Safeguarding Update Marcus Cooper Primary Adviser, SDBE

Checking the Single Central Record A possible approach Read down the columns; Carry out an accuracy check; full names recorded? E.g. ‘Benjamin’, not ‘Ben’ addresses are complete , and include post codes there are no blanks Carry out a sense check; Do dates all look ‘sensible’? E.g. Dates of Birth, qualification dates etc. Do all colleagues that require qualifications have them recorded?

Checking the Single Central Record A possible approach cont. Now read ‘across’ the SCR. Consider; Are all entries uniform, for example? ‘YES’, ‘yes’ Are there any blanks? If there are, are these explained clearly? Do all colleagues that require additional checks have them? How are risk assessments recorded, are they appropriate? Finally, how often is the register checked and by whom? What training have they received?

Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE 2018) Document will be operational from 3rd September 2018 New Part 5: Child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment “This document sets out the legal duties with which schools and colleges must comply and also contains information on what schools and colleges should do (unless they have good reason not to) in order to keep children safe”. The Department for Education (DfE) has published an updated version of the statutory guidance Keeping children safe in education (2018), which revises and replaces the 2016 guidance. This will come into force for schools in September 2018. It sets out what schools and colleges in England must do to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18. This guidance is for: • headteachers, teachers and education staff • governing bodies and proprietors. The guidance is statutory and applies to all schools and colleges. Schools are defined as “all schools whether maintained, non-maintained or independent schools (including academies, free schools and alternative provision academies), maintained nursery schools and pupil referral units”. This briefing outlines the key changes to the guidance. A full list of changes can be found in Annex H of Keeping children safe in education (2018). Relevant parts of this guidance will be updated again when the new statutory guidance Working together to safeguard children is published.

Key Updates – Part One Safeguarding information for all staff Schools need to state who holds DSP/DSL role and identify any deputies All staff should be aware of how to make a referral and contribute to assessment Staff should always speak to DSP/DSL Immediate action (flow chart) Peer on peer abuse ‘Contextual safeguarding’ Part one: Safeguarding information for all staff 11. Reinforces the importance of the role of the designated safeguarding lead and that schools need to state who holds this role and identify any deputies. “The designated safeguarding lead (and any deputies) is most likely to have a complete safeguarding picture.” What school and college staff need to know 16. Additional wording added. “All staff should be aware of the process for making referrals to children’s social care and for statutory assessments under the Children Act 1989, especially section 17 (children in need) and section 47 (a child suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm) that may follow a referral, along with the role they might be expected to play in such assessments”. What school and college staff should look out for “Any child may benefit from early help, but all school and college staff should be particularly alert to the potential need for early help for a child who: • is disabled and has specific additional needs; • has special educational needs (whether or not they have a statutory education, health and care plan); • is a young carer; • is frequently missing/goes missing from care or home; • is misusing drugs or alcohol; • is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as substance abuse, adult mental health problems or domestic abuse; and/or • has returned home to their family from care”. 22. Wording has been added to emphasise that staff should: “always speak to the designated safeguarding lead (or deputy)” Highlights peer on peer abuse and sexual violence and harassment and highlights further information in part of annex (A). “ All staff should be aware that safeguarding issues can manifest themselves via peer on peer abuse. This is most likely to include, but may not be limited to, bullying (including cyberbullying), sexual violence, sexual harassment and sexting. All staff should be clear as to the school or college’s policy and procedures with regards to peer on peer abuse. Additional information regarding peer on peer abuse is in Annex A”. 52. New section added on contextual safeguarding. Safeguarding incidents and/or behaviours can be associated with factors outside the school or college and/or can occur between children outside the school or college. All staff, but especially the designated safeguarding lead (or deputy) should be considering the context within which such incidents and/or behaviours occur. This is known as contextual safeguarding, which simply means assessments of children should consider whether wider environmental factors are present in a child’s life that are a threat to their safety and/or welfare. Children’s social care assessments should consider such factors so it is important that schools and colleges provide as much information as possible as part of the referral process. This will allow any assessment to consider all the available evidence and the full context of any abuse.

Key Updates – Part Two The management of safeguarding Where reasonably possible, schools and colleges should hold more than one emergency contact number for each pupil. Child Protection Policy and peer on peer abuse New requirements around safeguarding previously looked after children Children with special educational needs and disabilities – additional vulnerabilities New section clarifying when it may be necessary to use reasonable force to safeguard children and young people. A new paragraph added regarding children missing education – schools should hold more than one emergency contact number for each pupil. Multi-agency working Previously called Interagency working. This section will be updated further to reflect the revised Working together to safeguard children (2018). Information sharing New section. This section will get updated to reflect Working together to safeguard children, GDPR and the Data protection bill. Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that their child protection policy includes: • procedures to minimise the risk of peer on peer abuse; • how allegations of peer on peer abuse will be investigated and dealt with; • clear processes as to how victims, perpetrators and any other child affected by peer on peer abuse will be supported; • a clear statement that abuse is abuse and should never be tolerated or passed off as “banter”, “just having a laugh” or “part of growing up”; • recognition of the gendered nature of peer on peer abuse (i.e. that it is more likely that girls will be victims and boys perpetrators), but that all peer on peer abuse is unacceptable and will be taken seriously; and • the different forms peer on peer abuse can take, such as: o sexual violence and sexual harassment (more detail in Part 5); o physical abuse such as hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hair pulling, or otherwise causing physical harm; o sexting (also known as youth produced sexual imagery): the policy should include the school or college’s approach to it. The department provides searching screening and confiscation advice for schools. The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) Education Group has recently published sexting advice for schools and colleges; and o initiating/hazing type violence and rituals”.

