Best Practice

After the riots: Proactive safeguarding tips

Safeguarding Pupil wellbeing Behaviour Pastoral issues
The recent riots may have left pupils feeling concerned and unsafe. Elizabeth Rose advises how schools can discuss difficult issues with children as part of proactive safeguarding
Image: Adobe Stock

Global, national and local events can have a significant impact on children and after the riots that occurred in cities across England over the summer – sparked by disinformation spread about the murder of three girls in Southport – many children may be feeling concerned about their safety and that of others.

A key aspect of safeguarding is to create routes and spaces for children to raise concerns and discuss how they are feeling, and this extends to events that may not directly impact them as individuals, but influence how they are feeling and how they view themselves and the world. Recent events showed that the promotion of community cohesion, respect and tolerance are more important than ever, alongside the need to identify and respond robustly to any extreme views or indicators of concern.

 

Knowing your community

First, it is important to know your community, your children and your staff well. Schools with a good understanding of their local context and area will be able to judge the level of response required and the likely risks. All schools should understand the picture of radicalisation and extremism, both nationally and in the local area, and have a Prevent Duty risk assessment and critical incident plan (see DfE, 2023) in place to support in safeguarding children, staff and the setting itself.

 

The required skills

Make sure that staff are equipped with the skills to discuss challenging topics. Due to a lack of available time and resources, staff can be asked to deliver challenging content outside their subject area of expertise and facilitate difficult conversations with very little preparation – which can sometimes happen within PSHE lessons, for example.

While there is no silver bullet to create more time and scope for training, it is important to consider how well your staff are equipped to deal with topics that may be emotive or generate polemic and also to actually ask them how confident they are in managing this kind of lesson or series of lessons.

Providing sets of slides and some prepared activities is unlikely to be consistently effective across all classes and groups without ascertaining staff confidence levels and knowledge first and using this information to put robust training in place. It is also a key part of safer working practice – staff should know the boundaries around what to say and what not to say when difficult conversations arise.

 

Safe spaces

A key part of safeguarding culture is to have embedded mechanisms in place for children to report concerns. Create spaces where children can safely express their views, feelings and worries.

Having such spaces – established by setting and upholding a shared vision and set of behaviours for tutor time, assemblies or circle time, for example – supports children to feel that they can share “lower stake” views and opinions in a safe way; it gives them the confidence that they will be listened to and helped if and when they want to share something more difficult.

Thinking about who the trusted adults are for all children is important and considering discussion tasks and personal development activities as part of your overall approach to safeguarding can be helpful. 

Children with additional needs should be suitably supported and the curriculum adapted to meet their needs. It is important to ask children if they feel confident in seeking help throughout the school year too, not just assume that they will because we think methods are in place to help them to do so.

 

Sharing information

You may be considering including a series of lessons or tutor time activities that allow children to discuss recent news events, but these can be tokenistic if topics are only touched on briefly or superficially. Think about ways to share information that isn’t through direct teaching. Consider other areas of school life and how to provide a range of resources and information to children in different ways. 

Think about displays, books that are available in the school library and in classrooms, leaflets, the school website and social media pages, events promoting core values that take place throughout the school year, and communication with parents. A holistic approach is likely to reach more children more meaningfully and have a longer lasting impact.

 

Is training up-to-date?

Discussions around topical or challenging issues can lead to staff noticing things that are of concern or to direct disclosures from children. Ensure that staff have had sufficient safeguarding training to identify signs and symptoms that may be worrying (signs of radicalisation or mental health issues, for example) and reflect on the designated safeguarding lead’s confidence in responding to a variety of areas of concern. Some children and families may have been the targets of violence or threats in relation to the summer riots and some may have been impacted by the riots more generally. We know that children have been arrested for taking part – at the time of writing the youngest to be arrested is aged 11 – and there needs to be a careful and on-going safeguarding response to this issue too.

Online safety

While the online world is a great source of information, it can also be a source of anxiety for children and it significantly fanned the flames in recent unrest. Teaching children to approach online content critically and to seek help (through speaking to a parent, using online reporting tools, or by speaking to a trusted adult) supports them in making safe decisions. Regularly reviewing in-school online activity through effective filtering and monitoring means that children are protected from harmful content on-site. Don’t forget to think about their access to the online world using their own devices during the school day and ensure that this is reflected in your online and safeguarding policies. 

 

Final thoughts

The above points have been written with the recent unrest in mind, but they are all key tenets in supporting the culture of safeguarding within a setting and all points should be embedded within the overall approach to keeping children safe. Schools should be places where pupils can explore their views and feelings in a safe and supported way. Careful consideration of how your school responds to a range of external events will be useful, both now and in the future.  

 

Further information & resources