Safeguarding Newsletter Sept. 22
Incyte Safeguarding Update – September 2022
Welcome to this autumn 2022 edition of the Incyte safeguarding update. How quickly the summer break passes as we move from excessive and unusual heat in the UK to the colourful delights of autumn. Embracing the seasons can be a useful mindfulness approach for us all.
The changes for September 2022 in Keeping Children Safe in Education are now with us and, together with updates to Ofsted guidance, we cover both in this edition. We have also included new items and publications and websites to support your practice in and with schools, colleges and other organisations. We hope that all of this is useful and of interest.
We hope that the autumn starts well for you all and let’s hope that Covid remains under control so that we can all support those in our care both freely and with confidence.
Safeguarding updates
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) – September 2022
The Department for Education (DfE) has published an updated version of its statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance for schools in England. This came into force on 01 September 2022. Annexe F of the new guidance sets out the changes made, including: a new paragraph on domestic abuse added to the list of safeguarding issues all staff should be aware of, new information on the importance of schools talking to parents about children's access to online sites when away from school, and a new paragraph highlighting the importance of ensuring that children understand that the law on child-on-child abuse is there to protect them rather than criminalise them.
The NSPCC has published a briefing which provides a useful summary of the updated strategy safeguarding and child protection guidance for schools in England, Keeping Children Safe in Education.
The KCSIE September 2022 DfE link is:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2
Ofsted updates
School Inspection Handbook update
A new inspection handbook came into place in September 2022. The section on safeguarding is worth a refresh for us all.
Safeguarding in childcare settings
Ofsted has republished their guidance for childminders, nannies and day care providers in England on the requirements that must be met to provide appropriate care. Requirements include: children are cared for and kept safe from harm; there needs to be a written safeguarding policy (not applicable to nannies); no one caring for children or on the premises is under the influence of drugs or alcohol; children's behaviour is managed in a suitable way, free from corporal punishment.
UPDATED Guidance for safer working practices (February 2022)
An update of the 'Guidance for Safer Working Practice for professionals working in education settings' was published in February 2022, in consultation with representatives from Child Protection in Education (CAPE), local authorities and other stakeholders. It incorporates both the GSWP Covid addendum (2020) and KCSIE expectations around low level concern reporting. This (non-statutory) guidance is helpful when developing a staff code of conduct policy and making expectations clear in order to protect all.
Here is the link for the document:
In addition, the Safer Recruitment Consortium offers a range of training and useful documents - see their website for these:
https://saferrecruitmentconsortium.org/
Together we can tackle child abuse
Useful guidance and reminders from the DfE on safeguarding vigilance – ABC code of spotting abuse or neglect through three key areas: appearance, behaviour, communication. There is a set of very useful videos which can be shared with staff.
https://tacklechildabuse.campaign.gov.uk/
Safeguarding in the news
Safeguarding Practice Reviews
Since the last newsletter, there have been a number of safeguarding practice reviews. The detail in these reminds us of the need for continued vigilance and accurate reporting systems for all staff.
The 'Kingfisher' review reflects on the learning from two cases, 'Lucy' and 'Mia':
https://stscp.co.uk/about-stscp/key-documents/child-safeguarding-practice-reviews/
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough review outlines the case of Stephen, a 12-week old baby who died from injuries sustained in ongoing, physical abuse. His mother’s partner (who was not Stephen’s biological father) has been found guilty of his murder.
One in three trafficked children go missing from local authority care
A new report from ECPAT UK (Every Child Protected Against Trafficking UK) and Missing People finds that one in three (378 of 1,231 – 31%) trafficked children went missing from local authority care in 2020, which is a rise of 25% (24.9%) since 2018, when last reported.
Click on the embedded link above to read this report and to use it in making staff aware of the need for extra vigilance of these already vulnerable students.
Child Q Is What Happens When Black Girls Are Robbed Of Their Youth
This is a link to an article about Child Q – it is written by Gulshan Kayembe’s daughter (Gulshan is one of Incyte’s most experienced and highly regarded consultants). It is an article which prompts us all to thinks about the key issues of bias and safeguarding for all.
Gulshan states: ‘I rather agree with her (looking at it from a black perspective); there is a need for schools to think about how they work with the police and the extent to which they are educating the police’.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/child-q-black-girls-adultification
Useful items for sharing with schools and other organisations
After school and out of school clubs and safeguarding
Parents/ carers and teachers are encouraged to look for a club, sport, activity and coach that takes the safety and wellbeing of children seriously. Always check whether the club or organisation is accredited or otherwise affiliated to a body (for example, a sports governing body or national voluntary sector) as this should mean they have the right safeguarding policies and procedures in place. Ask to see them!
Every child and young person has a right to have fun and enjoy taking part in activities without the risk of being harmed or abused.
The following three pieces of information relate to keeping children safe in after school clubs. We have covered this as an area previously, but it remains a key area of education for professionals, parents and children alike.
· The BBC reports the amount of reports of abuse in after school clubs
The BBC has found through a Freedom of Information request that more than 80 safeguarding referrals were made about after school clubs in the past five years in England and Wales. These included allegations of sexual abuse, neglect, physical harm, unexplained bruising and incidents involving children who had soiled themselves.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61325477?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
· ‘Safe to play’ campaign
The following information looks interesting for organisations working with young people and their parents/ carers.
