Safeguarding Training
Induction for new staff / Whole school refresher
(Updated April 2014)
What is
safeguarding?
Child Protection
Anti Bullying
Policies
Attendance
Staff Conduct
Safeguarding
Managing
Allegations
Against Staff
Behaviour
Management
Health
and
Safety
Curriculum
A “Listening” School
Safe Recruitment
and Selection
Building
Design
• government introduced the concept of ‘safeguarding children’ in
2004/05
• Safeguarding’ much broader concept (than child protection)
based around preventing children / young people from being
harmed – focus upon promoting the child / young person’s
welfare
• Child Protection is part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. It
refers to activity undertaken to protect specific children identified
as either suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm as a
result of abuse or neglect.
• It is only multi-agency working which effectively safeguards
children
The Essex Safeguarding Children Board
(ESCB):
• Statutory multi-agency organisation - Children Act
2004 required every local authority to set up a Local
Safeguarding Children Board
• Aim is to improve outcomes for children by coordinating the work of local agencies to safeguard and
promote the welfare of children
• Links with Southend and Thurrock (SET procedures –
2011, currently being updated)
• Statutory duty to publish annual report on effectiveness
of child safeguarding within the locality
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Keeping Children Safe in
Education
(DfE, April 2014)
• All staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in
which children can learn
• All staff have a responsibility to identify children who may be in
need of extra help or who are suffering, or are likely to suffer,
significant harm. All staff then have a responsibility to take
appropriate action, working with other services as needed
• Staff working with children are advised to maintain an attitude of
‘it could happen here’ where safeguarding is concerned. When
concerned about the welfare of a child, they should always act in
the interests of the child.
• All staff should be aware of systems within their school which
support safeguarding and these should be explained to them as
part of staff induction. This includes:
– Safeguarding Policy
– Staff behaviour policy (sometimes called a code of conduct)
– The name of the designated safeguarding lead and how to
access them
• All staff should also receive appropriate child protection training
which is regularly updated (At least every two years for
Designated Lead)
• All staff should be aware of the signs of abuse and neglect so
that they are able to identify cases of children who may be in
need of help or protection.
It is important for children to receive the right help at
the right time to address risks and prevent issues
escalating. Research and Serious Case Reviews have
repeatedly shown the dangers of failing to take effective
action. Poor practice includes:
– failure to act on and refer the early signs of abuse
and neglect
– poor record keeping
– failure to listen to the views of the child
– failure to re-assess concerns when situations do
not improve
– sharing information too slowly
– a lack of challenge to those who appear not to be
taking action
Essex Effective Support Windscreen
Effective Support for Children and Families
in Essex – Universal (Level 1)
All children who live in the area have
core needs such as parenting, health
and education – children are
supported by their family and in
universal services to meet all their
needs
Effective Support for Children and Families
in Essex – Additional (Level 2)
Children and families with additional
needs who would benefit from or who
require extra help to improve
education, parenting and / or
behaviour, or to meet specific health
or emotional needs or to improve
material situation
Effective Support for Children and
Families in Essex – Intensive (Level 3)
Vulnerable children and their families with multiple needs
or whose needs are more complex, such as children and
families who:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Have a disability resulting in complex needs
Exhibit anti-social or challenging behaviour
Suffer neglect or poor family relationships
Have poor engagement with key services such
as school and health
Are not in education or work long term
Effective Support for Children and
Families in Essex – Specialist (Level 4)
• Children or young people who have suffered or are
likely to suffer significant harm as a result of abuse or
neglect
• Children with significant impairment of function /
learning and / or life limiting illness
• Children whose parents and wider family are unable
to care for them
• Families involved in crime / misuse of drugs at a
significant level
• Families with significant mental or physical health
needs
Abuse is…
…a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may
abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to
act to prevent harm. A child may be abused by an adult
or adults or another child or children.
Categories:
• Physical
• Emotional
• Sexual
• Neglect
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Physical:
May involve hitting, shaking, throwing,
poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning,
suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm
to a child. Physical harm may also be caused
when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms
of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.
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Emotional:
The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as
to cause severe and adverse effects on the child’s
emotional development. It may involve:
– conveying to a child that they are worthless or
unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they
meet the needs of another person.
– seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It
may involve serious bullying (including
cyberbullying), causing children frequently to feel
frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or
corruption of children. Some level of emotional
abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a
child, although it may occur alone.
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Emotional:
– not giving the child opportunities to express their
views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’
of what they say or how they communicate.
– age or developmentally inappropriate expectations
being imposed on children. These may include
interactions that are beyond a child’s
developmental capability as well as overprotection
and limitation of exploration and learning, or
preventing the child participating in normal social
interaction
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Sexual:
Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in
sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence,
whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The
activities may involve physical contact, including assault by
penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts
such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of
clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as
involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual
images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave
in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation
for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely
perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual
abuse, as can other children.
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Neglect:
Persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or
psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the
child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy
as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born,
neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate
food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or
abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or
danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of
inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical
care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or
unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.
