The Church of England Leadership Safeguarding Training is required for all individuals who significantly influence and/or play a lead role in shaping the culture of their parish or church body.
Prerequisites
You must have completed the Basic Awareness AND Foundation courses (within the last 3 years) before booking onto a Leadership course.
Who needs the Leadership course?
- All clergy holding the bishop's licence, commission, authorisation or permission, including Honorary/Assistant Bishops and Chaplains
- All Readers and Licensed Lay Ministers holding the bishop's licence
- Archdeacons, Bishops' Chaplains, Cathedral Administrators, Cathedral Chapter Members, Cathedral Directors of Music/Masters of Choristers
- Cathedral Safeguarding Officers, Chief Executive, Chief of Staff, Deans
- Diocesan and Suffragan Bishops, Diocesan Safeguarding Officers, Diocesan Secretaries, Directors of Communications and Ministry
- HR Directors, Leaders of Religious Communities, Registrars, Residentiary Canons
- Safeguarding Officers and Leads including PSOs
- Tower captains at prominent towers (Cathedrals, towers with frequent visitors or learners)
- Lay ministers in training - must complete before being licensed, authorised or commissioned
- Ordinands - must complete before diaconal ordination
- Churchwardens at parishes in interregnum (Chelmsford Diocese requirement)
- ANYONE going on to complete the Senior Leadership course
Where to view, book onto and access our Church of England Leadership sessions
Since June 2026 the NEW version of the Church of England Leadership course (virtual and in-person) can be been booked and accessed only via the Church of England National Safeguarding Team’s online Learning Portal.
Find the leadership course on the portal
Before you book onto a session, please keep in mind:
- The Leadership course could take you around 2 months to complete in total and we do not present live training during the school holidays.
- If none of our currently advertised Leadership sessions (virtual or in-person) are convenient please keep checking the portal yourself for updates. We usually add new session(s) each month.
- Virtual (via Zoom) sessions are now booked as a set pair, so you now only need to make one booking.
- For the virtual (via Zoom) sessions you will need access to a device with a microphone, speaker, camera and a reliable internet connection. Your Incumbent/PCC/Parish Safeguarding Officer may be able to assist you if you’re not confident using a computer or Zoom.
Once you have selected a session and submitted an enrolment application you should, hopefully, receive an enrolment application approval email, but please allow at least 3 working days to receive this. If we cannot see your completion of the Church of England Basic Awareness and Foundation courses (within the last 3 years) on the portal, you may receive an enrolment application query instead.
Once your enrolment has been approved the mandatory Session 1 Preparation work must be completed and submitted by at least 4 days prior to your first booked session, otherwise you will be unenrolled and need to re-book onto a different session.
Leadership Session 1 Preparation guidance
Only once you’ve successfully submitted the Session 1 Preparation work will you be able to see the Zoom link (if you’ve enrolled onto a virtual course) on the Leadership course page.
Once you have attended a virtual Part One session and been marked as attending, further options will become available to you on the portal regarding preparation for the virtual Part Two session and subsequently the post-course evaluation tasks.
If you require support or assistance with using the actual Church of England National Safeguarding Team’s online Learning Portal (website), you will need to contact The Church of England National Safeguarding team directly by emailing elearning@mail.safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org
