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Last Safeguarding Briefing for this academic year
This is the last briefing for this academic year. Thank you for being with us. Schools in general, and you in particular, continue to make such a remarkable difference to the young people you support everyday. We feel privileged that we can help you do that, and I feel privileged to have a great team in Chiara, Emma and Hollie to help me to help you: thank you.
If you are moving on or even retiring, thank you for everything you've done to safeguard children and young people in your current work, and I wish you well in your new endeavours and roles.
Schools are continually asked to do more and more, often with less and less and I know that frustration can be hard to bear. You are often one of the few advocates for vulnerable young people, and it is important that your voice continues to be heard. Nothing is more important than making a difference to a child, and sometimes all that means is a smile or kind word, just at the right time. May you have the time over the holiday to rest, to fill up your exhausted batteries, to refresh your tenacity, resolve and impact, and continue your important work of making the world a better place, one child at a time.
We look forward to serving you again in September 2023.
Staff Changes at Success in Schools
As we come to the end of the school year, many of you will be saying goodbye to colleagues.
At Success In Schools we're doing the same. Hollie, who joined us in October 2019 is leaving to take up a full-time post as an art therapist in a London school.
We will be sad to see Hollie go as she brought with her a thoroughness to her work and made a wonderful contribution to our team. Thank you Hollie, we wish you all the best in your continued work to support children and young people.
Helping Children in their Move from Primary to Secondary - Salvation Army
It's that time again. The end of the school year is only a couple of weeks away. For most pupils this period will be time to spend going on holidays either to Europe, further afield or simply relaxing at home. A chance to enjoy warmer climes or hope that the British summer is not too unkind. But for one cadre of pupils it can be an anxious time. I am referring to those currently in Year 6, whose lives will be completely changed on their return to education. For some it will mean leaving childhood friends, for others it will mean the hard challenge of becoming, once again a small fish in a big pond. The Salvation Army has recently launched a podcast series of six to seven minute episodes, focusing on this transition. If you're interested or think someone in your class might be, please click on the link below:
https://www.salvationist.org.uk/resources/discipleship/thesmallfishpodcast
Sexual Health Week 2023 - Brook
It's Sexual Health Week 2023 coming up over at Brook. Brook is an organisation founded in 1964 by its namesake - Helen Brook. The longstanding organisation seeks to provide impactful and confidential sexual health advice. It can sometimes be a difficult topic to approach with a class of pupils. Typically they'll be moving into their last years of compulsory education, and already be armed with a plethora of bravado and questionable senses of humor. Making the area hard to address, particularly if (as many privately will) they hold doubts and insecurities about it. But it is a highly necessary part of education, sending your pupils fully armed with the facts into the wider world is vital to their own lives. This year's theme is 'Playing It Safe' and highlights the impact of sexual education to boosting life chances. If you're interested, please follow the link below:
https://www.brook.org.uk/shw/
Domestic Abuse and Education - National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Domestic abuse has a massive impact on children and young people. Firstly, the presence of domestic violence in the home is a key contributor to undermining the glue that holds a family together. In doing so children and young people are deprived a stable homelife, sometimes leading to increased absenteeism and concerning behaviour. Secondly, and of utmost importance, the trauma generated in an exposed under-18 can seriously affect their mental health leading to reduced outcomes in education. Thirdly it normalises violence within the child or young person's life, affecting their socialisation with others. In all cases it creates an unfathomable impact to the learning outcomes and emotional well-being of pupils. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has recently released a report on this matter. If interested please follow the link below:
https://www.niesr.ac.uk/publications/domestic-abuse-and-schools-evidence-supervision-designated-safeguarding-leads-evaluations?type=report
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ProjectEvolve - SWGfL
It is time to talk again about digital education. Last month saw the release of new research from the Southwest Grid for Learning coming out of their ProjectEvolve. An effort looking at online safety delivery and assessment across schools in England. If you're interested at taking a look at ProjectEvolve and what it entails, please follow the link below:
https://swgfl.org.uk/magazine/project-evolve-the-future-of-digital-education/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuLHqhKL2_wIVCgOLCh2EXACWEAAYASAAEgLZe_D_BwE
Phishing Attacks: Defending your Organisation - National Cyber Security Centre
Last week we discussed the issue of sextortion. The practice of attempting to extort an email recipient, by claiming to possess compromising material of said recipient. This week we're turning our attention to traditional phishing attacks. Phishing scams have been around since the very first emails were being sent, nearly thirty years ago. Although they've evolved in some aspects, they still centre around attempting to trick recipients into clicking on infected links primarily within emails. Phishing emails are sent to personal accounts and organisational accounts indiscriminately, and if not properly defended against they can cause thousands of pounds worth of damage. It is essential that your institution is aware of how to defend itself. In this vein the National Cyber Security Centre has published guidance on this issue. To read more, please follow the link below:
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/phishing
Summer opening hours
Although, we will be open throughout the summer, there will be fewer staff and shorter hours than usual, so please bear with us if we can't reply as quickly as you'd hope. Full service will be resumed on Tuesday, 22nd August 2023 at 10.00am.
Forthcoming Courses
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 offers self-paced learning using the resources in our SMHL.Pro Hub, which is available for 12 months. Each month there is a live online member check-in to catch up with your tutors and each other. 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 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.
Next Advanced Safeguarding for DSLs Course (Online) Wednesday 13th September 2023 10am - 4pm Book Online
The on-demand course is always available and has been updated for September 2023 Book Online
Whole School Safeguarding CPD Online Session for 2022/2023
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.
"In my excitement, I forgot to add our star rating to the Safeguarding training we have just watched. If we could, we would give it 10 stars! That was the best Safeguarding training we have ever had, thank you so much. Feedback from staff has, so far, been overwhelmingly positive…I can't thank you enough."
"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."
Watch extracts from last year's presentation here: https://www.safeguardinglearning.co.uk/findoutmore
You can book your online session here: www.safeguardinginschools.co.uk/availablecourses
Until September, have a lovely break enjoy any adventures you have, travel safely and we'll be back to do it all again next year!
Andrew Hall
Specialist Safeguarding Consultant,
Director, Success In Schools Ltd.
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