Best Practice

Keeping children safe in education: Key changes and priorities for the year ahead

Safeguarding Pupil wellbeing Mental health Pastoral issues E-safety Legislation and guidance
A new school year is underway and the statutory safeguarding guidance has once again been updated. Elizabeth Rose offers some key points to consider now and in the months ahead
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September is a busy time in the safeguarding calendar. The key document Keeping children safe in education (DfE, 2023) is updated and came into force on September 1. Over recent years these updates have necessitated changes in both policy and practice.

Most schools front-load their safeguarding training, with a substantial session on the first day of term and induction processes to ensure safe working practices are in place for new staff, the bulk of which start in new roles at the beginning of the academic year.

It can feel like a very busy time with a lot to keep track of, but an effective start sets the tone for the rest of the year, and this is crucial in establishing and embedding a culture of safeguarding across the school.

At this point in the school year, most schools will have updated their policies, delivered their initial training and induction sessions, and will be assimilating changes to guidance.

This is a good time to both reflect on how safeguarding processes have worked so far, reflect on the changes to guidance and how to effectively implement them across the year, think about how to ensure professional development is on-going and consider what the priorities are in further developing the culture of safeguarding. Let’s look at some of the emerging priorities this academic year.

 

Filtering and monitoring

The most significant updates to Keeping children safe in education are connected to the filtering and monitoring of IT. Schools are required to rapidly adapt to the changes and emerging risks associated with technology and the guidance has been published to help schools to fulfil their responsibilities in relation to filtering and monitoring and cyber-security. The full manual, Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges (DfE, 2022) provides extensive detail about what should be in place to keep children and the school safe online and this has been referenced in the updated statutory guidance.

What should be in place?

  • Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that all staff undergo safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety which, among other things, includes an understanding of the expectations, applicable roles and responsibilities in relation to filtering and monitoring). Reflect on your safeguarding training so far this year. Are staff aware of school filtering and monitoring systems, how the school works to keep children safe online, and what their responsibilities are in relation to this area?
  • Online safety and the school or college’s approach to it should be reflected in the child protection policy which, among other things, should include appropriate filtering and monitoring on school devices and school networks. The school policy should be reviewed to ensure that filtering and monitoring is sufficiently covered. This is likely to impact other related policies too (IT policy, code of conduct) and it is important that all policies align.
  • The designated safeguarding lead (DSL) should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection (including online safety and understanding the filtering and monitoring systems and processes in place). It is important that the DSL understands what should be in place and can provide effective oversight to ensure that systems meet both technical and safeguarding requirements. It is a good idea for the DSL to source training in this area, as well as using the digital and technology standards referenced above to assess provision.

The suggestion within KCSIE that schools should carry out an annual review of their approach to online safety is not new, but the updates around filtering and monitoring guidance feed into this and provide additional information and pointers that will make the annual review processes richer and more thorough.

It is a good idea to use the filtering and monitoring and cyber-security standards as a tool to self-review systems in place in the first half of this academic year, then use a tool such as 360 Degree Safe from SWGfL later in the year to review the approach to online safety across the board.

 

Behaviour and safeguarding

Behaviour and safeguarding are intrinsically linked. A positive and effective behaviour policy supports a culture of safeguarding and helps to keep safeguarding at the heart of all decisions made about children. Policies and approaches should have already been updated following the amendments to the Behaviour in schools guidance (DfE, 2022) and the Searching, screening and confiscation guidance (DfE, 2023). I wrote in Headteacher Update last year about searching, screening and confiscation. Find this article here.

KCSIE has now been updated to better reflect the wording and terminology used in behaviour guidance and more closely align these documents.

What to do

  • Behaviour policies should reflect the latest iterations of guidance, including all relevant terminology (e.g. “suspensions”).
  • Behaviour policies should link to the safeguarding policy (and vice-versa), and it is important that safeguarding underpins behaviour approaches.
  • Searching, screening and confiscation procedures should also take a “safeguarding first” approach and detailed record-keeping and review processes should be in place.

Much of this work is likely to be in place or underway, so this year is an opportunity to embed changes, seek pupil, parent and staff feedback and hone approaches further.

 

Children regularly absent from school

One of the key updates to KCSIE links to attendance and again, supports in better reflecting other pieces of DfE guidance. The issue of children missing education was already discussed in KCSIE prior to this year, but paragraphs now reference “children who are absent from education, particularly on repeat occasions and/or prolonged periods”.

What to do

The school safeguarding response to children who are absent from education, particularly on repeat occasions and/or for prolonged periods should be explained to staff at induction and all staff should be aware of this. Provide staff with any copies of policies were necessary.

Ensure that staff understand that children who are absent from education, particularly on repeat occasions and/or for prolonged periods may potentially be at greater risk of harm, discuss reasons for this, share what the school does to support these children and make it clear what staff responsibilities are.

Ensure that all staff working with children read Part 1 and Annex B of KCSIE 2023 – this issue is referenced in both sections.

School leaders and the safeguarding team should be familiar with the guidance Working together to improve school attendance (DfE, 2023) and Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance (DfE, 2023).

 

Safer recruitment – online searches

The suggestion to carry out “online searches” on shortlisted candidates was included in previous iterations of KCSIE, but this year’s version also states, “schools and colleges should inform shortlisted candidates that online searches may be done as part of due diligence checks”.

What to do

  • Ensure that your approach is made clear within the recruitment processes and related policies.
  • Have a process in place for carrying out these checks so that they are done fairly and consistently for all shortlisted candidates.

 

On-going developments and continuous improvement

One of the challenges in the world of safeguarding is that risk is constantly changing but – hand-in-hand with this – we are constantly learning, adapting, and honing our approaches to work to keep children as safe as possible.

The updates to guidance this year have not necessarily been on the same scale as previous years, but provide opportunities for reflection, tightening up procedures and improving knowledge and understanding of key areas under the safeguarding umbrella.

With adequate time and consideration given to the points above – particularly the points about filtering and monitoring – all schools can end the academic year in a stronger and safer place and children will be better protected as a result.

Elizabeth Rose is an independent safeguarding consultant and director of So Safeguarding. She is a former designated safeguarding lead. Visit www.sosafeguarding.co.uk and follow her on X (Twitter) @sosafeguarding and find her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/elizabeth-rose

 

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