Positive environments This guidance sets out an approach to the use of physical intervention, restraint and restriction of liberty. This guidance places an emphasis on creating a positive environment for children to learn in. An environment where staff interact positively with children.

Key Updates – Part Three Safer recruitment Additional information regarding volunteers More detail added around the Teacher Services System and how it should be used Further detail added on the information schools should consider when seeking and obtaining references Further clarification on who/what needs to be included on the Single Central Record no requirement for multi-academy trusts (MATs) to have separate single central records Duty to refer to DBS When schools and colleges are considering which checks should be undertaken on volunteers, they should have regard to that guidance, together with paragraphs 157-162. However, schools and colleges may choose to carry out an enhanced DBS check, without barred list information, in certain circumstances (see paragraph 159)”. “Checks for those prohibitions, sanctions and restrictions described at paragraphs 118-120 can be carried out by logging onto the Secure Access Portal via the Teacher Services webpage. Secure Access is a free service available to all schools and colleges. Registration is required for first time users and can be requested from Teacher Services. Further information about using this system to carry out a range of ‘teacher status checks’ including verification of qualified teacher status (QTS) and the completion of teacher induction or teacher probation can be found at GOV.UK”. “Whilst there is no statutory duty to include on the single central record details of any other checks, schools are free to record any other information they deem relevant. For example, checks for childcare disqualification, volunteers, and safeguarding and safer recruitment training dates. Schools may also wish to record the name of the person who carried out each check”. New paragraph to clarify/ reinforce the legal duty to refer to DBS when an individual is suspended or moved out of regulated activity to another post, if they meet the “harm” criteria.

Key Updates – Part Four Allegations against teachers and staff Added “volunteers” to this paragraph to make clear this part of the guidance is also applicable to them. The term “unfounded” has been moved from a footnote back into the main text as a bullet point. Teacher misconduct referral to the TRA Further information on references

New Chapter – Part Five Child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment Responding to reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment The immediate response to a report Risk Assessment Action following a report of sexual violence and/or sexual harassment Support for all parties Emphasises the need for effective training and policies in schools and colleges. 239. Schools need to respond on a case-by-case basis, supported by children’s social care and the police if required. The immediate response to a report 241. Emphasises the importance of the school’s initial response to a report from a child. All victims must be taken seriously, supported and kept safe. 242. Clarifies in detail about how all staff should be trained to manage a report, as with any safeguarding concern. Risk Assessment 243. Following a report of sexual violence, the designated safeguarding lead (or deputy) should make an immediate risk and needs assessment, considering: • the victim • the alleged perpetrator • all other children (and if appropriate adult students and staff). 244. Risk assessments should be recorded and kept under review. 245. The designated safeguarding lead (or deputy) should ensure they are engaging with children’s social care and specialist services as required. Action following a report of sexual violence and/or sexual harassment What to consider 246. Schools should consider: • the wishes of the victim in terms of how they want to proceed • the nature of the alleged incident • the ages of the children involved • the development stages of the children involved • any power imbalance between the children • is the incident a one-off or a sustained pattern of abuse • are there ongoing risks to the victim, other children, school or college staff • contextual safeguarding issues 247. As always, all staff should act in the best interests of the child. 248. Emphasises that sexual violence and sexual harassment is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. Options to manage the report 249. Four scenarios for schools and colleges to consider when managing any reports of sexual violence and/or sexual harassment. 1. Manage internally – the school manages incidents. Early help – multi-agency early help 3. Referrals to children’s social care 4. Reporting to the police – in parallel to children’s social care

preventing radicalisation “honour-based” violence Key Updates - Annexes All staff need to read Annex A Further information and/or new information on: child sexual exploitation CME peer on peer abuse preventing radicalisation domestic abuse homelessness New footnote added on page 88 to highlight that sole proprietors need to ensure that their designated safeguarding lead is a suitable person for the role. “When a school has a sole proprietor rather than a governing body, appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that the member of the senior leadership team who is appointed as DSL is able to discharge that role with sufficient independence, particularly in relation to any allegations involving the proprietor or members of the proprietor’s family. This may involve including in the appointment as DSL, written confirmation that part of the duties of the post involve contacting the Local Authority Designated Officer on any matter that the DSL considers cannot be properly dealt with internally. Consideration could also be given to providing the DSL with access to external advice from an appropriate company or legal service”. Training Bullet points added regarding training requirements around online safety and SEND. “…..are able to understand the unique risks associated with online safety and be confident that they have the relevant knowledge and up to date capability required to keep children safe whilst they are online at school or college; Annex E: Host families - homestay during exchange visits More detail provided on obtaining DBS checks for UK host families. “In circumstances where a school or college arrange for a visiting child to be provided with care and accommodation in the UK (including where they engage a company to make those arrangements) in the home of a family to which the child is not related, the responsible adults will be engaging in regulated activity for the period of the stay. In such cases and where the school or college has the power to terminate such a homestay the school or college would be the regulated activity provider”. child criminal exploitation county lines “honour-based” violence

Future SDBE Safeguarding Training Safeguarding for senior leaders in school Wednesday 12 September 2018 9:30 – Noon at Union Street. Safeguarding for Governors 6:30 – 8:30 at Union Street