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Safeguarding Briefing - 13th December 2021
Dear Colleague,
Last week's Safeguarding Briefing
Thank you for all your emails about last week's briefing. I'm sorry that there were dating errors in the document, these have all been rectified. For ease of reference you can download the pdf here: https://6282.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Arthur+Labinjo-Hughes+-+School+summary+-+Andrew+Hall+v.1.3.pdf
Arthur's Story - Slide Deck (Louis Donald)
Louis Donald, Director of Safeguarding at the Creative Education Trust, has created a slide deck about Arthur's Story for leaders to use with staff to dispel any misunderstanding of events, and clarify the next steps the Government intends to take.
Louis says, 'I am encouraging leaders to use it as a backdrop to a conversation about the importance of vigilance and the unique power schools have: 'the daily check-in'.'
Thank you so much to Louis for creating this powerful slide deck and for his generosity in sharing it.
Download the slide deck here: https://6282.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Arthur+Labinjo-Hughes+Slide+Deck+from+Louis+Donald.pptx
Use of personal devices for taking photographs
It would be interesting to find out how many thousands of photographs are taken at school events each year. I suspect more than half of them are taken at nativity plays - not least of those lovely 'out-take moments'. One year our inn-keeper, asked if there was room at the Inn, answered the weary travellers in the positive, 'yes, of course, come in'.
Not every parent likes images of their children uploaded to school media, and sometimes there are further safeguarding or legal reasons why that mustn't be the case. Of course, children themselves might not want it either - how do you consider their consent?
It's worth remembering that staff shouldn't be using their personal devices to take photos or videos. Whilst it can be very convenient to use your own device, images should only be taken on school equipment. Sometimes there may be exceptional circumstances where personal devices may be used in which case the headteacher (or if the headteacher, the Chair of Governors) should give written permission and ensure that any images are removed to a secure data device immediately after the event.
Computing and E-safety Lead for Islington's Children's Services, Katy Potts, sent me a link to a video from Nokia. It's a few years old now, but is an over-the-top reminder that too many cameras can spoil the show! Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/slf3GgxqusI
There is some further guidance from the NSPCC here: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/briefings/photography-sharing-images-guidance
What goes on in Nativity, stays in Nativity...even in 2021...in school or online! (LGfL)
At this time of year, schools are always considering how to run Christmas performances safely, whether in terms of photo & filming permissions, fitting people in the hall (or socially distancing them if they are allowed back in at all), working out how to include children who mustn’t be photographed to keep them safe, stopping parents sharing images of other children, and so on.
Find a printable poster here: https://safeblog.lgfl.net/2020/11/what-goes-on-in-nativity-stays-in-nativity/
If your Christmas show is going to be online or a hybrid, there is a checklist of things to think about here: https://safeblog.lgfl.net/2020/11/what-goes-on-in-nativity-stays-in-nativity/
Cybersecurity and Schools
Cyber security webinar replay (The Key)
A few week's ago The Key's Governor Hub presented a webinar with The Harris Federation's CEO, Sir Dan Moynihan where he talked about the £3-million ransomware on attack on their schools in March 2021.
In the webinar Sir Dan tells Neil Collins about what he's learnt from the experience and what other schools or trusts should do to ensure they too can withstand an attack.
The webinar is now freely available to view on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/oS2uyMwNyaE
You can find further resources on The Key/GovernorHub here: https://webinars.governorhub.com/cyber-site
File on 4: Held to Ransom (BBC)
A related BBC radio programme also covered the attack on Harris' Federation's schools.
Cyber-criminals infiltrated the Harris' systems, probably through a phishing email, and encrypted everything of value it can find. The trust has been forced to shut down its entire computer network to prevent any further damage – with huge consequences. Nothing works. No whiteboards and no computers, electronic doors are jammed, CCTV is down, and registers are inaccessible.
Held to Ransom is the inside story of a cyber extortion attack by Russian hackers that plunged a group of UK schools into a crisis. Will they pay the multi-million pound ransom, or lose their data?
Listen to the programme here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xs0h
Download the transcript: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/fileon4/PAJ_2707_PG10_Held_To_Ransom.pdf
What is a phishing attack?
In November 2021 alone, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) removed 68,000 scams from the internet.
'Phishing' is when criminals use scam emails, text messages or phone calls to trick their victims. The aim is often to make you visit a website, which may download a virus onto your computer, or steal bank details or other personal information.
Schools often receive hundreds of emails each day, and phishing emails can be difficult to spot. Sometimes it is the lack of sophistication, sometimes the sophistication,
Whilst all school systems can be compromised, attackers can often make use of generic systems like hotmail. This is one reason why everyone officially associated with the school, should be using the school email address for their communications and not a personal email. This includes governors who may not currently have a school email address.
