COMPLYING WITH OFSTED SAFEGUARDING REGULATIONS IN PREPARATION FOR YOUR NEXT INSPECTION Mark Blois, Partner 22 September 2011
Agenda 1. Setting the Scene and Coalition Developments 2. Coalition Developments 3. Key Current Guidance 4. Ofsted s approach to inspection of safeguarding 5. Good Practice 6. Current Key Compliance Areas
Laming Report (Round 1) 2003 Lord Laming s report into Victoria Climbie tragedy recommends complete overhaul of child protection system Every Child Matters programme begins Children Act 2004
Laming Report (Round 2) The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report - 2009 58 recommendations relating to leadership and accountability, support for children, inter-agency working, children s workforce and legal framework
Laming (Round Two) One of Lord Laming s recommendations : Ofsted should revise the inspection regime for schools giving greater prominence to how well schools are fulfilling their responsibilities for child protection
New Inspection Framework From September 2009, if school s safeguarding arrangements are judged to be inadequate, then the overall effectiveness of the academy also very likely to be judged inadequate It is Ofsted s view that it is almost always the case that where safeguarding arrangements are inadequate there are also other, significant weaknesses
Coalition Government s New Vision (1) June 2010 Theresa May orders full review of ISA plans disproportionate, burdensome and infringing civil liberties, July 2010 - internal DfE memo announced changes in terminology Pre-11 May 2010 Targets and outcomes Post-11 May 2010 Results and impact Pre-11 May 2010 Five outcomes/ecm Post-11 May 2010 Help children achieve more
Pre-11 May 2010 Integrated working Post-11 May 2010 People working better to provide better services Pre-11 May 2010 Safeguarding Post-11 May 2010 Child protection
Coalition Government s New Vision (2) Munroe Report ordered by Michael Gove Published May 2011 and government responded July 2011 Recommends removal of excessive centrally imposed targets and regulations and provision of more autonomy to practitioners to use and exercise their professional skills and judgement. Government now committed to slashing red tape and placing a greater trust and responsibility on children s service professionals.
Key Current Guidance (1) Key documents include: Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education (2007): Handling Allegations Against Staff Recruitment vetting and barring Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and Managers (2008)
Key Current Guidance (2) ISA Referral Guidance (2010) Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010)
Ofsted and Safeguarding Ofsted currently provides a wide definition based on the Education Act 2002: Safeguarding is not just about protecting children from deliberate harm. It includes issues for schools such as: pupil health and safety bullying and racist abuse harassment and discrimination use of physical intervention meeting needs of pupils with medical conditions providing first aid
Ofsted and Safeguarding (cont) drug and substance misuse educational visits intimate care internet safety issues which may be specific to a local area or population, for example, gang activity school security
New Report (2011) Safeguarding in Schools: Best Practice (September 2011) Based on inspection evidence from 19% of maintained schools inspected between September 2009 July 2010 where safeguarding had been rated outstanding Aims to reassure schools of reasonable approach by Ofsted Safeguarding procedures are good or outstanding in 77% of schools, but in 21% of schools, measures were only satisfactory TES Thousands of heads must boost safeguarding, warns Ofsted
Good Practice (1) High quality leadership and management that makes safeguarding a priority across all aspects of a school s work. Stringent vetting procedures in place for staff and other adults. Rigorous safeguarding policies and procedures in place, written in plain English, compliant with statutory requirements and updated regularly. Child protection arrangements that are accessible to everyone, so that pupils and families, as well as adults in school, know who they can talk to if they are worried.
Good Practice (2) Excellent communication systems with up to date information that can be accessed and shared by those who need it. A high priority given to training in safeguarding, generally going beyond basic requirements. Robust arrangements for site security, understood and applied by staff and pupils. A curriculum that is used to promote safeguarding, teaching pupils how to stay safe, how to protect themselves from harm and how to take responsibility for their own and others safety.
