After having endured one of the worst child safeguarding tragedies in international school history, I am frequently called upon to provide advice for preparation of both proactive and reactive measures in case school-based allegations arise. My number one recommendation is to have a private investigator with extensive child safeguarding experience and training on speed dial. Specifically, when receiving a serious child protection allegation, Chris Gould is the first person I would call. Nuanced forensic investigation capability, tremendous attention to detail, and a calm, focused demeanor are Chris’s hallmarks, and there is noone whom I would rather entrust with such sensitive and important work. We educators do not have such investigative training, and in these circumstances, we must entrust highly qualified professionals to uncover the truth. Chris Gould is the very person in whom I’d place that trust.

Tim Carr

Head of School (2010 – 2017), Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS), Indonesia

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We recently started working with Chris Gould as we wanted someone who could provide Level 2 and 3 Safeguarding training to our child protection officers and other staff who are involved in this important work in our schools.  We have a number of schools in our group from across Hong Kong and Mainland China.  Chris managed to conduct online training for nearly 200 people – broken into two groups over a few days.  The training was outstanding.  We were very impressed with Chris’ extensive knowledge on all things safeguarding and the time he took explaining Chinese law and understanding our context.  We received excellent feedback from participants and everyone felt much better prepared for their roles in their schools.

We are now continuing to work with Chris on a monthly basis where we look at case studies and work through the best ways to deal with difficult situations. This is proving to be highly valuable for those in our schools in giving them the confidence to know how to act in various scenarios.

Chris has been extremely generous with his time and worked around our time zone and schedules.  Chris has been willing to meet with us to advise on cases and we know we have an excellent resource if we ever need to bring in an external consultant or investigator to deal with a safeguarding crisis. I feel that our schools are already a safer place for our students as a result of our work with Chris. I look forward to our organization having a long partnership with Chris in the future.

Damien Hehir

Head of Collaboration and Safeguarding for YCYW Schools

Co-Principal, Yew Chung International School of Shanghai (Pudong)

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I can unreservedly recommend Chris for his experienced and contextually-sensitive counsel.  He advised me personally and our Board collectively on our options and our factors-for-deliberation at every stage in a matter fraught with moral, legal and local cultural considerations.  He was unambiguous in his recommendations, but respectful and helpful in the integration of our unique circumstances.

What resulted was a navigable path which helped to meet the needs of moral, legal and cultural prescription.  We genuinely felt that we achieved the very best outcome for all parties involved, and we are grateful for the expertise and attention which he devoted to our situation.

I would seek his counsel again in an instant if the need were to arise.

Bill Elman

Director, International School of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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I learnt a huge amount in a relatively small amount of time from the workshop series on safeguarding and child protection from Chris. What particularly impressed me was his ability to apply his extensive knowledge to our particular school context and to the wider context under Chinese law.  He seized on our situation very quickly and prepared relevant material thoroughly. I left the sessions knowing there is a huge amount to do but also reassured by his calm manner that we could achieve what is needed applying a step by step approach.

Chris is generous with his time, knowledge and resources and I thoroughly recommend him.

Neil Bunting

International Principal, Shenzhen Hualang School, China

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I first became familiar with Chris’ work in child protection when he responded to an international school-based incident in Indonesia. Over the last five years I have referred a number of individuals, institutions and organizations to Chris, as well as consulting with him personally. I always walk away feeling technically informed as well as professionally and personally supported. What impresses me the most is the effective combination of an unwavering focus on what is in the best interest of the child, blended with the incisiveness of a police investigator and the compassion of a victim advocate. I have learned so much from Chris about addressing child protection and come to realise it is not intuitive, training and skills are a must, as well as on going consultation. There is no one I would rather have in my corner, especially with the most complex and thorniest of cases, with his expertise and calm assurance, than Chris.

Dr Suzanne M Anderson

(Director, Trainer, Psychotherapist) Restorative Community Concepts, Singapore

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At various times during the last 5 years Chris Gould has worked with staff at school in a variety of ways, including specific training for various strands of safeguarding as well as consultancy when the need has arisen. Due to his work in various Asian countries as well as Europe, he has a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw upon to give contextual backgrounds and scenarios.

At all times, he has provided services of the highest quality, allied to a professional and completely confidential approach.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Chris Gould as a respected provider of safeguarding training and consultancy.

Shane Nathan

Head of Primary, British School Jakarta (BSJ), Jakarta, Indonesia

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I was trained in Level 3 Child Protection and Safeguarding twice by Chris. He is sharp, highly skilled and experienced. I consulted with him on a current, sensitive case and to be able to be assured we were in the right direction when dealing with safeguarding issues was invaluable. Thank you Chris and look forward to training/working with you in the future.

Sapphira Beaudin

School Counsellor, Harrow International School, Bangkok, Thailand

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I received training from Chris and used him for consultancy regarding Safeguarding issues. His training was fantastic and wholly appropriate for professionals involved in Safeguarding who need to understand British regulations in an international context. The consultancy work he undertook for us could not have been more thorough. As well as offering us sound procedural advice, he also showed a great deal of care in helping us through complicated situations. I would strongly recommend him to those involved in Safeguarding in international schools. His help to us has been invaluable.

Joshua Watters

Deputy Head of Secondary School, Bangkok International Preparatory & Secondary School, Bangkok, Thailand

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Chris has worked extensively with us at the International School of Zug and Luzern in Switzerland over the past three years. Prior to Chris’s input, our child protection systems were very basic and limited, and we were fortunate to meet Chris when he was presenting at an international schools conference in Indonesia. After agreeing to advise us and assist with our developments, Chris supported us in the creation of safeguarding procedures that included the training of all staff (400+ employees), development of procedures and a trained child protection officer network, as well as child protection education topics in the curriculum for the students. We are now confident in the operation of the child protection systems at ISZL, having had to use our procedures for cases that have surfaced. We certainly could not have made the developments we have without the expert guidance and support of Chris Gould. Chris continues to support us at ISZL with advice as an expert consultant when safeguarding cases arise that are beyond our expertise. I consider us to have been incredibly fortunate to have met Chris Gould at the conference in Indonesia three years ago, and I have no hesitation in recommending Chris very highly to any international school that needs to develop procedures or gain expert advice.

Colin Walker

Director of Student Life, International School of Zug and Lucern (ISZL) Switzerland

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‘Chris Gould….his training in this field remains by far the best I’ve done and I always try to direct people to him. He also has a wealth of ideas and other training schools can undertake.

Steve Ayling

MS Assistant Principal, Aesch Counsellor, International School of Basel (ISB), Switzerland

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