Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy

In this document

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and it is the duty of Beckfoot Trust to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (see definition 3:1). This is our core safeguarding principle.

In adhering to this principle, we focus on providing a safe and welcoming environment for all of our children. All of our children have equal rights to support and protection. Effective safeguarding means we must be sensitive to factors, including economic and social circumstances, which can impact children and families’ lives. We recognise that successful outcomes for all children depend on strong multi-agency partnership working across the whole system of help, support and protect our children. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all staff 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. No single staff member can have a full picture of a child’s needs and circumstances. If children and families are to receive the right help at the right time, everyone who comes into contact with them has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action.

A child-centred approach is fundamental to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of every child. All staff should follow the principles of the Children Acts 1989 and 2004. These Acts make clear that the welfare of children is paramount and that they are best looked after within their families, with their parents playing a full part in their lives, unless compulsory intervention in family life is necessary.

Children are clear about what they want from an effective safeguarding system (WTTSC pg13):

• Vigilance: to have adults notice when things are troubling them
• Understanding and action: to understand what is happening; to be heard and understood; and to have that understanding acted upon
• Stability: to be able to develop an ongoing stable relationship of trust with those helping them
• Respect: to be treated with the expectation that they are competent rather than not
• Information and engagement: to be informed about, and involved in procedures, decisions, concerns and plans
• Explanation: to be informed of the outcome of assessments, and decisions and reasons when their views have not met with a positive response
• Support: to be provided with support in their own right as well as a member of their family
• Advocacy: to be provided with advocacy to assist them in putting forward their views
• Protection: to be protected against all forms of abuse, exploitation, and discrimination, and the right to special protection and help if a refugee

Staff working with children should see and speak to the child, listen to what they say, observe their behaviour, take their views seriously, and work with them and their families and the people who know them well when deciding how to support their needs. Staff should also be aware that children may find it difficult to always speak about what they need, what is happening to them or what has happened to them. Legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 must be complied with, including putting special provision in place to support dialogue with children who may not be able to convey their wishes and feelings as they may want to. This might include, for example, those who have communication difficulties, unaccompanied children, refugees, those children who are victims of modern slavery and/or trafficking and those who do not speak English or for whom English is not their first language.

Successful outcomes for children depend on strong partnership working between parents/carers and the staff working with them. Staff should take a child centred approach to meeting the needs of the whole family. In the context of a child-centred approach, parents and carers need to understand what is happening, what they can expect from the help and support provided, what is expected of them and be supported to say what they think. This is particularly important when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, whether the harm is from inside or outside the home including online. Working collaboratively will mean parents and carers have the best chance of making changes, and staff can make fair and accurate decisions about how to support children and keep them safe. While collaborative relationships between staff and, parents and carers are important, the wishes and feelings of the child and what is in their best interest remain central to decision-making.

The four principles below should be read by staff in conjunction with the Family Engagement section of the One Trust Contract to underpin work with parents and carers:

• Staff should build strong, positive, trusting, and co-operative relationships. For example:
  • approaching families and their wider family networks and communities with empathy, respect and compassion
  • avoiding reinforcing family shame, suffering, and blaming
  • using strength-based approaches, working with parents and carers to identify what is working well and how their strengths could support them to effect positive change
• Verbal and non-verbal communication should be respectful, non-blaming, clear, inclusive, and adapted to parents and carers needs. For example, staff should ensure that all materials provided to children, parents, carers, and families are jargon free, developmentally appropriate and in a format that is easily understood. Where appropriate, material provided to children, parents, carers, and families should be made accessible and translated into their first language if necessary.
• Staff should empower parents and carers to participate in decision-making to help, support and protect children. For example:
  • creating a culture of “no surprises”, such as, making parents and carers aware of who will attend meetings and discussions, if the child will be invited to participate and the format of the meeting
  • giving parents and carers adequate preparation at every stage, relevant information, a safe and appropriate environment for participation and suitable access arrangements
  • signposting parents and carers to sources of help and support available locally or through the local authority
• Staff should involve parents, carers and families (or in some instances local communities) in designing processes that affect them, including those focused on safeguarding children. They value their contributions, expertise and knowledge reflecting them in service design and continuously seek feedback from parents, carers, family networks, children, and local communities to inform service improvements. Staff use feedback from parents and carers to reflect on their own practice.

Strong multi-agency and multi-disciplinary working is vital to identifying and responding to the needs of children and families. The following expectations (Working Together 2023) have been developed to underpin this multi-agency working. They apply to all agencies and practitioners involved in safeguarding and protecting children. Specifically, these include police, local authorities, health services, probation services, youth offending services, education providers and childcare settings, and voluntary and third sector organisations. The term practitioners used here refers to all those working in these services and settings.

Multi-agency expectations for direct practice are as follows:

• Collaborate: practitioners working with the same child and family share information to get a complete picture of what life is like for the child. Collectively, they ensure the child’s voice is at the centre and the right support is provided
• Learn: practitioners learn together by drawing on the best available evidence from their individual fields and sharing their diverse perspectives during regular shared reflection on a child’s development, experiences, and outcomes
• Resource: practitioners build strong relationships across agencies and disciplines to ensure they support and protect the children with whom they work
• Include: practitioners recognise the differences between, and are confident to respond to, circumstances where children experience adversity due to economic and social circumstances and acute family stress, and situations where children face harm due to parental abuse and neglect
• Mutual challenge: practitioners challenge themselves and each other, question each other’s assumptions, and seek to resolve differences of opinion in a restorative and respectful way

We work with our local safeguarding partners to promote the welfare of all children and protect them from harm. This includes providing a co-ordinated offer of early help (see section 3) when additional needs of children are identified contributing to inter-agency plans which provide additional support to the child.

All of our staff have an equal responsibility to act on any suspicion or disclosure that may indicate that a child is at risk of harm.

Our strong safeguarding culture ensures that we treat all pupils with respect and involve them in decisions that affect them. We encourage positive, respectful and safe behaviour among pupils, and we set a good example by conducting ourselves appropriately.

