Supplementary Guidance to Schools
Dudley Safeguarding Children Board
Working Together to Keep Children & Young People Safe
Guidance in respect of a serious or critical safeguarding incident affecting a
school community
This guidance has been put together following several management reviews in respect of serious or
critical safeguarding incidents affecting a school and its community. It is aimed specifically at Head
Teachers and members of Senior Leadership Teams. It is supplementary guidance and should be
read in conjunction with:
Dudley Safeguarding Children Board safeguarding procedures
Dudley MBC Emergency Planning guidance (critical incidents)
The schools own child protection policy
What constitutes a serious or critical incident?
It is not possible to provide guidance in respect of every kind of serious or critical incident, but
broadly speaking a serious or critical safeguarding incident may include:
An incident within the school (or close to the school) where a child’s life or children’s lives are
threatened
The death of a child or young person who attends the school
A high profile media case involving serious allegations against a member of staff
The guidance will provide some general principles and deal with the above three issues in more
specific terms.
General Principles
In most serious or critical safeguarding incidents, the following issues will be important to consider:
strong leadership by the Head and members of the senior leadership team
support network for the Head throughout the process
briefing of senior leadership team and planning in terms of identifying key staff likely to be
most affected and in need of one-to-one support
communication with staff, governors, pupils and parents/carers (and possibly local residents)
access to range of professional support staff
engagement with media and social networking
inter-agency co-ordination and communication and effective planning
avoidance of creating a situation where there are ‘too many chiefs and not enough Indians’
A number of these principles will be elaborated upon in guidance below.
A critical safeguarding incident within the school
This is likely to be an incident where a crime has potentially been committed, in which case the police
will take a lead role in investigation and co-ordination. In such incidents,
The police should:
identify a ‘Senior Investigating Officer’ (SIO) who will take the lead in liaising with the Head
and other key professionals
Identify a senior officer to liaise with the media (depending upon the nature/seriousness of the
incident)
Indentify which students and staff are potential witnesses in conjunction with the school and
separate these from other students/staff where necessary for investigative purposes
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Supplementary Guidance to Schools
The school should:
Aim to communicate with pupils and parents/carers and governors as quickly as possible,
acknowledging that social media and networking sites will almost immediately be used to
share information (usually inaccurate information) – this is likely to happen with 20
minutes of the incident occurring
Provide pastoral support to pupils, particularly those involved or most closely affected
Engage Dudley MBC Media and Communications Service (Marcomms) immediately
Inform a member of the Directorate of Children’s Services Senior Leadership Team
The local authority should:
Identify immediate support services for the school and agree how these can be employed with
the Head
Agree a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) to whom the police can share important information
Consider whether the incident warrants initiation of the Emergency Plan critical incident
procedures
Q&A
What kind of situations would constitute a critical incident?
These would include a serious crime being committed within or close to the school such as a stabbing
or threat to students’ safety posed by a student or adult or an attempted suicide by a pupil, or a
criminal incident involving a member of staff which may have serious implications for the safety of
pupils or other members of staff at the school (or public perceptions of their safety)
Additional procedures
Dudley MBC Emergency Planning Procedures
DSCB Safeguarding Procedures (Serious Incidents of Bullying, Part C, Section 41)
The unexpected death of a child
This is not likely to be a safeguarding matter, but at the point of any unexpected death of a child, key
agencies will be open-minded as to the cause or circumstances of the child’s death. There are a
number of scenarios to consider here:
The child died or was taken seriously ill whilst attending school
The child died or was seriously injured during an activity (including whilst in a trip)
The child died but was not attending school at the time
In most cases where a child dies unexpectedly, the immediate investigations will be undertaken by a
multi-agency ‘rapid response’ team, which will always constitute health and police, and possibly
children’s social care depending upon the circumstances.
The rapid response team should:
Members of the rapid response team may wish to ascertain information from the Head within
the first 24 hours depending upon the circumstances of the death
The Child Death Review Co-ordinator will notify the Head Teacher regardless of whether
he/she is aware and invite them to attend the multi-agency rapid response meeting (within 72
hours of the child’s death)
Request the completion by the school of Form B, which contributes to the review of the child’s
death
The school should:
Work closely with the rapid response team, sharing information and contributing to any
investigations or review processes as appropriate
Aim to communicate with staff, pupils and parents/carers and governors as quickly as
possible, acknowledging that social media and networking sites will almost immediately be
used to share information (often inaccurate information)
Engage Dudley MBC Media and Communications Service (Marcomms) if the child’s death is
likely to attract media attention
Identify any immediate or on-going support needs for staff or pupils such as counselling
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Supplementary Guidance to Schools
The local authority should:
Identify immediate support services for the school and agree how these can be employed with
the Head
Q&A
Should the school communicate directly with the bereaved parents/carers?