Good Practice (3) Well thought out and workable day-to-day arrangements to protect and promote pupils health and safety. Rigorous monitoring of absence, with timely and appropriate follow-up, to ensure that pupils attend regularly. Risk assessments taken seriously and used to good effect in promoting safety.
Ofsted Ofsted state that the practices set out are not to be seen as a burden, but to be a reasonable and essential part of the fabric of the school. However, changes to approach may evolve during this However, changes to approach may evolve during this academic year.
Ofsted Planned changes to inspections Ofsted s new school inspection framework, due to be implemented in January 2012, is designed to focus on four key areas of inspection: The achievement of pupils at the school The quality of teaching in the school The quality of leadership in and management of the school The behaviour and safety of pupils at the school
Key Current Areas for Compliance 1. Governing Body 2. Policies 3. Designated Senior Person 4. Training 5. Record keeping 6. Single Central Record 7. Evidence can be provided through governing body minutes, reports of governor visits, head s report, school data
1. Governing Body Must show evidence that the Governing Body is aware of and takes seriously its role in overseeing the school s arrangements for safeguarding Must nominate a named governor to support the child protection systems in the school and ensure suitable structures are in place and reviewed annually That governor should meet/have regular discussion with DSP
2. Policies (1) Schools must have an up to date child protection/safeguarding policy in place which has been agreed by the Governing Body and which is reviewed annually It has to be much more than a policy document It has to be much more than a policy document describing the structures in place to manage concerns raised about child abuse must fully acknowledge the broader issues now incorporated under the heading of safeguarding
2. Policies (2) Policy should start with statement of commitment to safeguarding Then detail how the academy sets out to minimise risk of harm to and respond to concerns about pupils Should identify staff who have particular CP responsibilities and make clear that all staff should report concerns to those staff
2. Policies (3) Schools must have a health and safety policy that includes safety within the academy buildings and the range of risk assessments that must be carried out before activities such as educational visits School must have a policy on confidentiality that deals correctly with the management of pupil disclosures to staff SLT must be aware of how to correctly manage allegations of abuse made against members of staff
3. Designated Senior Person (1) All schools must have a Designated Senior Person (DSP) for child protection/safeguarding Must be a member of the SLT DSP takes lead responsibility for child protection issues role is about co-ordination and liaison of child protection procedures as agreed by the Local Safeguarding Children Board.
3. Designated Senior Person (2) Principal and Governing Body must ensure that sufficient time and resources are allocated to allow the DSP to discharge these functions DSP will be interviewed during the inspection Ofsted requires that the DSP will have a deputy to cover the DSP s absence but if both are off site then Ofsted expects that other staff will know how to operate child protection procedures in their absence
4. Training Ofsted will look for evidence that a school has provided staff with adequate safeguarding training DSPs required to attend training for the role and update that training every two years All other staff must update their safeguarding training every three years and it falls to the DSP to ensure that all staff employed by the school are offered an appropriate level of child protection training for their role
5. Record Keeping Ofsted requires evidence of clear record keeping and that child protection records are kept up to date, securely and are shared only on a need to know basis Whenever a referral is made to social services, the school must keep a record of this and any agreed plan of action
6. Single Central Record (1) Schools must maintain a Single Central Record (SCR) of recruitment and vetting checks The person the school identifies as being responsible for entering information onto the SCR must sign and date the register to verify that they have checked the employee or volunteer s details No need to retain documents that are evidence of identity once they have been verified and the SCR contains the name of the person who did so
6. Single Central Record (3) Ofsted will allow correction of a minor administrative error before the final team meeting Administrative errors are: failure to record one or two dates failure to record the name/s of the person/s that carried out the checks individual entries that are illegible
6. Single Central Record (4) one or two omissions where it is clear that the information is already held by the school but the school has failed to transfer over the information in full to the SCR But no allowance will be made, for example, for But no allowance will be made, for example, for breaches to the requirements for the ISA barred list and CRB disclosure
Mark Blois, Partner and Head of Education Browne Jacobson LLP Tel: 0115 976 6087 Email: mblois@brownejacobson.com