Maybe I am a cynical ol' hedjog...

But when somebody boosts the merits of

eschew[ing] a legalistically minded obsession with safeguarding, and the low-trust milieu that such narrow proceduralism generates.

I think of all those other contexts in which people want to 'cut through red tape', like, oh, maybe food safety, and building regulations, and, and, - I think you get my point.

The letter in question (3rd one down) is advancing the merits of Rudolf Steiner schools.

Several of which have indeed, of recent years, had safeguarding concerns raised and one of which was closed in 2017. And really, we do not think HM Inspectorate were only objecting to the woo-wooery based on Steiner's anthroposophical beliefs, including objections to vaccination; but to the fact that leaving children unsupervised in unstructured activity could lead to danger and bullying.

The Steiner system may sound like hippy utopia, but it sounds as though it can quite readily go Lord of the Flies.

Okay, as a child who wanted to do nothing but read, Steiner-Waldorf schools sound to me like HELL, so I am probably not the best person to comment on them.

But I remain very dubious about people who talk about safeguarding in terms of 'legalism' and 'obsession'.