Identifying safeguarding and child protection concerns often begin with recognising changes in pupils’ behaviour and knowing that these changes may be signs of abuse, neglect or exploitation. Challenging behaviour may be an indicator of abuse.

All of our staff will reassure children that their concerns and disclosures will be taken seriously and that they will be supported and kept safe.

To support staff in schools, continuous safeguarding training is prioritised to ensure staff have the relevant knowledge and expertise to safeguard all our children. Supervision is also given high priority to support the personal well-being and professional development of staff.

The following safeguarding legislation and guidance has been considered when drafting this policy:

• Keeping Children Safe in Education (2024)
• Working Together to Safeguarding Children (2023)
• What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused (2015)
• The Teacher Standards 2012
• The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
• Section 157 of the Education Act 2002
• The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014
• The Children Act (1989) and (2004)
• Disqualification under the Childcare Act (2006)
• Children and Social Work Act (2017)
• The Domestic Abuse Act 2021
• PACE Code C 2019
• Human Rights Act (1998)
• Equality Act (2010)
• Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges (2023)
• NSPCC – Safeguarding children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
• NSPCC – Safeguarding child protection/deaf and disabled children and young people
• Guidance for Schools and Colleges in relation to Gender Questioning Children
• Sharing nudes and semi-nudes; advice for education settings working with children and young people (March 2024)
• Early Years Framework (January 2024)

This policy is for all employees of the Trust including staff not directly involved with children. It must be understood and followed by those working in our schools including supply staff, volunteers and contractors. Throughout this policy, these roles will be described as ‘staff’.

One of the cornerstones of our safeguarding culture is this policy and the procedures contained within it. This policy applies to all staff, volunteers and trustees, all of whom are trained upon its contents and on their safeguarding duties. We update this policy at least annually to reflect changes to law and guidance and best practice.

This policy should be read alongside our other safeguarding policies, which are set out in Appendix 2: Related Trust Policies

All schools must have a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL). This person must be a member of the school’s senior leadership team and take lead responsibility for child protection. Some of the activities of the DSL can be delegated to Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSL). A DDSL must be trained to the same standard as a DSL and this duty must be explicit in their job description. The lead responsibility for safeguarding cannot be delegated to a DDSL.

For the purposes of safeguarding, a child is anyone under the age of 18. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as (KCSIE 2024, p4):

• Providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
• Protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
• Preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
• Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
• Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Any child may benefit from early help, but all school staff should be particularly alert to the potential need for early help for a child who:

• Is disabled or has certain health conditions and has specific additional needs
• Has special educational needs (whether or not they have a statutory Education, Health and Care plan)
• Has a mental health need
• Is a young carer
• Is showing signs of being drawn in to anti-social or criminal behaviour, including gang involvement and association with organised crime groups or county lines
• Is frequently missing/goes missing from education, home or care,
• Has experienced multiple suspensions, is at risk of being permanently excluded from schools, colleges and in Alternative Provision or a Pupil Referral Unit.
• Is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking, sexual and/or criminal exploitation
• Is at risk of being radicalised or exploited
• Has a parent or carer in custody, or is affected by parental offending
• Is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as drug and alcohol misuse, adult mental health issues and domestic abuse
• Is misusing alcohol and other drugs themselves
• Is at risk of so-called ‘honour’-based abuse such as Female Genital Mutilation or Forced Marriage • Is a privately fostered child.

Contact Name	Email
The Safeguarding Trustee is Yvonne Sinclair (c/o Jo Whittleston)	[email protected]
The Executive Member for safeguarding is Claire Robbins	[email protected]
The Trust Safeguarding Leader is Tonia Pugh	[email protected]
Associate Director of Risk and Compliance is Harriette Taylor	[email protected]

This policy is accompanied by a local school protocol that outlines the leadership of safeguarding in the school, including the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads and Headteacher.

The designated safeguarding lead takes lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection (including online safety and understanding the filtering and monitoring systems and processes in place) in the school. The DSL duties include:

• Ensuring child protection policies are known, understood and used appropriately by staff
• Working with the board of trustees [and local school committee] to ensure that the Trust’s child protection policies are reviewed annually and that the procedures are reviewed regularly
• Acting as a source of support, advice and expertise for all staff on child protection and safeguarding matters
• Liaising with the Headteacher regarding ongoing enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 and police investigations and be aware of the requirement for Children to have an Appropriate Adult in relevant circumstances.
• Acting as a point of contact with the three safeguarding partners
• Making and managing referrals to children’s social care, the police, or other agencies
• Taking part in strategy discussions and inter-agency meetings
• Liaising with the “case manager” and the designated officer(s) at the local authority if allegations are made against staff
• Making staff aware of training courses and the latest local safeguarding arrangements available through the local safeguarding partner arrangements
• Transferring the child protection file to a child’s new school

Our Deputy DSL(s) is/are trained to the same level as the DSL and support(s) the DSL with safeguarding matters on a day-to-day basis. The ultimate lead responsibility for child protection remains with the DSL.

The role of the safeguarding Trustee is to provide support and challenge to the Executive Member for Safeguarding, the Trust Safeguarding Lead and DSLs on how they manage safeguarding so that the safety and wellbeing of the children can continuously improve. The role includes:

• Understanding the requirements of the Governance Handbook and Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024
• Supporting and challenging the Executive Member for Safeguarding, the Trust Safeguarding Lead and DSLs on the standards of safeguarding in the Trust
• Confirming that consistent and compliant safeguarding practice takes place across the Trust
• Reporting to the board of trustees about the standard of safeguarding in Trust schools

The Executive Member for Safeguarding and the Trust Safeguarding Lead and the safeguarding trustee and the safeguarding trustee meet on a regular basis to discuss safeguarding issues and to agree steps to continuously improve safeguarding practices in the trust.

