Safeguarding is a crucial element of every organisation’s policy. For organisations that provide educational programmes for children and young people, it is important to have a solid understanding of what you need to do to ensure anyone under your care is kept safe, regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.
Remember that everyone who works with children and young people are responsible for their safety. As forms of technology and communication keep evolving, it is important that your policy is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
LOtC Quality Badge Advisor, Andy Taylor, shares five helpful tips for ensuring effective safeguarding in your organisation.
1. Your policy and procedures need to be understood by all of your staff. Keep records of staff induction and training. Repeat and refresh training at regular intervals.
2. Don’t say / think “Safeguarding is just the visiting school’s responsibility.” It’s not – you have a role to play as well. That statutory guidance applies to you as well as visiting schools.
3. Safer Recruitment – a set of practices, from the NSPCC, to help make sure your staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children and young people – require vetting checks of some staff roles, but not others. It’s complicated but governments across the UK do provide clear guidance. Please click the following links to see the guidance for each government: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. All roles can be asked to undertake a basic check in all UK countries. Some roles require enhanced or more detailed checks. Safer Recruitment is about more than just vetting checks. Ensure senior staff involved in recruitment are competent – lots of training is available in on the NSPCC Learning’s website on what ‘Safer Recruitment’ involves.
4. Statutory guidance requires you to have staff that are competent at all levels of the organisation. You need a staff member who is designated as the ‘Senior Lead’ for safeguarding and you need board members or trustees at the highest level who are also competent.
5. Consider applying for the LOtC Quality Badge, if your organisation doesn’t already have it. The award provides a helpful framework for your organisation to ensure your policies are robust and up to date. The LOtC Quality Badge not only gives schools and educational settings peace of mind that your policies and procedures have been thoroughly assessed, but it also gives your staff the opportunity to get up to speed and feel confident in their responsibilities. For more detailed information and guidance, see the statutory guidance – and the NSPCC have lots of free guidance and provide training.
