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Safeguarding in Schools and Colleges

Training and Support offer to schools, colleges and education establishments on Wirral:

Amanda Waterfall has been appointed by Wirral Safeguarding Children’s Board (WSCB) to offer a safeguarding training and support service.    For the last 2 years Amanda has been supporting the multi-agency training pool and has facilitated training courses such as Supporting Families, Enhancing Futures (SFEF), EHAT training and information sharing and Lead Professional courses.

BOOKING ONTO TRAINING:

The new website went live yesterday, which allows all provider to input their payment details at registration point and the guidance for which can be found here: WSCB Website Training Booking Guidance for Schools and Colleges

Below is the current WSCB Training and Support Service to schools and colleges:

Training venues will be local and all training programmes have been validated by the Safeguarding Board.  Any bespoke requests will be considered and for further enquiries please contact: Amanda Waterfall

FEEDBACK FROM RECENT COURSES AND SESSIONS:

Designated Safeguarding Lead Training:

  • It has given me the tools that will provide confidence to trust judgements and report concerns
  • Better informed regarding pre-work referral e.g. Graded Care Profile
  • ‘Amanda is informative, approachable and just great!’
  • Really pleased with the breadth of knowledge and range of criteria discussed today, thank you!
  • As new to the role, I have come away confident to recognise and respond to disclosures
  • The knowledge of the trainer along with the ability to make you feel like nothing you asked was a silly question was great, really enjoyed it!’

Safer Recruitment:

  • A much clearer understanding of recruiting safely – thank you!
  • Excellent delivery and knowledge
  • Thorough training, that gave a good insight into policy and procedure, as well as best practice
  • A very interesting course and so relevant to my role
  • Clear and concise, excellent info, well presented
  • Use element to support safer recruitment processes

Whole Staff Safeguarding Training:

  • Great to be able to hear others views and share thoughts
  • Lovely trainer and great course with excellent information
  • The course has given me the confidence to carry out what we have learnt
  • The session has given me a strong understanding of how to refer into services
  • Brilliant to refresh my knowledge
  • Excellent trainer and fantastic update training

SAFEGUARDING:

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families and carers has a role to play in safeguarding children. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all professionals should make sure their approach is child-centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as: protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Schools and colleges have a key role in ensuring children and young people are kept safe. School and college staff are particularly important as they are in a position to identify concerns early, provide help for children, and prevent concerns from escalating.

All school and college staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn. To lead the safeguarding function in schools and colleges each school and college has a designated safeguarding lead who will provide support to staff members to carry out their safeguarding duties and who will liaise closely with other services such as children’s social care. Within each school and college there are responsibilities which apply to every member of staff and these include:

Identifying children who may require support from children’s social care or from early help services

  • Knowing how to make a referral into the Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) through the Integrated Front Door
  • Being familiar with the schools safeguarding/child protection policies and procedures and the code of conduct
  • Understanding the role of the designated safeguarding lead and knowing who they are and how to contact them.

Key Documents

There are two key statutory guidance documents for schools and colleges which detail their responsibilities to keep children and safe and to promote their welfare; Keeping Children safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children. Both can be downloaded below:

Keeping_children_safe_in_education_guidance_from_3_September_2018

Working_Together_to_Safeguard_Children  from August 2018

Also included below is a guidance document for safer working practices in schools published by the Safer Recruitment Consortium and recommended by the DfE.

Guidance for safer working practice for those working with children and young people

Safeguarding Policies and Procedures

The Wirral Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB) publishes a full set of multi-agency safeguarding policies and procedures which can be accessed here:  https://www.wirralsafeguarding.co.uk/procedures/

There is also useful information for schools on this website about what to do if you have concerns about a child, and guidance information for key safeguarding issues such as child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, child abuse, radicalisation, e-safety, private fostering etc.

The WSCB publishes a model safeguarding policy for schools which they (and other agencies) can adapt for their own setting. The policy can be downloaded below:

Model Safeguarding Policy 2018-19

Model Safeguarding Policy Appendix 2018-19

Working with schools the WSCB has also developed  a Safeguarding Reflection document which can form the basis of reflection sessions for staff who routinely attend child protection, child in need or team around the family multi-agency meetings. The document can be downloaded here:

wscb-safeguarding-reflection-guidance-for-schools

Section 175 Safeguarding Audit

Schools and colleges have a statutory duty under Working Together to Safeguard Children and Section 175 of the Education Act (2002) to provide assurance to the WSCB about arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Assurance is primarily provided through completion of the annual Section 175 safeguarding audit which is completed online. More information and details of how to register are available here:

https://www.wirralsafeguarding.co.uk/professionals/section-11-175-audit/

Safeguarding Training

The WSCB offers a programme of multi-agency safeguarding training which schools can access. The Board also offers a suite of bespoke safeguarding training courses for schools.  Details of the training and how to book can be found on the website HERE

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