Appendix 4 outlines the role of the DSL specified in KCSIE 2024, and Appendix 5 provides more detail about Who Must Do What in our schools and Trust.

Some children are at risk, but some children are at greater risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation. This increased risk can be caused by many factors including social exclusion, isolation, discrimination, and prejudice. To ensure that all our pupils receive equal protection, we give special consideration to children who:

• Are susceptible because of their race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender identity or sexuality
• Are susceptible to being bullied, or engaging in bullying
• Are at risk of sexual exploitation, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, or being drawn into extremism
• Live in chaotic or unsupportive home situations
• Live transient lifestyles or live away from home or in temporary accommodation
• Are affected by parental substance abuse, domestic violence or parental mental health needs
• Do not have English as a first language

Children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities can face additional safeguarding challenges. Additional barriers can exist when recognising abuse., neglect and exploitation in this group of children, which can include:

• Assumptions that indicators of possible abuse such as behaviour, mood and injury relate to the child’s disability without further exploration.
• Being more prone to peer group isolation than other children.
• The potential for children with SEN and disabilities being disproportionally impacted by behaviours such as bullying, without outwardly showing any signs and
• Communication barriers and difficulties in overcoming these barriers.

Adults who work with children and young people with SEND should be aware of the additional needs children may have that could mean they are more susceptible to abuse and/or less able to speak out if something isn’t right. Some children may be susceptible because they:

• Have additional communication needs
• They do not understand that what is happening to them is abuse
• Need intimate care or are isolated from others
• Are dependent on adults for care

Our staff are trained to be aware of and identify these additional barriers to ensure this group of children are appropriately safeguarded.

Unexplainable and/or persistent absence from education for prolonged periods and/or repeat occasions can be an indicator of abuse, neglect and exploitation, including sexual abuse or exploitation, child criminal exploitation, mental health problems, risk of travelling to conflict zones, risk of female genital mutilation or risk of forces marriage. Our staff are alert to these risks.

We closely monitor attendance, absence and exclusions and our DSL will take appropriate action including notifying the local authority, particularly where children go missing on repeated occasions and/or are missing for periods during the school day.

Where a school places a child with an alternative provision provider, it continues to be responsible for the safeguarding of that pupil and should be satisfied that the placement meets the pupil’s needs.

The trust has processes and procedures in place to ensure this group of children are appropriately safeguarded. School leaders should make the appropriate checks on the registration status of the alternative provider:

• Obtaining written confirmation from the alternative provider that appropriate safeguarding checks have been carried out on individuals working at the establishment, i.e. those checks that the school would otherwise perform in respect of its own staff and that the provision have declared that they have safer recruitment practices in place.
• Undertaking quality assurance of provision and curriculum of the provider.
• Receiving daily attendance reporting from the provider and assurance that any unauthorised or unexplained absences are investigated and minimised.

Schools have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils.

All staff are aware that mental health problems can be an indicator that a child has suffered or is at risk of suffering abuse, neglect or exploitation. Staff are also aware that where children have suffered adverse childhood experiences those experiences can impact on their mental health, behaviour and education.

Where staff are concerned that a child’s mental health is also a safeguarding concern, they will discuss it with the DSL or a deputy.

Schools should be respectful places where individual difference is accepted. In our schools, families will not be excluded from decisions taken by children and shared with schools in relation to requests for social transitioning.

Schools have specific duties that are framed by a child’s biological sex and we follow the DfE’s guidance in relation to this (e.g. the duty to provide single-sex spaces including changing rooms and toilets, single-sex PE where safety may be compromised if it is played as mixed-sex.)

The Cass Review identified that caution is necessary for children questioning their gender as there remain many unknowns about the impact of social transition and children may well have wider vulnerabilities, including having complex mental health and psychosocial needs, and in some cases additional diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

At Beckfoot Trust we follow the recommendation that when families/carers are making decisions about support for gender questioning children, they should be encouraged to seek clinical help and advice. When parents are supporting pre-pubertal children, clinical services should ensure that they can be seen as early as possible by a clinical professional with relevant experience. As such, when supporting a gender questioning child, schools should take a cautious approach and consider the broad range of their individual needs, in partnership with the child’s parents (other than in the exceptionally rare circumstances where involving parents would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child), including any clinical advice that is available and how to address wider vulnerabilities such as the risk of bullying. Schools should refer to Guidance for Schools and Colleges in relation to Gender Questioning Children, when deciding how to proceed.

Risks can be compounded where children lack trusted adults with whom they can be open. It is therefore vital that staff endeavour to reduce the additional barriers faced and create a culture where they can speak out or share their concerns with members of staff

Our staff endeavour to reduce the barriers and provide a safe space for those children to speak out or share their concerns with them.

Our schools understand the importance of working with families.

Child-on-child abuse (children harming other children) is unacceptable and will be taken seriously; it will not be tolerated or passed off as ‘banter’, ‘just having a laugh’, ‘part of growing up’ or ‘boys being boys’. It is more likely that boys will be perpetrators of child-on-child abuse and girls’ victims, but allegations will be dealt with in the same manner, regardless of whether they are made by boys or girls. All children can abuse and may be abused.

All staff should be clear about the school’s policy and procedures for addressing child-on-child abuse and maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’.

Child-on-child abuse can take many forms, including:

• Physical abuse such as shaking, hitting, biting, kicking or hair pulling
• Bullying, including cyberbullying, prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying
• Sexual violence and harassment such as rape and sexual assault or sexual comments and inappropriate sexual language, remarks or jokes
• Causing someone to engage in sexual activity without consent, such as forcing someone to strip, touch themselves sexually, or to engage in sexual activity with a third party
• Upskirting, which involves taking a picture under a person’s clothing without their knowledge for the purposes of sexual gratification or to cause humiliation, distress or alarm
• Consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images and/or videos (also known as sexting or youth produced sexual imagery) including pressuring others to share sexual content
• Abuse in intimate personal relationships between peers (also known as teenage relationship abuse) – such as a pattern of actual or threatened acts of physical, sexual or emotional abuse
• Initiation/hazing – used to induct newcomers into sports team or school groups by subjecting them to potentially humiliating or abusing trials with the aim of creating a bond

Different gender issues can be prevalent when dealing with child-on-child abuse, for example girls being sexually touched/assaulted or boys being subject to initiation/hazing type violence.

