OUR TRAINING
Interview students safely,
without compromising their welfare or the evidence.
Child Focused ©SAFE Interviewing
Most safeguarding training prepares professionals to recognise and report abuse. Far fewer prepare them for what comes next: the disclosure conversation itself.
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©SAFE Interviewing bridges that gap. Built on trauma-informed principles, international best practice and decades of specialist interviewing experience, it gives your team a structured, defensible, child-focused methodology for conducting child protection enquiries.
©SAFE Interviewing training runs throughout the year. Places are limited to ensure every participant receives the quality of coaching and feedback the programme requires.
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Upcoming Courses
19/20th Oct - Bangkok
Feb - Germany
©SAFE Interviewing Certification
©SAFE Interviewing is a single certification programme delivered through two connected learning components. Most participants complete both parts as one continuous learning experience, finishing the online theory immediately before attending the practical workshop. Certification includes your first year of SAFE Hub membership, which keeps your certificate current year after year without ever repeating the course.
Part 1: Theory and Foundations Online | Self-Paced | Approximately 7–8 Hours Participants develop the knowledge, understanding and ethical foundations of the ©SAFE methodology. This component explores: The ©SAFE Framework. Planning and preparation. Child development and trauma. Evidence-informed questioning. Ethical decision-making. Professional responsibilities.
Part 2: Practical Skills Embedding Two-Day In-Person Workshop Participants apply the methodology through practical exercises, coaching, case studies and structured reflection. This workshop focuses on: Practical interviewing skills. Complex safeguarding scenarios. Peer-on-peer abuse enquiries. Cognitive interviewing techniques. Defensible safeguarding practice. Real-time feedback and coaching.
WHAT
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Flexible Learning Pathway Part 1 (online theory) is typically completed immediately before Part 2 (the live workshop). If needed, Part 1 can be completed independently and Part 2 attended at a later date. To maintain quality, Part 2 should normally be completed within six months of Part 1. Beyond this timeframe, participants must refresh and re-complete the online theory component before progressing. Once certified, maintenance is light: one workshop and a short refresher each year through the SAFE Hub.
HOW
AFTER CERTIFICATION
Your certificate stays current.
©SAFE Interviewing certification is valid for one year, and your first year of SAFE Hub membership is included in the course fee.
The Hub is the members-only home for SAFE-certified practitioners, and the way your certification stays alive. Renew each year by attending one live online skills workshop and completing the theory refresher, and your certificate rolls forward for another twelve months.
Membership includes:
A minimum of three live skills workshops a year, run across different time zones. One is required to renew; you're welcome at any.
An annual refresher and new skills videos through the year.
A growing library of guidance, templates and case materials.
A members' chat with SAFE facilitators and certified practitioners across international schools.
Automatic certificate renewal when your annual requirements are met.
Interviewing is a practised skill, not a one and done! An hour's live workshop every year keeps your skills sharp in a way that repeating a course every few years never could.
It means the certificate in your file says something your leadership team can rely on: not "trained once", but "current".
After your first year, individual membership is £125 a year, and it belongs to you, not your school (even if your school has purchased a team rate).
Move schools, change roles, take a career break: your membership stays with you.
Keep Your Skills Current
Membership
The SAFE Hub
Train your team to ask students the RIGHT questions, in the RIGHT way
Describe your image
Why does this matter?
Without specialist interview training there is a risk of:
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Missing important information.
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Influencing a child's account.
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Increasing emotional distress.
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Delaying intervention.
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Compromising future investigations.​
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©SAFE Interviewing was developed to reduce these risks while keeping the child's needs at the centre of every inquiry.
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©SAFE Interviewing - A Practical Framework
Managing complex child protection enquiries demands more than confidence. It requires a structured, step-by-step approach to gathering information and making high-stakes decisions. This framework brings together three elements that are rarely combined in school-based safeguarding training:
Defensible Practice
Ensuring information gathering discussions are ethical, child-focused and capable of withstanding scrutiny from parents, leadership teams, regulators and external agencies.
Trauma-Informed
Understanding how trauma, memory, development and emotional regulation affect a child's ability to communicate information.
Structured Methodology
A clear, evidence-based framework that helps professionals ask the right questions in the right way.
Developed specifically for international schools, the methodology recognises the additional challenges created by culture, language, boarding environments, international mobility and differing legal frameworks. The result is an approach that is both robust and realistic for educational settings.​
What Does SAFE Stand For?
EMPOWERING
Remember, this is YOUR work but THEIR LIFE. The child's voice, experience and wellbeing remain central throughout the process.
FACTUAL
Ask the RIGHT Questions in the RIGHT Way. Structured questioning gathers accurate information without leading, suggesting or influencing.
ACCESSIBLE
Meet the needs of THAT child. The approach is adapted to their age, development, culture, language acquisition and individual needs.
STRATEGIC
Keep the child protection inquiry child-focused. Every decision is made in the best interests of the child.
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The ©SAFE Programme
Two Programmes. One Approach. No Student Missed.
©SAFE Conversations equips all school staff to have safe and appropriate safeguarding conversations and to recognise when a concern needs to go further.
©SAFE Interviewing provides the advanced skills required by those responsible for conducting safeguarding disucssions and managing complex child protection situations.
What Our Participants Say
"A really helpful course, well structured and resourced, giving new thinking / ideas and practices, and the space to refine and practice with peers."
Kate
VP, UWCSEA EAST
Excellent course. Hugely beneficial as a pastoral middle leader and accessible for all levels of safeguarding experience. Manageable steps to follow and clear strategies to apply. Thank you!
Anna Brutti
Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
Chris Timms
Deputy head teacher at DCSG
"An excellent, thought provoking safeguarding course."
"Very useful and thought provoking course, the content was well planned and delivered. There were different elements to keep the course engaging & I will definitely be able to use the learning in the future. Thanks so much!"
Sally Rebecca Moulds
Head of Primary,
The British School Kathmandu,
©SAFE Skills: Wider Applications
Although designed for child protection enquiries, participants consistently find the methodology strengthens a much wider range of critical conversations, including:
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Handling difficult discussions with parents and staff.
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Managing professional allegations.
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Safer recruitment interviews
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Gathering information ethically in complex adult situations
SAFE Interviewing training gave me the toolbox to approach difficult conversations with students (and adults too!) with confidence.
- Elizabeth Golatzki, Karachi American School
Become a ©SAFE Interviewing Host School.
Train Your Team. Lead Your Community.
Hosting ©SAFE Interviewing on-site is the most effective way to train your whole safeguarding team together, in your own context and with your own challenges in mind.
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Schools can host a cohort of between 10 and 28 participants. Your group doesn't need to fill all the places - we welcome participants from other schools to join alongside your team.
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We take care of everything: external participant invoicing, logistics, communications and certificates. All your school needs to do is spread the word and provide a suitable space.
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Developed by Leading Interviewing and Safeguarding Specialists
©SAFE Interviewing was created by a multidisciplinary team with extensive experience across child protection, forensic interviewing, social work, policing, and investigative psychology.
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Built on decades of frontline experience and international best practice, this evidence-based methodology is tailored specifically for the practical demands of educational settings.