What to do if a child discloses to you:
DO
• Listen carefully
• Make accurate notes
(using the child’s words) date and sign these
• Reassure the child they
have done the correct
thing by telling you
• INFORM THE
DESIGNATED LEAD
DO NOT
• Promise confidentiality
• Ask leading questions
• Use your own words to
describe something
• Investigate
Whistleblowing
•
•
•
•
Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
Must concern one of the 6 types of ‘qualifying disclosure’
Must reasonably believe it is in the public interest
Must be raised initially with own line manager (or to more
senior manager if concerns line manager)
• Any staff member can press for re-consideration of a
case if they feel the child’s situation does not appear to
be improving. They may refer their concerns to Social
Care directly if they have concerns for the safety of a
child*
Ofsted:
Ofsted adopts the definition of safeguarding used in the Children Act
2004 and in the DfE guidance document ‘Working Together to
Safeguard Children’, which focuses on safeguarding and promoting
children’s and learners’ welfare. This can be summarised as:
• protecting children and learners from maltreatment
• preventing impairment of children’s and learners’ health or
development
• ensuring that children and learners are growing up in circumstances
consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
• undertaking that role so as to enable those children and learners to
have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.
Ofsted: The behaviour and safety
of pupils at the school:
An ‘outstanding’ school is where “all groups of
pupils are safe and feel safe at school and at
alternative provision placements at all times.
They understand very clearly what constitutes
unsafe situations and are highly aware of how
to keep themselves and others safe in different
situations, including in relation to e-safety”
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Ofsted: Quality of leadership in and
management of the school:
In an ‘outstanding’ school
o “arrangements for safeguarding meet the
statutory requirements”
o “the curriculum has a very positive impact on
all pupils’ behaviour and safety and
contributes very well to ….their physical wellbeing and their spiritual, moral, social and
cultural development”
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Ofsted: Quality of leadership in and
management of the school:
Safeguarding arrangements ensure there is safe
recruitment and that all pupils are safe. This includes
the:
o maintenance of the single central record and
appropriate arrangements for child protection
o rigour with which absence is followed up
o decision-making process in taking pupils off roll
o care taken to ensure that pupils placed in
alternative provision are safe at all time
o action taken following any serious incident
o promotion of safe practices and a culture of safety,
including e-safety
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Ofsted:
In the small number of schools where safeguarding was judged
to be inadequate, common weaknesses included:
• the failure to maintain a single central record of recruitment
and vetting checks covering all adults who had regular contact
with children
• insufficient child protection training
• key risk assessments not completed
• a failure by the governing body to monitor and review the
policies to protect children.
Ofsted: guidance for inspectors
• Check single central record
• Hold discussions with headteacher, governors
and other staff to explore management
responsibilities, training and support for
safeguarding
• Observe pupils around the school and discuss
with them how school helps to keep them safe
and deal sensibly with risk (should include
discussion about e-safety)
Priorities for Schools:
• Effective Safeguarding policy in place
– all staff aware of this
– Annually reviewed and updated
• Named Designated Teacher and Deputy for Safeguarding (and
CSE )
• Promote a culture of listening to and engaging in dialogue with
children*
• Adherence to SET procedures
• Section 11 Audit
• E-safety
Priorities for Schools:
• Awareness of all staff to signs and symptoms of abuse (and
regular training)
• Anti-bullying procedures (and recording)
• Emotional well-being (mental health) of students
• Safe recruitment procedures
• Response to work around Domestic Abuse
• Record keeping and sharing / transfer of information to a new
school
Update – Child Sexual Exploitation
• Essex along with Southend and Thurrock has
developed a ‘CSE Champions’ approach – each
school has a lead person (Designated Teacher for
Child Protection)
• CSE Champions Training for Designated Teacher
provided by ESCB
• House of Commons, Select Committee report ‘Child
Sexual Exploitation and the Response to Localised
Grooming’.
Update – Domestic Abuse
Notifications:
• Specialist team within Essex Police – JDAT – Joint Domestic
Abuse Triage
• Each school now has a named person for DV notifications
• Essex sharing domestic abuse notifications
 High or medium risk case
 Open to Childrens Social Care
• 58 notifications to schools (November 2013 – March 2014)
Responsibilities of Governing Bodies:
• S.175 (2) and (3) of the Education Act 2002 - obligation on
school governors to ensure that they make arrangements for
ensuring functions relating to the conduct of the school are
exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare
of children / young people receiving education
• Safeguarding Policy
• Recruitment Policy
• Ensure regular training takes place
• Have member of the governing body nominated to be
responsible for liaising with the CSA and/or partner agencies in
the event of allegations of abuse being made against the head
teacher
‘Working Together’ (March 2013)
“Safeguarding children - the action we
take to promote the welfare of children
and protect them from harm - is
everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who
comes into contact with children and
families has a role to play”
Additional useful documents:
• SET Procedures (September 2011 but in
process of being updated)
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfE,
2013)
• You Have Someone to Trust – Outstanding
Safeguarding Practice in Primary Schools
(September 2012)
• Feeling Safe, Keeping Safe: Good Practice in
Safeguarding and Child Protection in Secondary
Schools (September 2013)
Contact for Safeguarding Adviser to
Schools:
jo.barclay@essex.gov.uk
033301 31078
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