A child or young person being lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not in itself an inherent risk factor for harm, however, they can sometimes be targeted by other children. In some cases, a child who is perceived by other children to be lesbian, gay, or bisexual (whether they are or not) can be just as vulnerable as children who are.

All staff recognise that that even if there are no reported cases of child-on-child abuse, such abuse may still be taking place but is not being reported.

We take the following steps to minimise or prevent the risk of child-on-child abuse:

• Promoting an open and honest environment where children feel safe and confident to share their concerns and worries
• Using assemblies to outline acceptable and unacceptable behaviour
• Designing a preventative curriculum (including RSE and PSHE) to educate and reinforce our messages through stories, role play, current affairs and other suitable activities
• Ensuring that the school is well supervised, especially in areas where children might be vulnerable.

All allegations of child-on-child abuse should be passed to the DSL immediately who will investigate and manage the allegation as follows:

• Gather information – children and staff will be spoken with immediately to gather relevant information.
• Decide on action – if it is believed that any child is at risk of significant harm, a referral will be made to children’s social care. The DSL will then work with children’s social care to decide on next steps, which may include contacting the police. In other cases, we may follow our behaviour policy alongside this Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.
• Inform parents– we will usually discuss concerns with the parents. However, our focus is the safety and wellbeing of the pupil and so if the school believes that notifying parents could increase the risk to a child or exacerbate the problem, advice will first be sought from children’s social care and/or the police before parents are contacted.
• Recorded – all concerns, discussions and decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions will be recorded in writing, kept confidential and stored securely on the school’s child protection and safeguarding systems and/or in the child’s separate child protection file. The record will include a clear and comprehensive summary of the concern, details of how the concern was followed up and resolved, and a note of the action taken, decisions reached and the outcome.

Where allegations of a sexual nature are made, the school will follow the statutory guidance set out in Part 5 of the latest version of Keeping Children Safe in Education.

Children can report allegations or concerns of child-on-child abuse to any staff member and that staff member will pass on the allegation to the DSL in accordance with this policy. To ensure children can report their concerns easily, each school has systems in place for children to confidently report abuse. These are listed in the school’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Protocol.

Supporting those involved our staff reassure all victims that they are being taken seriously, regardless of how long it has taken them to come forward, and that they will be supported and kept safe. Our staff will never give a victim the impression that they are creating a problem by reporting sexual violence or sexual harassment, nor will victims be made to feel ashamed for making a report.

Where appropriate, staff will complete a risk assessment to safeguard all children involved with any investigation. Schools should follow the guidance in Bradford Harmful Sexual Behaviours Protocol – harmful-sexual-behaviours-protocol-april-2021.pdf (saferbradford.co.uk)

Abuse that occurs online or outside of school will not be downplayed and will be treated equally seriously. We recognise that sexual violence and sexual harassment occurring online can introduce a number of complex factors. Amongst other things, this can include widespread abuse or harm across a number of social media platforms that leads to repeat victimisation.

The support required for the pupil who has been harmed will depend on their particular circumstance and the nature of the abuse. The support we provide could include counselling and mentoring or some restorative justice work.

Support may also be required for the pupil that caused harm. We will seek to understand why the pupil acted in this way and consider what support may be required to help the pupil and/or change behaviours. The consequences for the harm caused or intended will be addressed.

All staff are made aware of indicators that children are at risk from or are involved with serious violent crime. These include increased absence, a change in friendships or relationships with older individuals or groups, a significant decline in performance, signs of self-harm or a significant change in wellbeing, or signs of assault or unexplained injuries. Unexplained gifts could also indicate that children have been approached by or are involved with individuals associated with criminal gangs.

All staff are made be aware of the range of risk factors which increase the likelihood of involvement in serious violence, such as being male, having been frequently absent or permanently excluded from school, having experienced maltreatment and having been involved in offending, such as theft or robbery.

School leaders and DSLs must be particularly mindful of contextual safeguarding. All children can be radicalised. Young people’s experiences and relationships beyond the family may mean that they are more or less likely to experience significant harm. This is particularly the case for young people who may have access to influences beyond the family, for example, on-line, peer-group, criminal subcultures. This influence occurs at a time when they are particularly vulnerable and suggestable to influence. Peer relationships are increasingly influential and may undermine familial relationships.

• Schools must be safe spaces where staff are hyper-vigilant to negative peer influences including those that challenge school and social norms.
• Staff must be wary of potentially exploitative peer to peer relationships, particularly where there is an imbalance of power.
• Staff must never underestimate the weight of peer influence and must report this as a safeguarding concern where they witness it occurring.
• We must recognise that certain locations in the local area and in our school sites and certain times of day create an environment where pupils are at risk of harm. We work with community partners and school staff to monitor these places and times and disrupt the potential risks.

Both CCE and CSE are forms of abuse and both occur where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child into taking part in sexual or criminal activity in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator and/or through violence or the threat of violence. This power imbalance can be due to a range of factors, including:

• Age
• Gender
• Sexual identity
• Cognitive ability
• Physical strength
• Status
• Access to economic or other resources

The abuse can be perpetrated by individuals or groups, males or females, and children or adults. They can be one-off occurrences or a series of incidents over time and may or may not involve force or violence. Exploitation can be physical and take place online.

CCE can include children being forced or manipulated into transporting drugs or money through county lines, working in cannabis factories, shoplifting or pickpocketing, being forced or manipulated into committing vehicle crime or threatening/committing serious violence to others.

Children can become trapped by this exploitation as perpetrators can threaten victims (and their families) with violence or entrap and coerce them into debt. They may be coerced into carrying weapons such as knives or carry a knife for a sense of protection.