See also: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams
Phishing emails by post
Interestingly, a few months ago my mum received a phishing email in the post.
A brown envelope arrived addressed to my late father, who had been dead for ten years. You can imagine how that felt. She couldn't bear to open it for several days and when she did there was a single piece of paper with the usual 'we've two million GBP pounds to give away...'
Surprisingly, given the letter had been posted, the writer asked my mother to get in touch by email address.
I contacted Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, and found out that this wasn't their first report.
My mum has no internet, smartphone or email, but was still able to be contacted by cyber-criminals. Remember to raise awareness with your friends and family, even if they're not online.
Action Fraud can be contacted here: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Report issues to Action fraud
You can report suspicious texts you have received but not acted upon, by forwarding the original message to 7726, which spells SPAM on your keypad.
You can report suspicious emails you have received but not acted upon, by forwarding the original message to report@phishing.gov.uk
If you have provided personal or financial details as a result of a suspicious message, or lost money because of a scam, you should report it to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040
Safeguarding.Pro Members' Call
We had a terrific live Member's Call recently, after an embarrassing start where I forgot to switch on the microphone!
A lot of great questions were asked in this live session and topics included:
• Peer-on-Peer abuse in Primary Schools
• Risk assessments for sexual violence and sexual harassment
• Sharing safeguarding information and GDPR
• Fabricated illness/Perplexing Presentations
Members of Safeguarding.Pro can access a replay of the session here: https://www.safeguardinginschools.co.uk/products/safeguarding-pro-resources/categories/2149313100/posts/2153998417
This was the first Member Call and after the very positive feedback, we'll definitely be doing it again in January 2022.
If you are not already a Safeguarding.Pro member, you can join us here: joinsafeguarding.pro
The current membership fee is £149.97+vat per year.
Facebook Live: Helping parents keep their children safe online (LGFL)
Monday 20th December 2021 at 7pm
LGfL, The National Grid for Learning, are holding a Facebook Live aimed at helping parents and carers supporting their children to stay safe both online and beyond. The 'live' will highlight controls etc on new devices and take a look at other areas like bullying, Child Sexual Exploitation, Child Criminal Exploitation.
Mark Bentley, Safeguarding & Cybersecurity Manager at LGfL says, 'In a similar vein to previous years' events, we have a couple of cool guests but as yet unconfirmed so I can't say who'. Exciting!
Mark has created an editable letter for schools to send out to parents and carers which you can download here: https://bit.ly/safexmasletter21
You can find out more and register here: https://www.facebook.com/lgfldigisafe/posts [NB Filtering in schools can affect Facebook links.]
Christmas and New Year
Our office will be closed from Friday 17th December 2021 at 12 noon and re-open on Tuesday 4th January 2022 at 10am.
Thank you to all our team for their fantastic work over the last year: Kate, Chiara, Holly and Emma.
The Safeguarding Briefing will be back on Monday 10th January 2022.
Thank you for all your work keeping children safe, not just in the UK, but also to colleagues across the world who read this Safeguarding Briefing.
Have a good Christmas break and let's be ready to tackle whatever the New Year brings.
Forthcoming Events
Advanced Safeguarding for DSLs
This is a four-session course for DSLs over a full-day. The course is offered live and as a recorded replay. When the course is live, there are plenty of opportunities to contribute with observations, questions or answers. As a recording, the interactions from other people are included and feedback notes that this makes it feel like you are not on your own.
"I came to a session in Birmingham back in 2019 (the day after the GE I think) and it was superb. Today [online] was just as good, if not better. The use of video mixed with live speaking was excellent and goes way beyond what other safeguarding courses provide. You've been there and done it, and your openness with your own story is inspirational."
LIVE ONLINE Tuesday 16th November 2021 BOOK NOW
LIVE ONLINE Thursday 20th January 2022 BOOK NOW
...and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your convenience BOOK NOW
Whole School Safeguarding CPD Online Session
In this two and half hour online presentation aimed at staff in all roles, specialist safeguarding consultant, Andrew Hall, explores important aspects of safeguarding in schools including child protection, learning from case studies and the latest version of Keeping Children Safe in Education.
"I would like to extend my thanks to Andrew for his fantastic online training. It was filmed so well - almost as if he were here with us! We were kept engaged throughout and felt so well informed - a huge thank you. It was a real success, and we look forward to booking you again in the future - with the staff team saying it was the best safeguarding training they have ever had. We really appreciated Andrew's real-life storytelling and the way such sensitive information was shared - it was excellent training."
You book your online session here: https://cpd.safeguardinginschools.co.uk/product/whole-school-safeguarding-course-online/
Until next time, keep safe and thank you for all the work you're doing,
Andrew Hall,
Specialist Safeguarding Consultant,
Success In Schools Ltd.
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