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Safeguarding Briefing - 9th May 2022
Dear ,
Mental Health Awareness Week 2022
9th - 15th May 2022
This week is Mental Heath Awareness Week and a number of organisations have created resources for teachers to use. This year the theme is 'loneliness'.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 toolkit (Anna Freud)
https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/resources/mental-health-awareness-week-2022-toolkit-of-resources/
Mental Health Foundations Resources
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week/resources
Mental Health Awareness Week (Mind)
https://www.mind.org.uk/get-involved/mental-health-awareness-week
Position of Trust Offences to be extended (Home Office)
The government has announced that it will be extending the Position of Trust offences against children. Currently, children aged 16 and 17 are protected from inappropriate relationships from people who care from them in residential care homes, hospitals or educational institutions. The new offence will cover adults in non-statutory setting who are coaching, teaching, training, supervising or instructing in a sport or in religion, as defined in the amended Sexual Offences Act 2003.
The extend position of trust offence comes as a response to allegations of sexual abuse across a variety of religious and faith settings and in sport.
You can read the government fact sheet here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-crime-sentencing-and-courts-bill-2021-factsheets/police-crime-sentencing-and-courts-bill-2021-positions-of-trust-factsheet
Safeguarding.Pro Member Call
Thursday 19th May 2022 4.15 - 5.15pm
You can now register for the next member call by going to: https://www.safeguardinginschools.co.uk/products/safeguarding-pro-resources/categories/2149313100/posts/2157310390?cid=067c567c-e108-40e6-99eb-5ee1145af913
Questions can be sent to: office@safeguardinginschools.co.uk Please put 'Member Call Question' in the subject line.
Self-harm: proposed updated guidance (NICE)
Self-harm is an umbrella term for intentional self-poisoning or self-injury, irrespective of suicidal intent and is one of the most common reasons for hospital attendance. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published draft guidelines for managing self-harm, which will include information for schools.
Self-harm can occur at any age, but there is evidence that there has been a recent increase in self-harm among young people in England. A recent national study reported that 7.3% of girls, and 3.6% of boys, aged 11 to 16, had self-harmed or attempted suicide at some point.
The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) has a useful article about the draft guidance which can be accessed here: https://www.acamh.org/blog/nice-guidelines-for-self-harm-a-new-school-of-thought/
Safeguarding in After-School clubs (BBC)
The BBC reported this week on safeguarding complaints it had discovered as part of an investigation. BBC News discovered 84 referrals made about incidents at after-school clubs in the past five years in England and Wales from freedom of information requests to local authorities.
The BBC article can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61325477
The government website has a guidance document aimed at parents which is also useful for schools and providers. The DfE guidance refers to Out of School Settings (OOSS) which includes 'community and youth centres, sports clubs, and places of worship, to individuals offering tuition in their own home, or providing one to one coaching at a playing field or local park. Fees may or may not be charged. Some settings may be run as businesses.'
The parent guidance contains:
- questions you may wish to ask a provider
- examples of the types of good answers you should expect
- warning signs you may wish to look out for when choosing a provider
The guidance can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-parents-and-carers-on-safeguarding-children-in-out-of-school-settings/keeping-children-safe-during-community-activities-after-school-clubs-and-tuition-questions-to-help-parents-and-carers-choose-out-of-school-settings
Free Cybersecurity Training (LGfL/NCSC)
You may remember earlier in the year, I referred to the £3 million ransomware attack on one of England's largest Multi-Academy Trusts last summer. The story of how this happened is told in a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Held to Ransom which can be heard here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xs0h
LGfL and the National Cybersecurity Centre (part of GCHQ) are offering a free cyber security training programme to raise awareness and help school staff manage some of the key cyber threats facing schools.
The free course, aimed at senior staff and governors, runs on the 6th June and the 6th July 2022 and can booked here: https://booking.lgfl.net/book/add/p/33
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 Thursday 12th May 2022 BOOK NOW
LIVE ONLINE Thursday 16th June 2022 BOOK NOW (NOTE THIS IS THE LAST COURSE FOR 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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