Children involved in criminal exploitation often commit crimes themselves. They may still have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears to be something they have agreed or consented to.

It is important to note that the experience of girls who are criminally exploited can be very different to that of boys and both boys and girls being criminally exploited may be at higher risk of sexual exploitation.

CCE indicators can include children who:

• Appear with unexplained gifts or new possessions
• Associate with other young people involved in exploitation
• Suffer from changes in emotional well-being
• Misuse drugs or alcohol
• Go missing for periods of time or regular return home late
• Regularly miss school or education or do not take part in education

CSE is a form of child sexual abuse which may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or nonpenetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside clothing.

Sextortion involves people being forced into paying money or meeting other financial demand, after an offender has threatened to release nude or semi-nude photos of them. This could be a real photo taken by the victim, or a fake image created of them by the offender.

It may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in the production of sexual images, forcing children to look at sexual images or watch sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways or grooming a child in preparation for abuse.

CSE can occur over time or be a one-off occurrence and may happen without the child’s immediate knowledge e.g. through others sharing videos or images of them on social media.

CSE can affect any child, who has been coerced into engaging in sexual activities. This includes 16- and 17-year-olds who can legally consent to have sex. Some children may not realise they are being exploited e.g. they believe they are in a genuine romantic relationship.

Sexual exploitation is a serious crime and can have a long-lasting adverse impact on a child’s physical and emotional health. It may also be linked to child trafficking.

The above indicators can also be indicators of CSE, as can children who:

• Have older boyfriends
• Suffer sexually transmitted infections or become pregnant

We include the risks of criminal and sexual exploitation in our RSE and health education curriculum. It is often the case that the child does not recognise the coercive nature of the exploitative relationship and does not recognise themselves as a victim.

Victims of criminal and sexual exploitation can be boys or girls and it can have an adverse impact on a child’s physical and emotional health.

All staff are aware of the indicators that children are at risk of or are experiencing CCE or CSE. All concerns are reported immediately to the DSL. Staff must always act on any concerns that a child is suffering from or is at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation.

County lines is a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs around the country using dedicated mobile phone lines. Children and vulnerable adults are exploited to move, store and sell drugs and money, with offenders often using coercion, intimidation, violence and weapons to ensure compliance of victims.

County lines exploitation can occur where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child. This power imbalance can be due to the same range of factors set out at paragraph 10.1 of this policy.

Children can be targeted and recruited into county lines in a number of locations, including schools and colleges. Indicators of county lines include those indicators set out at 10.3 of this policy, with the main indicator being missing episodes from home and/or school.

Additional specific indicators that may be present where a child is criminally exploited include children who:

• Go missing and are subsequently found in areas away from home
• Have been the victim or perpetrator of serious violence (e.g. knife crime)
• Are involved in receiving requests for drugs via a phone line, moving drugs, handing over and collecting money for drugs
• Are exposed to techniques such as ‘plugging’, where drugs are concealed internally to avoid detection
• Are found in accommodation with which they have no connection or in a hotel room where there is drug activity
• Owe a ‘debt bond’ to their exploiters
• Have their bank accounts used to facilitate drug dealing.

All staff are aware of indicators that children are at risk from or experiencing criminal exploitation. The main indicator is increased absence during which time the child may have been trafficked for the purpose of transporting drugs or money.

Sharing photos, videos and live streams online is part of daily life for many children and young people, enabling them to share their experiences, connect with friends and record their lives. Sharing nudes and semi-nudes means the sending or posting online of nude or semi-nude images, videos or live streams by young people under the age of 18. This could be via social media, gaming platforms, chat apps or forums, or carried out offline between devices via services like Apple’s AirDrop.

The term ‘nudes’ is used as it is most commonly recognised by young people and more appropriately covers all types of image sharing incidents. Other terms used in education include ‘sexting’, youth produced sexual imagery’ and ‘youth involved sexual imagery’.

The motivations for taking and sharing nudes and semi-nudes are not always sexually or criminally motivated. Such images may be created and shared consensually by young people who are in relationships, as well as between those who are not in a relationship. It is also possible for a young person in a consensual relationship to be coerced into sharing an image with their partner. Incidents may also occur where:

• Children and young people find nudes and semi-nudes online and share them claiming to be from a peer
• Children and young people digitally manipulate an image of a young person into an existing nude online
• Or shared images are used to abuse peers e.g. by selling images online or obtaining images to share more widely without consent to publicly shame

All incidents involving nude or semi-nude images will be managed as follows:

• The incident will be referred to the DSL immediately and the DSL will discuss it with the appropriate staff. If necessary, the DSL may also interview the children involved.
• Parents will be informed at an early stage and involved in the process unless there is good reason to believe that involving parents would put a child at risk of harm.
• At any point in the process, if there is a concern a young person has been harmed or is at risk of harm, we will refer the matter to the police and/or children’s social care.

The UK Council for Internet Safety updated its advice for managing incidences of sharing nudes and semi-nudes in December 2020 – UKCIS advice 2020. The school will have regard to this advice when managing these issues.

It is essential that children are safeguarded from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material. As well as educating children about online risks, we have appropriate filtering and monitoring systems in place to limit the risk of children being exposed to inappropriate content, subjected to harmful online interaction with other users and to ensure their own personal online behaviour does not put them at risk.

Online safety risks can be categorised into four areas of risk:

• Content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful content such as pornography, fake news, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, radicalisation and extremism
• Contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users such as peer to peer pressure and adults posing as children or young adults to groom or exploit children
• Conduct: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm such as making, sending and receiving explicit images, sharing other explicit images and online bullying
• Commerce: risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing or financial scams.

All staff are aware of these risk areas and should report any concerns to the DSL. Further detail can be cross references in the Online Safety Policy.