Yes, absolutely – it is important to show compassion and care for the family, which may include faceto-face visit or letter to the home address
Should the school do anything else to acknowledge the child’s death?
This will of course depend upon the circumstances, but in most cases it will be appropriate to
celebrate the child’s life whilst acknowledging the need of pupils and staff to grieve. This should be
discussed with the family where possible.
Additional procedures
West Midlands Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood Protocol (DSCB Safeguarding
Procedures, Part B Section 14)
Serious safeguarding allegation against a member of staff
In all cases where there are concerns or allegations of a safeguarding nature against a member of
school staff, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) should be informed in accordance with
relevant safeguarding procedures. The LADO service will take a lead role in co-ordinating and
planning possible criminal, child protection and employment investigations between key agencies.
The Local Authority Designated Officer should:
Provide immediate advice in respect of safeguarding the child(ren) and discuss action in
respect of the employee
Arrange a multi-agency Complex Strategy Meeting (within 72 hours) to co-ordinate the
strands of investigation
Consider what other services will be required to support the Head and school community
Provide advice in respect of communication with staff, pupils and parents/carers (in
accordance with the investigation timescales)
Inform Marcomms team and consider implications for school community in respect of media
coverage
The Police should:
Take a lead role in criminal investigation and share relevant information with the LADO, school
and HR, particularly in the event of formal disciplinary processes
The school should:
Work closely with key agencies involved in investigating the concerns/allegations and share
information as appropriate
Work with the LADO, Marcomms and HR to agree a communications strategy to include what
information will be shared with staff, pupils and parents/carers, governors and media (in
accordance with investigation timescales), acknowledging that social media and networking
sites will almost immediately be used to share information (often inaccurate information)
Identify any immediate or on-going support needs for staff, pupils or parents such as
counselling
The local authority should:
Provide co-ordination via the role of the LADO and chair Complex Strategy Meetings and
attend Media/Press Meetings as appropriate
Provide HR support in respect of employment and possible disciplinary processes including
suspension
Identify immediate support services for the school and agree how these can be employed with
the Head
Provide Marcomms support and agree with the Head and Senior Leadership within Directorate
of Children’s Services a media statement and strategy
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Supplementary Guidance to Schools
Q&A
What would constitute a ‘serious incident or case’?
This might be due to seriousness of offence, number/level of indecent images, likely impact of
organisation/community, number of people likely to be affected, likely media profile, role of the
person etc
Additional procedures
Management of allegations procedures (DSCB Safeguarding Procedures, Part B, Section 11)
DfE Managing allegations against school staff guidance
Key Components of Media and Communications Strategy:
Each serious or critical incident is of course unique and must be planned in accordance with the
individual circumstances of the case or situation, and so the guidance below is not meant to be either
prescriptive or exhaustive, but provide some insight into the kinds of issues that should be consider
based upon the experience of local professionals involvement in similar circumstances.
Communication with staff, governors and pupils
The timing of any communication with wider school community will need to be considered in
accordance with any relevant investigations or court appearances
Communication with Staff
Before communicating with the wider staff group, the Head will need to advise their senior leadership
team. Consideration will need to be given to which members of staff are likely to require one-to-one
support or counselling, this could be as a result of:
Close working relationship with the child or close working or personal relationship with the
adult subject of concern
Background that is similar to the incident or circumstances of concern e.g. known to have
been previously abused
It is important to communicate with staff in advance of any issues becoming public, such as through
a court appearance.
