Safeguarding Briefing - 4th September 2023
For all Schools
Welcome Back
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to a new school year (I know a few people have been back for a little while, shout out to Leicester city and county!). I hope you were able to have something of a rest. If you travelled near or far, I hope your journeys were tolerable.
Have a good term.
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 was published last Friday with no effective change to the content, so the information I shared in June is still correct. You can download the latest version (with the correct front cover) here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2
Information about the changes to KCSIE 2023 can be found here:
https://www.safeguardinginschools.co.uk/blog/kcsie2023
Ofsted's Education Inspection Framework (EIF) was revised in mid-July 2023. A new section has been added to the framework on evaluating safeguarding culture as part of the Leadership and Management section. I think the most important points made in the additional comments are about listening to the views of learners, making referrals in a 'timely way' and to keep policies, systems and processes under continuous review.
The updated Ofsted EIF can be found here:
School Reprimanded by the Information Commissioner's Office
The Information Commissioner's Office has issued a reprimand to a primary school after information from the school's safeguarding information system was displayed on the classroom's whiteboard. There was also a delaying in reporting the data breach.
The ICO said, 'The investigation found that the school inappropriately disclosed personal data, including special category data, of a sensitive nature in a classroom environment. There were four data subjects affected, three of whom were children.'
Although the school had policies in place regarding data protection, there were not suitably clear about the course of action for employees to adopt to ensure security and confidentiality when sharing personal data internally by email and also when it was appropriate to open emails which contained personal data.
Children who had read the sensitive information were reassured that what they had seen was 'unfortunate' and that if they wanted to talk about the content they were able to do so with the Deputy Headteacher. It was stressed to the children that the content was not to be discussed with their peers.
Following the data breach the school staff have been instructed to only read safeguarding alerts when no children are present or in the vicinity of the classroom and have also been instructed to use "SENSITIVE/HIGHLY SENSITIVE" in the subject line of an email informing the recipient of the nature of the content before it is opened.
Updates for the New School Year - London Grid for Learning
The London Grid for Learning is back this year with some updates to their excellent content. The organization's work has been a staple for us here at Success in Schools so they're well worth looking at. Their updates have been designed to reflect KCSIE 2023's content.
Online Safety Policy and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) Templates
https://safepolicies.lgfl.net/
KCSIE Quizzes
Online Safety Audit
https://onlinesafetyaudit.lgfl.net/
Working Together to Safeguard Children Webinar
On the 20th September the London Grid for Learning will be hosting a webinar aimed at looking towards the proposed changes to WTTSC and their implications, on safeguarding practice. The webinar is free and will be streamed from 15:30. To book please follow the link below:
https://safetraining.lgfl.net/
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Back to School - South-West Grid for Learning
It's the start of a new school year. Across the country millions of children will be returning to thousands of schools, for others it'll be the start of another stage in their lives. As educational professionals we need to be fully on our game not just when it comes to teaching, but also when it comes to safeguarding. The start of the school year, is an excellent time to review processes and put in place new measures when it comes to best online practice. The South-West Grid for Learning has unveiled a whole host of pages aimed at helping you do just that. Please follow the link below to find out more:
Resources - CEOP
Returning to school is a happy time for many. However, we must be mindful that whilst children get back to the classroom their safety once again becomes the responsibility of educational institutions. The same threats that were there in the last days of July, still very much remain, particularly online. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has released a series of pages, over on their site providing training, resources and information to professionals and carers. To find out more please follow the link below:
Forthcoming Courses
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