Remote teaching includes both recorded or live direct teaching time, and time for pupils to complete tasks and assignments independently. All content is managed through Microsoft 365 with strict privacy controls and scheduled activities. Staff should follow the same professional expectations as in school and pupils should follow the school behaviour guidance. Staff should remain vigilant to safeguarding concerns and report these in line with Trust procedures.

During periods of remote education, schools should maintain regular contact with families. reinforcing the importance of children being safe online. It is important for parents and carers to be aware of what their children are being asked to do online, including the sites they will be asked to access and be clear who from the school their child is going to be interacting with online.

The Trust ensures that all schools have appropriate filtering and monitoring systems in place and regularly review their effectiveness. All Trust schools use Smoothwall which is aligned with the DFE Filtering and Monitoring Standards. Smoothwall is a member of Internet Watch Foundation (IWF); signed up to Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit list (CTIRU); and blocks access to illegal content including child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Smoothwall is provided as part of the Bradford Learning Network (BLN), integrated with CPOMS and provides reports to leaders. These reports are regularly reviewed by IT and safeguarding leaders.

Our Trust approach has four aspects:

• Education – School’s preventative curriculums help pupils understand how to stay safe online and why certain content is unacceptable.
• Prevention – All staff are vigilant and don’t rely on technical monitoring. Staff should provide effective supervision, maintain awareness of how devices are being used by pupils and report any safeguarding concerns to the DSL.
• Reaction – All staff should address unacceptable and unsafe behaviour and the DSL should investigate any online safeguarding incidents.
• Reporting and monitoring – Leaders should review reports provided by Smoothwall, incidents reported to CPOMS and any other incidents involving technology so that strategies are put in place to ensure safe use of technology in our schools.

All staff need to be aware of reporting mechanisms for safeguarding and technical concerns. They should report if:

• They witness or suspect unsuitable material has been accessed 
• They can access unsuitable material  
• They are teaching topics which could create unusual activity on the filtering logs 
• There is failure in the software or abuse of the system 
• There are perceived unreasonable restrictions that affect teaching and learning or administrative tasks 
• They notice abbreviations or misspellings that allow access to restricted material

The Trust ensures that there is the appropriate level of security protection procedures in place in order to safeguard our systems, staff and learners and review the effectiveness of these procedures periodically to keep up with evolving cyber-crime technologies.

Users are expected to:

1. Review the privacy settings for your social media, professional networking site and app accounts
2. Know who to report any unusual activity to. If you’re not sure, ask your line manager or IT team
3. Check your device is set to receive updates automatically
4. Remove any apps that have not been downloaded from official stores
5. Set a strong password and switch on two-factor authentication, if available
6. Check that the password for your work account is unique.
7. If it’s not possible to follow security advice, process or policy – flag it to the IT team

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduces a legal definition of domestic abuse and recognises the impact of domestic abuse on children if they see, hear or experience the effects of abuse.

Domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse, between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. It includes people who have been or are married, are or have been civil partners, have agreed to marry one another or each have or have had a parental relationship in relation to the same child. It can include psychological, physical, sexual, financial and emotional abuse.

Anyone can be a victim of domestic abuse, regardless of sexual identity, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexuality or background and domestic abuse can take place inside or outside of the home. This means children can also be victims of domestic abuse.

Children can witness and be adversely affected by domestic violence in their home life. Experiencing domestic abuse and exposure to it can have a serious emotional and psychological impact on children, and in some cases, a child may blame themselves for the abuse or may have had to leave the family home as a result. All of which can have a detrimental and long-term impact on their health, wellbeing, development, and ability to learn.

All Trust schools have joined the Operation Encompass partnership; there is a lead in each school who has completed relevant training. Where police have been called to a domestic violence incident and children are in the household and experienced that incident, the police will inform the DSL. This ensures that the school has up to date safeguarding information about the child.

All staff are aware of the impact domestic violence can have on a child. If any of our staff are concerned that a child has witnessed domestic abuse, they will report their concerns immediately to the DSL.

So-called ‘honour-based’ abuse (HBA) encompasses actions taken to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or the community, including female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage and practices such as breast ironing.

Abuse committed in the context of preserving “honour” often involves a wider network of family or community pressure and can include multiple perpetrators. Our staff are aware of this dynamic and additional risk factors and we take them into consideration when deciding what safeguarding action to take.

If staff are concerned that a child may be at risk of HBA or who has suffered from HBA, they should speak to the designated safeguarding lead.

FGM comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs. It is illegal and a form of child abuse with long-lasting harmful consequences.

FGM is carried out on females of any age, from babies to teenagers to women. Our staff are trained to be aware of risk indicators, including concerns expressed by girls about going on a long holiday during the summer break. If staff are concerned that a child may be at risk of FGM or who has suffered FGM, they should speak to the designated safeguarding lead. Teachers are also under legal duty to report to the police where they discover that FGM has been carried out on a child under 18. In such circumstances, teachers will personally report the matter to the police as well as informing the designated safeguarding lead.

A forced marriage is one entered into without the full and free consent of one or both parties and where violence, threats or any other form of coercion is used to cause a person to enter into a marriage. Coercion may include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure or abuse. Forced marriage is illegal.

Since February 2023 it has been a crime to carry out any conduct whose purpose is to cause a child to marry before their eighteenth birthday, even if violence, threats or another form of coercion are not used.

Our staff are trained to be aware of risk indicators, which may include being taken abroad and not being allowed to return to the UK.

Forced marriage (including ‘unofficial marriages’) is not the same as arranged marriage, which is common in many cultures.

If staff are concerned that a child may be at risk of forced marriage, they should speak to the designated safeguarding lead.

All children may be susceptible to radicalisation into terrorism. Similar to protecting children from other forms of harm and abuse, protecting children from this risk is integral to our safeguarding approach and preventative curriculum. Our staff are trained to identify those at risk of being radicalised or drawn into extremism.

