Safeguarding; current issues for East Sussex secondary schools

1. Safeguarding; current issues for East Sussex secondary schools Catherine Dooley SLES June 2017

2. What’s new nationally? • Responses to poor practice in dealing with Child Sexual Exploitation of teenagers, Rotherham • Implications of Jimmy Savile etc. for dealing with ‘historic abuse’ and other high profile cases of ‘abuse of trust’ including in educational settings • Domestic abuse/violence as a key indicator • On-line grooming, sexting and cyber-bullying • Female Genital Mutilation (duty to report concerns) • Forced marriage and Children Missing Education • Combating extremism (duty to report concerns) • Private fostering • Inadequate health care plans

3. Hot topics in East Sussex • Record keeping and chronologies • DSL role and links with pastoral teams/provision • Single Central Record and safer recruitment • Site security – vulnerabilities • Peer on peer abuse, including on-line • Mental health and self-harm • CSE • Neglect • Attendance

4. Where provision is strong…. • leaders and managers are clear about their responsibilities and the steps they are taking to develop good practice beyond the statutory minimum. • Policies are up to date and practice reflects these • Students report feeling safe in school and knowing who to talk to. PSHE builds student resilience • Risk assessments are in place and support schools in decision making • The DSLs maintain an up-to-date and comprehensive record of children where there are concerns. There is evidence of regular file audit and evaluation of cases and interventions

5. Where provision is strong…. • SCR and safer recruitment procedures are compliant with KCSIE and locally developed guidance on best practice • Key senior staff and governors are fully trained in managing allegations • Regular high quality CPD and updates for all staff and governors

6. Identified weaknesses: • Dealing with parental complaints • Record keeping systems including chronologies and oversight by DSL team • DSL – lack of seniority and capacity within the school • PSHE – teaching safeguarding • Communication with other schools where there are siblings /safeguarding issues

7. Weaknesses….. • Health care plans to be improved by the inclusion of specific detail • Vulnerabilities within the school site and monitoring systems for student whereabouts • Schools’ confidence in dealing with peer on peer abuse issues • Better sharing of information regarding chronologies and feedback to the school on outcomes from assessment or meetings with the social worker. • School to be more pro-active in raising concerns about the lack of rigour in CP/CiN plans

8. Evidence for OFSTED • positive culture and ethos where safeguarding is an important part of everyday life in the setting, backed up by training at every level • the application and effectiveness of safeguarding policies and safe recruitment and vetting processes • evidence that staff are aware of the signs that children or learners may be at risk of harm • the timeliness of response to any safeguarding concerns that are raised • the quality of work to support multi-agency plans around the child or learner. • The curriculum for safeguarding

9. Further support • SLES – Safeguarding Practice Reviews, single focus monitoring visits, whole school safeguarding training, Governor Training • A range of model policies and guidance docs on Czone • Enhanced DSL training programme from Sept 2017 • Single Central Record Training • DSL networks within EIPs • DSL Newsletters • LSCB multi-agency training – e.g. Learning from Serious Case Reviews, Neglect • Updated 175 safeguarding audit 17-18

10. Contact details for SLES SLES Senior Manager for safeguarding Catherine.dooley@eastsussex.gov.uk Schools’ Safeguarding Officer Sandi.buttrey@eastsussex.gov.uk Support and Intervention Manager – Safeguarding Victoria.stutt@eastsussex.gov.uk Support and intervention consultant Clare.day@eastsussex.gov.uk