrative skills together with a flexible, adaptable, and positive attitude. You will have experience of databases, log information and creating reports. As part of the role, you will be required to transcribe statements and complete incident report forms, therefore, confidentiality, accuracy and attention to detail is paramount.

The Duty Head appointment forms part of the Welfare, Intervention and Wellbeing Service.

The role will require you to embed the college’s values, Respect, Integrity, Collaboration, Compassion and Ambition.

The Post

2.1 Main Duties And Responsibilities

• Ensure that reception staff are aware of your location and carry a working radio.
• Ensure that you are based on site for the duration of your duty and be aware of the events taking place on the day, undertaking regular tours of the sites, especially during break and lunch times.
• You will be required to be a visual presence around the campus throughout the day encouraging learners to return to class and on some instance support them back into class.
• Ensure that learners arrive at and depart the College site in a safe manner and that learners are complying with college procedures regarding non-smoking and expected behaviour on site.
• Support the Duty head 4 in fire evacuations at the Derby Road campus during the daytime and take the lead in the evening (5.00pm till 7.30pm), collaborating with appropriate parties –, Premises, First Aiders and Reception team to ensure that the fire evacuation process is conducted efficiently and effectively. Tick off tally board numbers on the checklist and consult with Premises to determine if the building is safe to re-enter. Provide ‘all clear’ via radios and contact the fire brigade if necessary.
• Liaise and support the First Aiders and Health and Safety team regarding accidents and consult with learner’s parents/guardians, curriculum areas, and emergency services if learners need to be sent home or require transportation if they become unwell.
• Report any accident or near misses that occur to the Health and Safety team immediately and provide support to the Health and Safety team in cordoning off areas, taking statements from individuals and complete any relevant documentation e.g. accident report form.
• De-escalate and calm situations relating to challenging behaviour incidents, ensuring that staff and learners are protected from harm. Duties to include the assessment of the incident, seeking support from the Emergency Duty Head and collation of appropriate details of the incident and individuals involved and the completion of an incident report / brief report to log the act of violence or abuse. Issue ‘48-hour cooling off periods’ when necessary and where appropriate and refer to the relevant Assistant Principals.
• Report any damage to college property to the Estates team for maintenance and repair work to be conducted quickly and safely.
• Be the point of contact and investigate instances of learner non-attendance, failure to return home; consulting with personal tutors, parents/guardians to obtain relevant information and refer to the Safeguarding team where appropriate.
• Deal with learner suspected drugs misuse and weapons issues. Consulting with the Head of Service for Welfare, Intervention and Wellbeing immediately for any incidents of suspected drugs misuse to ensure that the correct procedure is conducted. Provide support, and once trained, undertake searches on learners for suspected drugs and consult with the Police regarding suspected weapons searches.
• Deal with and support individuals in the event of a theft/suspected theft, contacting the Police and parents/guardians where necessary.
• Be a nominated member of the Incident Response team and play an active part of any conference calls during a precautionary or full lockdown.
• Be the first point of contact should the Police attend the site and wish to speak to a staff member or learner.
• Raise any concerns regarding Data Protection breeches to the Head of IT and Learning Resources.
• Provide monthly reports on all logged incidents to the Head of Service for Welfare, Intervention and Wellbeing for trends to be identified and discussed at Executive and at the Safeguarding Steering Group.
• To support in the delivery of relevant training to appropriate staff on topics to include dealing with challenging behaviour, Search training, and duty head training for new managers.
• To always maintain strict confidentiality and discretion.