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Safeguarding Briefing - 13th June 2022
Dear Colleague,
Safer Recruitment: Searching an online presence
The latest update to Keeping Children safe in Education for September 2022 says that schools 'should consider carrying out an online search' for shortlisted candidates.
Personally, I think that applicants ought to be made aware that schools 'should consider carrying out an online search'. These searches should only refer to publicly available information, and would probably on be made on the main social media platforms. Even so this would be a potentially time-consuming task because you would have to identify the right person. I quickly searched on 'Andrew Hall' on the following social media:
- 73 Andrew Hall's on Facebook (none of them were me)
- 2900+ professionals named Andrew Hall on LinkedIn (I'm not on LinkedIn)
- 28 Andrew Hall's found on Twitter (I don't have an account)
I think this means that in order to be more transparent, schools would have to ask each shortlisted candidate for their usernames on platforms that they use (if they are public). This is likely to prompt them to review what they've said or make their accounts private. So, if they are happy to have an online presence and identify it to you (especially as people may use anonymised usernames) then the interview panel could ask questions about what they have found.
A social media account can be a huge benefit. I encourage people to have a professional presence online which acts as their 'portfolio'. (In fact my son's twitter account got him a significant job, after he put work into demonstrating ability in his field and he was able to connect with the 'right' people).
I wonder what thoughts you might have on this?
Changing for PE and swimming
A few questions have come up recently with regard to children and changing, whether in school or in swimming pools.
The NSPCC has updated guidance around changing rooms here: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/schools/safeguarding-considerations-changing-rooms
Further information can be found here from the Child Protection in Sport unit: https://thecpsu.org.uk/resource-library/best-practice/safe-use-of-changing-facilities/
Safeguarding Quiz App
'School Staff Safeguarding Quiz' is a simple tool to help schools review their knowledge of key safeguarding concepts and help them improve.
The app will be updated to align with KCSIE 2022 and now has new content and more quizzes than ever before.
You can find out more information here: www.sssq.co.uk
Get your own copy of the Safeguarding Briefing
Simply go to: www.safeguardingbriefing.co.uk
Safeguarding Policy: PACE Code C - Appropriate Adults
Following on from the publication of the KCSIE (2022), Louis Donald, Director of Safeguarding at Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust, has helpfully put together the wording for a section about the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) CODE C to include in a safeguarding and child protection policy.
Louis has been kind enough to share it with us. You can download the document here: https://6282.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/PACE+Code+C+section.docx
Safeguarding.Pro Member Call
The next member call will be on Wednesday 29th June 2022. If you are an existing member. please go to: http://safeguarding.pro/membercalljune2022
Not yet a member? You can join us here: http://joinsafeguarding.pro
You can ask a question or raise a topic for the call here: Ask a Member Call Question
Confidentiality
Discussing pupils on the train leads to suspension of DSL
A school's Designated Safeguarding Lead was suspended this week after being overheard by a journalist on a busy commuter train discussing pupils and their safeguarding and mental health needs. The senior leader's role and school was easily identified from their visible lanyard.
It is of course essential to maintain confidentiality at all times and to be aware of appropriate places to have discussions about pupils.
In this particular case, the story was broken by a journalist who had the means to publicise the safeguarding breach, but on how many occasions might this have happened before.
Outstanding schools downgraded for safeguarding failures
There is a lengthening list of schools previously graded Outstanding, that have been moved to Inadequate because of identified issues with safeguarding.
Reasons have included poor safeguarding knowledge by governors, limited awareness by staff of safeguarding topics, child protection issues not being referred to children's services and errors in the single central record.
For me, I think the reason is often that many of these downgraded schools have not been inspected perhaps for ten years or more. In one case, the school hadn't been inspected since 2006.
This is before to the publication of Keeping Children Safe in Education for the first time in 2014. So much has changed in safeguarding expectations, that it is often complacency that is the greatest safeguarding risk.
- Some phrases from inspection reports include:
- Leaders’ processes for safeguarding are weak
- Neither senior leaders nor the trustees check thoroughly on the work of the designated safeguarding leads
- This means that leaders are not able to ensure that the safeguarding processes leaders use are effective
- However, [school leaders] are not aware of the detail contained within safeguarding statutory guidance
- [School leaders] have not ensured that they have conducted appropriate safeguarding checks on all governors
- Safeguarding records are not sufficiently clear or detailed to enable effective safeguarding work to take place
- There are gaps between what senior leaders think is happening in respect of safeguarding and what is actually the case
Watchsted
A useful tool to analyse Ofsted reports is Watchsted. You can find it here: https://www.watchsted.com/
Forthcoming Events
Implementing the role of the Senior Mental Health Lead (DfE Course Code SMHL105)
This is our DfE Quality Assured course for Senior Mental Health Leads. The course is self-paced learning using the resources in our SMHL.Pro Hub. The course cost £397+VAT, some schools are eligible for a grant to cover this cost.
For more details, go to: https://www.smhl.pro/course
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 Thursday 16th June 2022 BOOK NOW (NOTE THIS IS THE LAST COURSE FOR THIS ACADEMIC YEAR)
...and available online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your convenience BOOK NOW
LIVE ON LOCATION remember that you can book Andrew to visit your school, cluster or MAT to share his DSL course. Please contact us for details and bookings.
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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