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Safeguarding Briefing - 29th June 2020
Dear Colleague,
Keeping Children Safe in Education: Allegations of abuse against Supply Teachers
Last week saw the publication of the updated Keeping Children Safe in Eduction for September 2020. I had several emails during the week about the section on Managing Allegations Against Supply Teachers.
In general, the questions were about schools taking responsibility for managing the allegation even though they may not be the contractual employer.
Other questions included were:
- What if the school sees the misconduct as requiring suspension and the agency do not suspend?
- Who pays for full salary during suspension?
I’m not a lawyer or a HR specialist, but my reading of the guidance is that the DfE does recognise where the employment responsibility lies. I read it as a responsibility to liaise with the agency and LADO, not that the school are taking a contractual responsibility. (Other views may be available.)
I can't comment on the second question above. The first question is that the LADO will have been contacted (by the school) and that advice should be taken into account by the school and/or agency.
I think the relevant passages in KCSIE (2020) are these.
Paragraph 213 says, ‘Where the school or college are not the employer of an individual they still have responsibility to ensure allegations are dealt with appropriately and that they liaise with relevant parties (this includes supply teachers and volunteers, see paragraphs on supply teachers below).’
Paragraph 215 says, ‘Whilst schools and colleges are not the employer of supply teachers, they should ensure allegations are dealt with properly. In no circumstances should a school or college decide to cease to use a supply teacher due to safeguarding concerns, without finding out the facts and liaising with the local authority designated officer (LADO) to determine a suitable outcome.’
Paragraph 216, says ‘The school or college will usually take the lead because agencies do not have direct access to children or other school staff, so they will not be able to collect the facts when an allegation is made, nor do they have all the relevant information required by the LADO as part of the referral process.’
In my opinion, this is where the school’s managing allegations policy needs to be clear about the procedures that would follow an allegation. It could perhaps, include something like, ‘Where an allegation is made against a supply teacher, the [headteacher] will immediately contact both the agency concerned and the LADO... The school will continue to support any investigation that is required.’
The change has been made as there have been cases in the past where schools have quietly stopped using a supply teacher where there have been issues, but it has not follow any due process. There is now a requirement to do so.
I think that before Keeping Children Safe in Education (2020) comes into force in September 2020, advice should be taken from the school’s legal or HR advisors.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (for 2020) can be downloaded (fourth document down) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2
Staff Conduct of Conduct
It is worth making sure that supply teachers have information about the school's staff conduct expectations. A good starting point is the Guidance for Safer Working Practices from the Safer Recruitment Consortium. This was updated during the coronavirus outbreak to include information about online learning (see below)
Guidance for safer working practice for [use] in education settings (Safer Recruitment Consortium)
Updated to account for home learning.
Amended sections are:
3. Responsibilities, page 4
5. Power and positions of trust and authority, page 4
8. Dress and appearance, page 5
15. Intimate / personal care, page 6
19. One to one situations, page 7
20. Home visits, page 7
23. First Aid and medication, page 8
24a. Use of technology for online/virtual teaching, page 9
28. Whistleblowing, page 10
Download here: https://www.saferrecruitmentconsortium.org/GSWP%20COVID%20addendum%20April%202020%20final-2.pdf
County Lines: The Lost Boy (SKY NEWS)
If you haven't seen this report and you have 8 minutes please use them to watch 'The Lost Boy'.
This extended news piece from Sky's Jason Farrell is such an important vignette. This is a real 14-year old boy who goes missing during lockdown, and when he is taking home by police, 'his abusive father didn't ask where he had been'.
Jason Farrell says, 'At this point I remind him that he's only 14. I ask: "Do you ever not just think - I'm a kid I'm too young for all of this?"
"Well - not anymore," says Ben. "I had to grow up fast because I was alone."'
'Ben' says he was annoyed with the police. 'They were just like - [home] is the best place for me to be - which really annoyed me because they didn't know the full story.
In the interview with 'Ben' (voiced by an actor), Farrell appears genuinely shocked by the boy's story. It is one moment where some professionals just need to remember that these are actual children because occasionally the reality of dealing with county lines victims can too easily become 'commonplace'. One clear reason supervision is important.
Watch the video here: https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-gang-member-14-on-how-lockdown-drove-him-to-escape-his-home-12008669
Safeguarding Extra - New Episode
The latest episode of Safeguarding Extra was published last week. In it I share the story of a supply teacher who was recently jailed for a number of assaults against children in the school he was placed at. Remarkably, this wasn't the first time.
You can find the video here: https://safeguardingextra.info/safeguarding-extra-episode-6-when-supply-teachers-go-wrong/
Safeguarding Extra is an extended video briefing twice a month in term time looking behind the safeguarding headlines.
You can find out more about Safeguarding Extra here: https://safeguardingextra.info/what-is-safeguarding-extra/
Lockdown babies: Children born during the coronavirus crisis (Children's Commissioner)
Lockdown has changed all of our lives in so many different ways. But if there’s one thing that hasn’t changed it is that babies are still being born.
According to Office of National Statistics, 1,688 babies are born in England every day. This means that something like 76,000 babies have been born during lockdown. Whilst many of these children will be welcomed into a happy home, for some families, however, the new pressure that the arrival of a baby can bring – on relationships, finances, and mental health – can push them into crisis.
Some 45,000 0-1 year olds live in houses where domestic violence has taken place in the last year. These babies are being harmed, even if they are not the target of the abuse. There are also other well-known parental risk factors to babies. Some 73,000 babies (aged 0-1) in England live in a household where a parent currently has severe poor mental health, and 28,000 live in a household where parents or carers abuse drugs and alcohol.
In England each year nearly 2,500 babies a year are subject to care proceedings within a week of birth.
The Children's Commissioner has recently published a report into 'lockdown' babies and paints a 'needy' picture. It reminds me that as we move forward into the next three to five years, as the threat of coronavirus hopefully recedes, that we may need to keep a weather-eye on those toddlers, and especially babies that were born in lockdown.
Read the report here: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cco-lockdown-babies.pdf
Forthcoming Courses
Advanced Safeguarding for DSLs Online
My Advanced Safeguarding for DSLs Course has been online for the last few months. A number of people have finished it and have said how much it had helped them. This course was filmed live at a school in the north-east of England just before lock down.
There are two ways to access the course. A scheduled course where I'm online too; and an 'on-demand' course which you can complete at anytime. The content is the same, but on a scheduled course you can interact with me and other people attending at the same time.
You can find out more information about the course here: onlinecpd.info/dsl
There are group rates for groups of five or more colleagues.
Private online CPD for school groups or MATs
I can also arrange a specific date and time for a private online course for your group.
Scheduled Courses
The next scheduled courses are:
ONLINE Wednesday 1st July 2020 10.00am start Book Now
LAST SCHEDULED OPEN COURSE FOR THIS ACADEMIC YEAR:
ONLINE Tuesday 7th July 2020 10.00am start Book Now
On-demand Courses
Or you can complete the course at any time Book Now
Safeguarding and Remote Learning
This 1 hour session explores the risks of online teaching with pupils. I put remote learning into the whole context of safeguarding, look at a process for risk assessment and identify the strategies that staff who are potential offenders might use to groom pupils.
The course is available here:
onlinecpd.info/remote
Until next time, keep as safe as you can. Thank you for all you are doing. Stay safe.
Best wishes
Andrew Hall
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