Safeguarding & Child Protection The Role of the Safeguarding Governor Welcome

Aims: To understand the governing board’s legal duties in respect of safeguarding. To look at the Safeguarding Governor’s role in carrying out school visits and delegated tasks and reporting the outcomes to the governing board.

Why Safeguarding? Section 175 of the Education Act (2002) requires both local authorities and the governing bodies of maintained schools to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Why Safeguarding? Section 157 of the Act, and the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 apply the same duty to proprietors of Independent Schools (which include academies/free schools).

Why Safeguarding? These arrangements must have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

What is Safeguarding? Safeguarding’ is: Protecting children from maltreatment Ensuring children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care Taking action to enable all children to have the best possible outcomes ‘Child Protection’ is: A part of safeguarding and promoting welfare The activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm

Ofsted Framework (2015) Effectiveness of leadership and management: actively promote equality and diversity, tackle bullying and discrimination and narrow any gaps in achievement between different groups of children and learners. actively promote British values. make sure that safeguarding arrangements to protect children, young people and learners meet all statutory and other government requirements, promote their welfare and prevent radicalisation and extremism.

Ofsted Framework (2015) Inspectors will always report on whether or not arrangements for safeguarding children and learners are effective.

Ofsted Framework (2015) Personal Development, behaviour and welfare: understanding of how to keep themselves safe from relevant risks such as abuse, sexual exploitation and extremism, including when using the internet and social media. knowledge of how to keep themselves healthy, both emotionally and physically, including through exercising and healthy eating. personal development, so that they are well prepared to respect others and contribute to wider society and life in Britain.

Statutory guidance & documentation Working Together 2015 Internal - Safeguarding Policy - Whistleblowing Policy - Staff Code of Conduct - Health & Safety policy/documentation Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016 EYFS Ofsted – Inspecting safeguarding

Keeping Children Safe in Education (2016) Statutory guidance from the DfE, which applies to: Maintained schools (including nurseries) Academies Free schools Non-maintained special schools Further education (FE) and sixth-form colleges Independent schools Alternative provision academies Pupil referral units

Keeping Children Safe in Education (2016) Part one: Safeguarding information for all staff Part two: The management of safeguarding The responsibilities of governing bodies and proprietors. Part three: Safer Recruitment Part four: Allegations of abuse made against teachers and other staff

The Governing Board’s responsibilities The governing board must ensure that It has regard to the DfE statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ to ensure that the policies, procedures and training in their schools and colleges are effective and comply with the law at all times.

The Governing Board’s responsibilities The governing board should ensure that: all staff read Part One of Keeping Children Safe in Education The school contributes to inter-agency working in line with Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015. The school’s safeguarding arrangements take into account the procedures and practice of the local authority and LSCB. The school has a child protection/safeguarding policy, procedures and a staff code of conduct - given to all staff on induction, updated annually (as a minimum) and made available publicly e.g. on the school website.

The Governing Board’s responsibilities The governing board should designate a member of the school’s leadership team to take lead responsibility for dealing with child protection issues - the Designated Senior Lead – DSL. The DSL must have appropriate seniority and be given sufficient time, funding, training, resources and support to fulfil the role. Cover must always be available for this role – the Deputy DSL(s). Training for DSLs and DDSLs in regards to their role every 2 years. Knowledge & skills updates at least annually. All staff members should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training, and updates at least annually. This should be explicit in the roleholder’s job description. This person should have the appropriate status and authority within the school to carry out the duties of the post. They should be given the time, funding, training, resources and support to provide advice and support to other staff on child welfare and child protection matters, to take part in strategy discussions and interagency meetings – and/or to support other staff to do so – and to contribute to the assessment of children. Whilst the activities of the designated safeguarding lead can be delegated to appropriately trained deputies, the ultimate lead responsibility for child protection, as set out above, remains with the designated safeguarding lead; this lead responsibility should not be delegated.

The Governing Board’s responsibilities The governing board should ensure children are taught about safeguarding, including online, through teaching and learning opportunities as part of providing a board and balanced curriculum. The governing board must appoint a designated teacher to promote the educational achievement of children who are looked after, and ensure that this person has appropriate training. The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009 require governing boards of maintained schools to ensure that at least one person on any appointment panel has undertaken safer recruitment training. Last bullet: Academy trusts, including those established to run a free school, have the same responsibilities as all independent schools in relation to requesting enhanced DBS certificates for permanent and supply staff. (The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014. The regulations do not apply to 16-19 free schools and academies)

The Governing Board’s responsibilities The governing board should ensure that there are procedures in place to handle allegations against teachers, principles, volunteers and other staff. the child protection / safeguarding policy includes procedures to minimise the risk of peer on peer abuse and sets out how allegations of peer on peer abuse will be dealt with. the child protection/ safeguarding policy and procedures reflect the fact that additional barriers can exist when recognising abuse and neglect of children with SEND.

The role of the Safeguarding Governor As the governor responsible for safeguarding children, you will play an essential role in ensuring children in education are kept safe from harm. Your job is to ensure the safeguarding agenda and culture is embedded in the ethos of your school.

The role – in a nut shell Monitoring the safeguarding and whistle-blowing policies, and whether they are embedded. Ensuring a system is in place for recording, storing and reviewing child welfare concerns Liaising with the DSL about general child protection and broader safeguarding issues within the school Ensuring that school staff training is up to date Ensuring at least one governor has successfully completed accredited safer recruitment training Extended list: see hand-out

What do you need to do? Meet: (Check the Checker) The Senior Designated Lead Deputy DSL(s) Headteacher Staff Single Central Record (dip-check) Produce an annual report to the governing board (with the SDL)

What will be on the report? A: Information re the safeguarding leads B: Whole-school training C: Recruitment & selection process D: The Single Central Record (SCR) E: Safer Recruitment Training F: Policies and documents relating to safeguarding G: Curriculum – British Values (e-safety) H: Perceptions of safety I: Referrals and multi-agency working See handout proforma

Some questions to ask How do we know that all staff know the correct procedures for child protection incidents? How many incidents related to child protection have there been in the last year? How does the school ensure that all pupils know what they should do if involved in a child protection incident? Have we updated the child protection policy in line with any new statutory guidance? Who takes responsibility for inducting new members of staff with reference to child protection?

Any questions for us? ?