Safeguarding
20 articles
Managing safeguarding
- Child protection concern forms Take a look at example safeguarding forms for recording child protection concerns and disclosures, from a local authority and schools. Plus, find a template spreadsheet you can download and use to track concerns and referrals in your school.
- Conducting 'safe and well' checks Find out about conducting home visits to check on pupils’ welfare. Understand when and how to conduct ‘reasonable enquiries’ into a child’s whereabouts before removing them from the school roll.
- EYFS safeguarding and welfare checklist Use our checklist to help you make sure you're fulfilling the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework 2023.
- How to encourage the reporting of sexism and sexual harassment Start building a culture where all pupils feel comfortable raising concerns about sexism and sexual harassment. Encourage pupils and staff to call out unacceptable behaviour and explain what you mean by a 'zero-tolerance' approach.
- How to prevent child-on-child abuse Understand what child-on-child abuse is and steps you can take to reduce the risk of it happening in your school. Find guidance and resources, and know where to go for extra support.
- Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE): September 2023 changes An updated version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) will come into force on 1 September. Understand the changes and what your next steps should be.
- Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE): summary Read the key points in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2023 and know where to look for information on specific areas of safeguarding in the statutory guidance.
- Managing safeguarding allegations against staff From the reporting process to recording the relevant information, know where to go to find the information you need when dealing with allegations of abuse made against staff members, including those you don't directly employ.
- Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools: summary Be clear on the key findings from Ofsted's sexual abuse review, and what it recommends you should do, so you can get up to speed.
- Online safety assembly resources With children spending more time online, it’s vital that they know how to stay safe. Find examples of assembly plans based on the themes from Safer Internet Days, such as online safety and online identity.
- Online safety: how to review your approach Find out how to audit your approach to pupil online safety to make sure it complies with DfE statutory guidance.
- Online safety: requirements and guidance Understand what arrangements you should have in place to keep pupils safe online, including appropriate filtering and monitoring systems. Get further resources to help you manage online safety in your school.
- Recording safeguarding information: guidance and templates Understand what safeguarding information you need to record. Use our templates to keep an up-to-date record of all safeguarding concerns raised, including child protection and general safeguarding concerns, and allegations involving staff.
- Role of the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) Understand the DSL's responsibilities, what training they need and what to consider when determining how much time your DSL needs for their role.
- Safeguarding audit Audit your current safeguarding arrangements to make sure you're up to date with the latest statutory safeguarding guidance, and in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2023.
- Safeguarding: staff survey Share our survey with staff to get their views on your school's safeguarding training and procedures.
- Safeguarding training requirements All staff should have safeguarding and child protection training. Find out what this should include, and how this differs for the DSL, headteacher, governors and volunteers. Use The Key Safeguarding to help you save time and stay compliant.
- Start of term safeguarding: signs to spot Get back into your safeguarding role and learn what signs to look out for at the start of term, as pupils come back to school after the holidays. Find tips to help support pupils, families and staff.
- Supervision meetings for EYFS staff Early years providers must arrange supervision for staff who work with children. Find guidance from the EYFS framework on these arrangements, and see examples of supervision policies from other schools.
- Visitor safety and safeguarding protocols Understand what to include in your safeguarding and safety protocols for visitors. Plus, see examples of other schools' visitor policies and protocols to help develop your own.
14 articles
Safeguarding checks and the SCR
- Childcare disqualification requirements Read our one-page summary of the childcare disqualification requirements and download a copy to share with your colleagues.
- Childcare disqualification requirements Understand childcare disqualification, who it applies to and how to conduct a disqualification check.
- DBS and other required checks for governors and trustees Find out what checks are required for governors, members and trustees, so you can make sure your school is compliant with the latest statutory safeguarding guidance.
- DBS checks: contractors Get to grips with when contractors need a DBS check and whether you're responsible for doing the check. Download our template letter of assurance to make sure external employers have carried out the right check.
- DBS checks: renewals DBS checks don't routinely need to be renewed. Find out when you should ask staff and volunteers to have a new check.
- DBS checks: summary of requirements Download our summary table to quickly identify who needs which type of DBS check. Use our template risk assessment to decide whether to accept an existing DBS certificate, and find guidance on staff starting before their check comes through.
- DBS checks: volunteers You should carry out a risk assessment and use your professional judgement to determine what checks are needed for volunteers. Use our template to save you time creating your own.
- DBS checks: work experience providers The requirements for carrying out DBS checks on individuals supervising work experience depend on whether pupils are over or under 16. Read our summary to get to grips with these requirements.
- DBS checks: work experience students Understand when work experience students will require a DBS check, the level of check needed and who is responsible for carrying out the checks.
- Regulated activity in schools Schools must make sure that individuals in regulated activity are not barred from working with children, by carrying out a barred list check through the DBS. Read about what counts as regulated activity in a school, and what the exceptions are.
- Section 128 checks Make sure you know who needs a section 128 check under the latest safeguarding guidance and how to carry one out. Understand what the check looks for and why it's important.
- Self-declaration form: template and guidance Use our template to help you collect self-declarations from shortlisted candidates during your recruitment process – you can adapt it based on the role you're recruiting for. Find out how to manage self-declarations appropriately.
- Single central record: monitoring Use our checklist to save you time when monitoring your school's single central record (SCR).
- Single central record: requirements and template Save time and stay compliant by using our single central record (SCR) template. Find a summary of what must be recorded and which staff the document must cover, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance.
7 articles
Specific safeguarding issues
- Child-on-child sexual abuse: how to respond Learn how to manage reports of child-on-child sexual violence and harassment in your school. Use our risk assessment to help you with your next steps, and display our poster so all staff know what to do if a child makes a disclosure.
- How to organise pupil collection arrangements There are no laws on who can and can't collect pupils from school, or the age at which children can walk home alone. It’s up to you to decide how you want this to work in your school. Use our article to help you.
- School lettings: safeguarding Find out who's responsible for making sure safeguarding arrangements are in place when letting school premises to third parties, including PTAs. Be clear on where you stand with DBS checks, the Prevent duty, setting safeguarding expectations and handling any allegations.
- Tackling sexism and sexual harassment: staff self-assessment It's vital your staff can recognise and respond quickly and effectively to incidents of sexism and sexual harassment between pupils. Use our self-assessment tool as a starting point to gauge staff confidence, training needs and next steps in this area.
- Talking to pupils about sexism, sexual harassment and assault It can be tricky to talk to pupils about sensitive topics. Use our guidance to set up discussion groups and get honest reflections from your pupils – it’s one step towards tackling sexism and sexual harassment in your school.
- The Prevent duty Save time by reading our summary of your responsibilities under the Prevent duty in just 1 page. Download a copy to share with colleagues.
- The Prevent duty: your responsibilities All schools must comply with the Prevent duty. Understand your responsibilities, why staff training should be tailored to your school's context and learn how Ofsted inspects the Prevent duty.