Extremism is defined as vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. This also includes calling for the death of members of the armed forces. Radicalisation is the process of a person legitimising support for, or use of, terrorist violence. Terrorism is an action that endangers or causes serious violence to a person/people; causes serious damage to property; or seriously interferes or disrupts an electronic system. The use or threat must be designed to influence the government or to intimidate.

Children are vulnerable to extremist ideology and radicalisation. Whilst Islamic fundamentalism is the most widely publicised, extremism and radicalisation can occur in other cultures, religions and beliefs, including the far right and white supremacy. Our staff are trained to identify those at risk of being radicalised or drawn into extremism.

If staff are concerned that a child may be at risk of radicalisation or being drawn into extremism, they should speak to the designated safeguarding lead. All schools within the trust have a Prevent Risk Assessment that is updated at least annually.

Staff are aware that inappropriate behaviour towards pupils is unacceptable and that it is a criminal offence for them to engage in any sexual activity with a pupil under the age of 18.

We provide our staff with advice regarding their personal online activity and we have clear rules regarding electronic communications and online contact with pupils. It is considered a serious disciplinary issue if staff breach these rules.

Our Code of Conduct for Employees Policy (available on the Beckfoot Trust website) sets out our expectations of staff and is signed by all staff members.

If a safeguarding concern or allegation is made about a member of staff, supply staff, contractor or a volunteer, our set procedures must be followed. Our procedure can be accessed in Appendix 3: What to Do in the Event of an Allegation? and the full procedure for managing such allegations or concerns is set out in Part Four of Keeping Children Safe in Education.

Safeguarding concerns or allegations made about staff who no longer work at the school will be reported to the police.

22.0 Whistle blowing if you have concerns about a colleague It is important that all staff and volunteers feel able to raise concerns about a colleague’s practice. All such concerns should be reported to the Headteacher, unless the complaint is about the Headteacher, in which case concern should be reported to the CEO.

Staff may also report their concerns directly to children’s social care or the police if they believe direct reporting is necessary to secure action.

The Trust’s whistleblowing policy (available on the Beckfoot Trust website) allows staff to raise concerns or make allegations and for an appropriate enquiry to take place.

The NSPCC whistleblowing helpline is available for staff who feel unable to raise concerns directly on 0800 028 0285 or [email protected].

Our staff receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety which, amongst other things, includes an understanding of the expectations, applicable roles and responsibilities in relation to filtering and monitoring) which is regularly updated. In addition, all staff receive safeguarding and child protection updates on a regular basis to ensure they are up to date and empowered to provide exceptional safeguarding to our pupils.

New staff and volunteers receive a briefing during their induction which covers this Child Protection and Safeguarding policy and our staff behaviour policy, how to report and record concerns and information about our Designated Safeguarding Lead and deputy DSLs.

Our trustees receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection (including online) training at induction which equips them with the knowledge to provide strategic challenge to test and assure themselves that there is an effective whole trust approach to safeguarding. This training is updated at least annually.

Our safeguarding trustee receives additional training to empower them to support and challenge the Designated Safeguarding Lead and support the delivery of high-quality safeguarding across the Trust.

The governing body and our senior leadership team are responsible for ensuring we follow recruitment procedures that help to deter, reject or identify people who might harm children. When doing so we check and verify the applicant’s identity, qualifications and work history in accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 and the local safeguarding partner arrangements.

All relevant staff (involved in early years settings and/or before or after school care for children under eight) are made aware of the disqualification from childcare guidance and their obligations to disclose to us relevant information that could lead to disqualification.

The Trust carries out an online search check as part of our due diligence of shortlisted candidates. This helps to identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which the school uses to explore with the applicant as part of a separate safeguarding interview. We inform shortlisted candidates that online searches are done as part of our due diligence checks.

We ensure that our volunteers are appropriately checked and supervised when in school. We check the identity of all contractors working on site and requests DBS checks where required by Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance Contractors who have not undergone checks will not be allowed to work unsupervised during the school day.

When using supply staff, we will obtain written confirmation from supply agencies or third-party organisations that staff they provide have been appropriately checked and are suitable to work with children. Trainee teachers will be checked either by the school or by the training provider, from whom written confirmation will be obtained confirming their suitability to work with children.

The Trust maintains the single central record of recruitment checks undertaken in each of our schools. Our recruitment and selection policy and procedures can be accessed on the Beckfoot Trust website.

Visitors are asked to sign in at the school reception and are given a badge, which confirms they have permission to be on site. If visitors have undergone the appropriate checks, they can be provided with unescorted access to the school site. Visitors who have not undergone the required checks will be escorted at all times.

Schools should seek assurance from individuals or organisations running activities for children (for example community groups, sports associations, or service providers that run extra-curricular activities) that appropriate safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures are in place (including inspecting these as needed). This applies regardless of whether or not the children who attend any of these services or activities are children who attend our schools. Our lease or hire agreements ensure safeguarding requirements are included as a condition of use and occupation of the premises; and that failure to comply with this would lead to termination of the agreement.

If a school receives an allegation relating to an incident that happened when an individual or organisation was using school premises, as with any safeguarding allegation, the school should follow our safeguarding policies and procedures, including informing the LADO.

Abuse, neglect and exploitation are forms of maltreatment. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or by failing to act to prevent harm. Abuse may be committed by adult men or women and by other children and young people.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 refers to four categories of abuse neglect and exploitation. These are set out at Appendix 1 along with indicators of abuse.

Any child could become a victim of abuse. Key points for staff to remember for taking action are:

• In an emergency take the action necessary to help the child, if necessary call 999
• Complete a record of concern form (CPOMS) and report your concern to the DSL as soon as possible
• Share information on a need-to-know basis only and do not discuss the issue with colleagues, friends or family

Staff may suspect that a pupil may be at risk. This may be because the pupil’s behaviour has changed, their appearance has changed or physical signs are noticed. In these circumstances, staff will give the pupil the opportunity to talk and ask if they are OK.

If the pupil does reveal that they are being harmed, staff should follow the advice below.