Sheffield Safeguarding Children and Adult Partnerships, in collaboration with the national child safeguarding charity NWG, have launched a ‘Safe To Play’ Campaign, providing advice to parents and carers before they let their children attend sports or other physical activity clubs. Sport England has collaborated with the national charity the NWG Network and the Lawn Tennis Association to develop a new safeguarding in sport campaign utilising augmented reality technology to help deliver key messages to parents, sports coaches and children about how to keep safe in sport.
The ‘Safe To Play’ campaign aims to provide local sport and physical activity clubs and coaches with FREE pocket-sized cards to distribute to their members, players, parents and guardians – https://stop-cse.org/tackling-cse-in-sports
These cards, when scanned using a smartphone or tablet, will act as pocket reminders by calling up a range of engaging digital resources, including dramatised videos telling one family’s story of abuse in sport, video guides on how to identify the signs of abuse, top tips on how to stay safe in sport, and questions to ask when selecting a club or coach.
· DfE guidance
There is also useful guidance from the DfE to support parents in keeping their children safe in out of school settings:
Online safety resource
NSPCC Learning and the National Crime Agency - Child Exploitation and Online Protection (NCA-CEOP) - have redeveloped and updated the e-learning course ‘Keeping Children Safe Online’. The course comprises seven online modules including information on how children use the internet and the risks related to internet use. There are also updates on new trends and the latest government guidance.
There is a fee for this course per capita.
Ofcom has also published an interesting report, Children and Parents: media use and attitudes report 2022, detailing the higher instance of online vs offline bullying.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2022/threat-of-online-bullying-greater-than-offline
Online safety SEND resources
Childnet, a UK based charity in the UK Safer Internet Centre, has released new resources around online safety to support young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) aged 11 and over. The resources cover topics such as healthy relationships, digital well-being and online pornography. Each topic contains three lessons and films for educators and those working with young people to initiate discussion and help young people navigate online spaces.
https://saferinternet.org.uk/blog/resources-to-support-young-people
Digital wellbeing hub
Digital wellbeing can be affected by many things, such as how long we spend on devices, how we behave online, how we interact with others, how others interact with us, what we expose ourselves to, what we are influenced by and how we use technology to achieve desired outcomes. Much like general well-being, it can contribute to other areas such as our overall physical and mental health.
SWGfL has launched its digital wellbeing hub with a wealth of resources to support professionals in supporting both staff and students in this. This guidance aims to assist professionals, parents and carers in supporting children's well-being online. It looks at the impact of exposure to abuse or online harm on a child's digital well-being and provides information on the role of digital technologies in relation to welfare.
https://swgfl.org.uk/magazine/introducing-our-digital-wellbeing-hub/
https://swgfl.org.uk/topics/digital-wellbeing/
Safeguarding in schools
SecEd has published an interesting article on the role that building a community of belonging in schools can play in safeguarding vulnerable children from exploitation. The piece highlights the importance of creating an environment where children feel safe, nurtured, and emotionally satisfied so that misbehaviour can be identified before it escalates, learning can occur, and positive social connections can be made.
‘Commission on Young Lives’ and the call for an end to the ‘exclusions culture’
Commission on Young Lives has published a report which looks at how thousands of vulnerable children are falling through gaps in the education system putting them at risk not only of low attainment but also serious violence, county lines, criminal exploitation and grooming. It calls for a new era of incentivising all schools to become more inclusive and makes a series of recommendations for how schools can be supported to divert vulnerable teenagers away from crime and exploitation and enable them to thrive.
Outdoor education and educational visits
The Outdoor Education Advisors Panel provides guidance, activities and training to support outdoor learning and educational visits
Consent
The Schools Consent Project is a charity dedicated to educating and empowering young people to understand and engage with the issues surrounding consent and sexual assault. Their volunteers lead workshops around the legal definitions of consent and assault in secondary schools and youth groups. One of Incyte’s consultants attended an event at which they presented and was impressed by the quality of the presentation and the information given.
https://www.schoolsconsentproject.com
Search and screening
The DFE have just published the following document to support educational settings in searching and screening.
Deborah Wring, Incyte Safeguarding Specialist. September 2022
Update of Incyte safeguarding work in all types of schools, multi academy trusts, colleges, learning centres, alternative provisions and facility management companies.
We conducted safeguarding audits in over 200 settings in the last academic year and awarded over 50 Platinum plus, Platinum and Gold awards. We are privileged to see the best and most innovative practices and the dedication that safeguarding teams are providing day in and day out across England, Scotland and Wales. We learn and are then able to share with others the practice we see. Yet still, there is an alarming, growing culture of abuse between children and by adults in gangs and in communities and this is fuelled by social media. KCSIE urges better joined up work from agencies such as police and social services which are severely stretched and for schools to educate parents more in terms of the dangers of social media. Our vigilance is paramount to help ensure that these behaviours do not become normalised. We thank all of our colleagues who work in schools and welcome any news that you would like to share in our next newsletter.
We have recently associated ourselves with an organisation called Safeguarding Network. They provide an enormous amount of guidance free of charge and an excellent range of training courses. Please do go to their website and have a look. Safeguarding Network - confidence in safeguarding
Incyte now has a new dedicated Safeguarding website due to the significant increase in this aspect of our work. Again, we are always looking for blogs, news items to share with our readers so please do feel free to let us know about the work that you are doing or any good news stories!
Incyte2Safeguarding (incyteinternationalsafeguarding.com)
We at Incyte, wish you well for this next academic year whatever your role or setting.
Caroline Mckee
Incyte Director for safeguarding
carolinem@incyteinternational.com
07980 254118