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Safeguarding Briefing - 20th June 2022
Dear Colleagues,
Child Q - Followup actions (London Borough of Hackney)
In March 2022, the City and Hackney safeguarding Children Partnership published a local child safeguarding practice review which described an incident where officers from the Metropolitan Police had strip searched a 15 year old girl in a school. The report found the search of the girl, known as Child Q, was unjustified and racism was "likely" to have been a factor. The independent review made 14 recommendations to ensure children are protected in future.
The local authority has recently published what steps they have taken so far, to respond to the report. The council’s work covers four key areas: work with police; work with schools; work with the community; and work to make changes to the law.
Key actions included:
Working with police
- The Council is leading the urgent revision of how safer schools police officers work and act in schools; and the protocols around police school visits.
Working with schools
- The Council worked with the school Child Q attended to bring in additional leadership to ensure the school community was fully supported.
- It supported spaces and provided material on talking to and listening to children and staff affected by racism.
- The Council has significantly expanded adultification training and made it available to all schools.
- Train senior school leaders and governors on ‘adultification’.
- Ensure pupil and parent voices are included in governors’ key decisions.
Read the article here: https://news.hackney.gov.uk/child-q-powerful-set-of-actions-undertaken-by-council-to-better-protect-residents-from-harm-and-racism/
Child Q - Followup actions (Metropolitan Police)
The Metropolitan Police have also published a statement recently. They are reviewing policies and procedures and have brought in new measures for increased supervision of searches and closer liaison with parents.
A police spokesperson said, 'To ensure we have very clear control over this type of search, we have introduced a pilot across the Met. As well as requiring a conversation with a supervisor and the presence of an appropriate adult, an inspector must now give authority prior to the search taking place to ensure appropriate oversight.
'We will also ensure a Merlin report is submitted for all such searches, to ensure safeguarding the child is the priority. The Merlin system contains information about a child coming to police attention.
The police in London has delivered more training to their officers about the 'further searches' policy and the need for children to be 'treated as children' and that safeguarding will be considered for those under 18'.
Training in 'adultification' will help police better understand the issues involved; in the first instance this will be for officers in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.
Read the full statement here: https://news.met.police.uk/news/work-progressing-around-child-searches-following-child-q-report-449636
Microaggressions: a staff meeting presentation and guidance (Anna Freud Centre)
A microaggression is ‘an act or a remark that discriminates against one or more members of a minority group, either deliberately or by mistake’.
This training session, from mental health charity, Anna Freud Centre, is an introduction to the topic of microaggressions, and can easily be delivered by someone without much or any prior knowledge of the topic. It was designed to be delivered by a senior leader in a school to all school staff including support staff.
Download the PowerPoint and guidance here:
https://www.annafreud.org/schools-and-colleges/resources/microaggressions-staff-meeting-presentation-and-guidance/
Further Anti-racism Resources (Anna Freud Centre)
The Anna Freud Centre website has resources looking at Anti-racism and mental health in schools. The resources were co-authored by the Anna Freud Centre and anti-racism experts Hon. Stuart Lawrence (the younger brother of Stephen Lawrence) and BLAM UK (Black Learning Achievement and Mental Health).
The set of ten resources can be worked through as a full set, and can also be used individually, depending on which areas are current priorities for your school. There are resources for reviewing and writing policies, improving staff knowledge and confidence, and supporting students and staff who experience racism.
The resources can be found here: https://www.annafreud.org/schools-and-colleges/anti-racism-and-mental-health-in-schools/anti-racism-and-mental-health-in-schools-resources/
Get your own copy of the Safeguarding Briefing
Simply go to: www.safeguardingbriefing.co.uk
Adoption
Adoption UK is the leading charity providing support, community and advocacy for all those whose lives involve adoption, including those parenting children who cannot live with their birth families, and adopted people. The charity connects people, provides support and training and campaigns for improvements to adoption policy and practice.
Adoption UK says, 'At some point, most adoptive families struggle to cope with the impact of their children’s complex histories.' This means it is important that families are able to access effective support, and that schools understand the needs of adopted children.
The charity has a range of resources to support schools and designated teachers for looked after and previously looked after children (including adopted children).
Adoption UK
https://www.adoptionuk.org/
Book: The Trauma and Attachment-Aware Classroom
https://www.adoptionuk.org/news/the-trauma-and-attachment-aware-classroom
Adoption: a children's guide
https://www.adoptionuk.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=398f56e2-ce12-4f8b-a6f0-cf8784c9520d
Poster: Creating accessible learning with trauma informed classrooms
https://6282.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Adoption+UK+Creating+accessible+learning+with+trauma+informed+classrooms.png
NICE Guidance: Children’s attachment: attachment in children and young people who are adopted from care, in care or at high risk of going into care
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng26/
Moving on up! (Childnet)
A lot of work goes into helping young people make a smooth transition from primary to secondary education. To help with this Childnet has created a toolkit with videos and lesson plans for adults helping young people aged 10-13 with the online aspects of moving to secondary school.
See here: https://www.childnet.com/resources/moving-on-up/
Safer Recruitment: online searches
Online searches are a useful addition to the checks we make during our safer recruitment process. There are a number of examples where information has come to light about a candidate which would not necessarily have been found by completing the usual checks.
What to do next
- Include general guidance about online searches in the school's Safer Recruitment policy
- Include in the wording to candidates that online searches may be conducted
- Add a step in the recruitment procedures to prompt that online searches should be made for shortlisted candidates
- Add a tickbox in the front of the personnel file to show that the recommendation to carry out online searches has been complied with
(Thanks to Helen Elliott, Independent Safeguarding and Criminal Justice Consultant, Wardell Associates)
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 Tuesday 13th September 2022 BOOK NOW
...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 for September 2022
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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