About Chris Paton
I began in schools in 1986 as a music teacher and worked my way up: Head of Music, Lead Learning Mentor, Assistant Principal, Deputy Headteacher and Acting Headteacher. I retired in December 2022, and Fermata is how I now put that experience to use.
15 years as a DSL
From 2007 to 2022 I was Designated Safeguarding Lead at West Coventry Academy (formerly Tile Hill Wood School and Language College), an 11–18 comprehensive with a sixth form. The role covered the full range of safeguarding work: child protection and early help, allegations against staff with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), child exploitation, Prevent, and children missing education. I regularly attended child protection conferences and core group meetings, writing reports for both, and sat on interview panels as the trained safer recruitment member. I delivered the annual whole-staff safeguarding training and the induction programme for new staff, and kept my own DSL training up to date throughout.
Across three inspections in that time, Ofsted described the school’s safeguarding as robust, thorough and effective, with well-established systems in place to support both children and the staff working with them. From 2015 to 2019 I represented the school on Coventry’s fair access and managed transfer panels, agreeing placements for vulnerable and hard-to-place pupils with other headteachers, and from 2018 to 2022 I worked closely with the Coventry Police Panel and the School Intervention and Prevention Officer (SIPO), sharing information on community issues and agreeing early interventions and support for students.
Why I started
After 15 years as a DSL, I know how valuable it can be to have someone outside the school to test your thinking with. In 2021 I trained as a safeguarding supervisor, and I went on to supervise my own team while being supervised in turn within the academy trust. I became a supervisor because I wanted to offer that space to other safeguarding leads: honest challenge, without taking the decision away from them. Fermata is new, but it rests on 15 years in the role.
A note on my experience
My DSL years were in the UK. I don’t claim to know your host-country system, and I won’t pretend to. What I bring is long experience of carrying this responsibility and the questions that help you think it through. Supervision isn’t advice on your local system: I won’t tell you how safeguarding works in your country, but I will help you think rigorously about the decisions you are making within the context you know.
Qualifications and standing
- National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH)
- Trained in solution-focused practice, and delivered solution-focused training and consultancy in secondary schools with Eileen Murphy Consultants (2000–2004)
- Safer Recruitment in Education, Department for Education (2008–2014)
- Restorative Approaches, Coventry City Council (2012)
- Signs of Safety Level 3, Coventry City Council (2017)
- Independent Review Panel Member, Coventry Local Authority (exclusion reviews, 2019–2020)
- Supervision Skills Training for Safeguarding Supervisors in Schools, NSPCC (2021)
- Designated Safeguarding Lead course, The Safeguarding Alliance (2026)
Independence
I am not employed by a school, inspectorate or accreditation body, and I don’t take on audit or accreditation work, so I am never both assessing a school and supervising its safeguarding lead.
Practical details
Based in France (Central European time). Sessions are held in English, at times arranged to suit you.