Sharon Birch & Jackie Cherrington-Cowell are your dedicated Early Years Safeguarding Consultants.
Sharon has 40 years working with children and families. She owned an Ofsted rated outstanding nursery and out of school provision in the North East and is a retired police detective with extensive child protection experience. She has a broad experience in safeguarding, having worked for the NSPCC in their school liaison team, as a child protection family advocate for the EDS charity and in various voluntary roles in children’s organisations. Sharon is a keynote speaker at various conferences and is a member of the Parliamentary Review Leadership Council.
Jackie is a qualified early years teacher, playworker and parenting adviser and was an Ofsted registered childminder for almost 12 years who has run her own nursery, out of school club and adventure playscheme. Jackie was also an Early Years & Childcare Adviser for Devon County Council for 17 years. Recently, she has worked for the local children’s safeguarding partnership as the safeguarding workforce lead, designing and delivering training for Devon’s multi-agency partners in children’s services, education, health, police, early years and the voluntary sector. Jackie was also the Neglect Strategy Implementation Lead for Devon and a member of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) team. Like Sharon, Jackie has also been a keynote speaker at various conferences with a specialism in neglect, early help and keeping children safe in their early years. She is also an experienced practitioner and trainer in paediatric first aid, mental health first aid and Restorative Practice.
