As an educational institution which works with, nurtures and supports children, safeguarding their wellbeing and safety is of utmost importance to GESS. We find out more from Shakila Omar, Designated Safeguarding Lead, on how she ensures the highest standards and gets the whole GESS behind this priority.
Tell us about your background and your role at GESS.
My educational and professional background is in child psychology, teaching, special needs and trauma. I started my career as an early years teacher in Singapore, before becoming a paediatric therapist working with children with special needs, attachment needs and trauma in a Sensory Integration therapy clinic in England. Before coming to GESS, I was a Child Life Therapist for children with cancer in a pediatric hospital.
One thing that is probably quite interesting about me is, I am trained in various holistic wellness mediums such as yoga therapy, massage, reiki and mindfulness. I am deeply passionate about wellbeing, creating safe emotional spaces for others, and having an empathetic approach in connecting with and supporting others.
My role at GESS is highly dynamic, which keeps things interesting (and very busy!). It involves:
- leading our Safeguarding Team
- overseeing the strategic development of GESS’ safeguarding system
- developing safeguarding policies and procedures
- conducting safeguarding training for staff and external vendors
- managing safeguarding cases and concerns
- working with and supporting various members of the GESS community and external partners on safeguarding cases; and
- issue and crisis management
You can see there are so many aspects of safeguarding, which can only be possible with the support of my team.
Introduce your GESS Safeguarding team, and what are some key things the team is currently focusing on?
The GESS Core Safeguarding Team comprises of myself as Designated Safeguarding Lead, the School Counsellors (Jennifer Maerz, Enrico Fabian and Tomas Bown), Preschool Student Support and Wellbeing Coordinator Liz Corbel; and last but not least, Academic Director/Vice Principal Joram Hutchins.
In an area that impacts the whole school, you can imagine we need to involve members in other departments – as our extended team – HR, Operations, IT and EdTech come in with their expertise and provide key specialist functions in the entire GESS safeguarding system.
We are also making good progress integrating and aligning our network of safeguarding representatives across the school with our safeguarding goals, to help us build a more robust system at GESS. In academic year 2022/23, our team is reviewing and enhancing existing safeguarding policies, processes and curriculum, rolling out a new online case management and reporting system for safeguarding issues, refreshing training for all community groups and enhancing crisis management plans. With these and more, we believe our safeguarding systems can become even more robust and representatives better equipped to prevent and respond to issues.
Safeguarding Team at GESS
In the course of your career so far (at and before GESS), do you feel the awareness of child protection is sufficient in Singapore/schools? What do you feel can be done to support this?
Having worked in a number of organisations in and out of Singapore, I understand every person, institution and country will come with their own sets of beliefs, backgrounds, experiences and cultural expectations. I observe an increasing awareness of child protection globally, and believe building a community of care will help bridge gaps and gel everyone in supporting the wellbeing of children.
Imaginably, in a culturally diverse community like Singapore’s and also in GESS, there are cultural or perception differences and varied degrees of readiness to engage in safeguarding practices. I am encouraged by the generally growing awareness around the rights and the needs of children, and that we adults (teachers, parents, school staff) can be trusted to play a critical role in supporting the wellbeing of children.
What are some of the challenges you face in your work and how do you overcome them?
One challenge is integrating local and multi-cultural principles and laws when managing a safeguarding issue. Often, there are no straight-forward solutions because so many factors and sensitivities need to be considered. Finding the right balance can make assessing and acting on a case a very complex process.
Another challenge would be staying grounded and composed when managing safeguarding cases or crises. Such situations often involve a range of emotions and/or expectations from various people (students, staff, parents) involved in the case and I have to be able to manage these needs and provide necessary support while engaging in the appropriate processes.
How has it been in GESS, enforcing/encouraging better awareness/compliance with child protection?
I have a positive impression and outlook since joining GESS. We take safeguarding seriously, yet recognizing areas we can improve in, and continue to move in this right direction to become a school with high safeguarding standards. Our leadership team is very supportive of safeguarding initiatives and respond to concerns in an efficient and effective way.
We have ongoing annual staff training and strict safeguarding regulations on campus. I am also seeing an increase in staff members becoming more comfortable in raising concerns and having conversations about safeguarding issues, which I believe is a great step forward in empowering staff to be safeguarding ambassadors in the school.
GESS aspires to be preventative and proactive in our approach to safeguarding the wellbeing of our students, and we have a good foundation to do so. I believe this can be achieved gradually as both system and GESS community grow and move in tandem towards a common goal.
What is a typical day at work like for you? What are some highlights of your work here?
I don’t think there really is a typical day at work for me. My schedule fluctuates based on casework needs, crisis management, meetings, trainings, and administrative/strategic development tasks. One day could look very different from another, which really keeps things fresh and always exciting for me (but also sometimes intense)!
As this is a whole-school position, I have high levels of engagements with colleagues in various sections and departments in the school, which allows me to connect with them and learn a lot about their different scopes and specialties.
Every single safeguarding case I have dealt with so far is unique and has challenged me to grow personally and professionally as I navigate through the case and build on my own and the school’s resources to manage such situations.
GESS has a good foundation for a strong safeguarding system, and I am honoured to be part of moulding this further and am excited to see where we will go!
What is it that keeps you going everyday, through the good and bad?
What keeps me going is knowing the purpose of my work and constantly realigning myself with that. Throughout my career, I have only chosen roles that resonate with my passion and principles, which have led me to nurturing roles that involve a lot of trauma exposure. Through these experiences, I have gained skills and resilience to cope with distressing situations.
I accept and acknowledge that emotions are part of my job. I have to be comfortable receiving emotion and reserving space for these emotions of others, so I can support them. However, I understand the limits of my responsibilities and allow others to have a safe space to experience their emotions whilst maintaining my own boundaries. I allow myself to be “human” and embrace my own emotions when I have the space to do so, so that I can remain in a healthy and grounded state of mind and continue having room for empathy.
I also believe in maintaining my own wellbeing, for me to engage in this role sustainably. I engage in healthy doses of self-care through physical activities (like nature walks, gym, swimming), rest and relaxation (meditation, massages, sleep) and try to set healthy physical and emotional boundaries with work.
I am extremely fortunate and grateful to have a positive working environment, where I find strength in my team and have support from the school’s senior leaders. There also many pockets of joy throughout my day, through fellow colleagues who offer friendly and sometimes humourous interactions at work – those little things go a long way for me.
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