Communication with Pupils:
Communication with pupils will often be achieved though use of assemblies. The following issues
should be considered in planning:
Important that information is scripted in advance and communicated by the Head
Information may need to be adapted in accordance with the age range of the students
The visibility of support staff from relevant services such as HR, Safeguarding, Counselling,
Educational Psychology etc is often helpful
As with staff, it will be important to identify any students who are likely to be vulnerable due either to
their relationship with the child or adult subject of concern or their own background e.g. they have
been abused
Communication with Parents/Carers:
Communication with parents/carers can take a number of forms, which may include:
Letters
This is probably the safest way to communicate with parents as the school, supported by key
partners, has control over what information is shared. This must be agreed with the police if a
criminal process is involved. Careful consideration should be given to how much detail is to be
shared, explanation of processes (e.g. suspension and dismissal)
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Supplementary Guidance to Schools
Meetings with parents
This is the most risky way of sharing information as it can lead to various agendas being aired which
are difficult to manage
Helpline
This is recommended particularly where there has been a serious allegation against a member of staff
or where there is uncertainty about the safety of pupils. This is best provided by the local authority;
this may need to be hosted within the school or separately. A Q&A Script is recommended as a guide
for those providing the helpline, and where possible they should be professionals with knowledge of
the type of situation (e.g. sexual abuse, downloading indecent images) or investigations involved
Use of texting facilities
This can be really effective as an immediate way of communicating with parents, and is particularly
helpful when there has been a serious or critical incident within or close to the school
Communication with Governors:
It is important to inform the governing body as soon as possible, although the timing of this will
clearly depend upon the nature of the critical or serious incident. This communication may take the
form of a specific meeting (or briefing within a pre-arranged meeting if appropriate), email (although
this will limit what information can be shared in a non-secure format) or by letter.
The governing body will probably be concerned about the potential reputational issues for the school
community.
Communication with the media:
In most cases, a lead organisation will be identified depending upon the circumstances – often more
that one organisation’s press team will be involved and it is therefore essential that there is effective
liaison between these professionals to ensure a consistent and agreed approach to sharing
information with the media.
Communication with the media may take the form of:
press statement – usually prepared by the press team and consulted upon with school and
other key stakeholders
Q&A – usually prepared by the press team in consultation with key partners
Radio or TV interviews – these should be undertaken by professionals who have completed
some form of media training
Use of social networking and e-communication:
There are two aspects to this – firstly, using social media as a proactive tool to communicate key
messages to the school or wider community. In such instances, DSCB guidance in respect of us of
social media and networking sites should be actively considered.
Social networking and other forms of e-communication are also likely to be used by students, parents
and other members of the public (some of whom may have no connection with the school). This may
be very positive, such as ‘tribute site’ for a child who has died.
The use of Facebook, Twitter and other sites may result in inaccurate information be shared across a
large number of people.
In other circumstances, such as those involving an allegation against a teacher, the use of ‘Rate my
Teacher’ (US hosted site). It is often difficult to get information removed from such sites – contact
with the Internet Watch Foundation (www.iwf.org.uk) may be helpful.
Communication with senior managers and elected members:
It will be necessary to brief senior managers and elected members with the council – this will
normally be prepared by Marcomms in consultation with key partners such as Safeguarding &
Review. Consideration will need to be given to who is briefed and what level of information is to be
shared.
Provision of Support to the School Community
Support from local police
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Supplementary Guidance to Schools
Local policing support can be a key feature of re-assuring pupils and parents if there are concerns
about their safety. This should be negotiated by the Head and the presence reviewed regularly in
accordance with changing circumstances.
Support from counselling services and educational psychology
A range of services can be made available if deemed necessary – these will normally be triggered via
a Complex Strategy Meeting or by a Senior Manager within the Directorate of Children’s Services or
Council.
Counselling or educational psychology services may need to be provided immediately or in a more
planned way over a period of time, depending upon the circumstances.
Social care
Social care’s primary role is to investigate and assess child protection issues, but there participation
within a package of support to the school where there are vulnerable staff or pupils can be helpful
Safeguarding & Review
The Unit will primarily provide a co-ordination role in terms of chairing complex strategy meetings or
advising and supporting key staff such as the Head and ensuring effectiveness inter-agency working.
There will be some occasions where staff from the unit will be actively involved in supporting the
school, such as attending briefings with students, staff, governors etc and supporting the delivery of
any Helplines.
Support from HR:
Liaison between the Head and HR (dedicated officer) is a vital component, particularly in supporting
the Head with regards to employment law and practice, suspension and disciplinary processes. HR
should be actively involved in the multi-agency support provided to the school and their presence in
any direct communication with key stakeholders may be helpful.
For further advice and support contact:
Safeguarding & Review Unit
813061
June 2012