Staff are aware that children may not feel ready or know how to tell someone that they are being abused, exploited, or neglected, and/or they may not recognise their experiences as harmful. Children may feel embarrassed, humiliated, or being threatened, which could be due to their vulnerability, disability and/or sexual orientation or language barriers. This will not prevent our staff from having a professional curiosity and speaking to our DSL if they have concerns about a child.

If a pupil tells a member of staff about a risk to their safety or wellbeing, the staff member will:

• Remain calm and not overreact
• Allow them to speak freely
• Not be afraid of silences
• Not ask investigative questions
• Give reassuring nods or words of comfort – ‘I’m so sorry this has happened’, ‘I want to help’, ‘This isn’t your fault’, ‘You are doing the right thing in talking to me’
• Not automatically offer physical touch as comfort
• Let the pupil know that in order to help them they must pass the information on to the DSL
• Tell the pupil what will happen next

The school will normally seek to discuss any concerns about a pupil with their parents. If the school believes that notifying parents could increase the risk to the child or exacerbate the problem, advice will first be sought from children’s social care and/or the police before parents are notified.

The DSL will make a referral to children’s social care if it is believed that a pupil is suffering or is at risk of suffering significant harm. The pupil (subject to their age and understanding) and the parents will be told that a referral is being made, unless to do so would increase the risk to the child.

Staff should follow the reporting procedures outlined in this policy. However, they may also share information directly with children’s social care or the police if they are convinced that a direct report is required or if the Designated Safeguarding Lead, the deputies, the Headteacher or the CEO are not available and a referral is required immediately.

Child protection issues necessitate a high level of confidentiality. Staff should only discuss concerns with the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Headteacher or CEO.

The DSL will normally obtain consent from the pupil and/or parents to share child protection information. Where there is good reason to do so, the DSL may share information without consent, and will record the reason for deciding to do so.

Information sharing will take place in a fair, lawful, timely and secure manner and only when it is necessary and proportionate to do so and the information to be shared is relevant, adequate and accurate.

Information sharing decisions will be recorded, whether or not the decision is taken to share.

The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 do not prevent school staff from sharing information with relevant agencies, where that information may help to protect a child. If any member of staff receives a request from a pupil or parent to see child protection records, they will refer the request to the Data Protection Officer.

Child protection information will be stored safely and securely and separately from the pupil’s school file and the school file will be ‘tagged’ to indicate that separate information is held. It will be stored and handled in line with our Retention and Destruction Policy.

Our Confidentiality and Information Sharing policy and our Retention and Destruction policy is available to parents and pupils on request.

Our Trust references the ICO guidance ‘For Organisations’ which includes information about our obligations and how to comply, including personal information, and providing access to official information.

The most common reason for children becoming looked after is as a result of abuse or neglect. The school ensures that staff have the necessary skills and understanding to keep looked after children safe. Appropriate staff have information about a child’s looked after status and care arrangements, including the level of authority delegated to the carer by the authority looking after the child. The designated teacher for looked after children and the DSL have details of the child’s social worker and the name and contact details of the local authority’s virtual head for children in care.

Children may need a social worker due to safeguarding or welfare needs. Local authorities will share this information with us, and the DSL will hold and use this information to inform decision about safeguarding and promoting the child’s welfare.

The school has detailed procedures to safeguard pupils undertaking work experience, including arrangements for checking people who provide placements and supervise pupils on work experience which are in accordance with statutory guidance.

The school may make arrangements for pupils to stay with host families, for example during a foreign exchange trip or sports tour. When we do, we follow the guidance set out in the statutory guidance to ensure hosting arrangements are as safe as possible.

Schools cannot obtain criminal record information from the Disclosure and Barring Service about adults abroad. Where pupils stay with host families abroad, we will agree with the partner schools a shared understanding of the safeguarding arrangements. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead will ensure the arrangements are sufficient to safeguard our pupils and will include ensuring pupils understand who to contact should an emergency occur, or a situation arise which makes them feel uncomfortable. We will also make parents aware of these arrangements.

Some overseas pupils may reside with host families during school terms and we will work with the local authority to check that such arrangements are safe and suitable.

A private fostering arrangement occurs when someone other than a parent or a close relative care for a child for a period of 28 days or more, with the agreement of the child’s parents. It applies to children under the age of 16 or aged under 18 if the child is disabled. By law, a parent, private foster carer or other persons involved in making a private fostering arrangement must notify children’s services as soon as possible.

Where a member of staff becomes aware that a pupil may be in a private fostering arrangement, they will tell the DSL and the school will notify the local authority of the circumstances.

We would expect the parents’ decision to home educate to be made with their child’s best education at the heart of the decision. However, this is not the case for all, and home education can mean some children are less visible to the services that are there to keep them safe and supported in line with their needs.

Schools should follow the trust’s EHE process. We will inform the local authority of all deletions from their admission register when a child is taken off roll.

Where a parent/carer has expressed their intention to remove a child from school with a view to educating at home, schools must work together with the LA and other key professionals to coordinate a meeting with parents/carers where possible. Ideally, this would be before a final decision has been made, to ensure the parents/carers have considered what is in the best interests of each child. This is particularly important where a child has special educational needs or a disability, and/or has a social worker, and/or is otherwise vulnerable. Where a child has an Education, Health and Care plan, we will support the local authority who will need to review the plan, working closely with parents and carers.

CPOMS is a secure online platform that all Trust schools use to record, triage, analyse and report safeguarding and child protection incidents or concerns. This information can then be shared with the people who need to know allowing the appropriate action to be taken. The system means that all the information logged by a variety of staff about a particular child is kept together. Chronologies can be produced quickly allowing patterns to be spotted and support to be put in place.

Documents such as: minutes of meetings; Child Protection plans; reviews and reports from outside agencies are uploaded into the child’s online document vault. This allows those with access to find information concerning the children in school and senior leaders to access information on any child in the school. It also makes it easy to electronically transfer information securely between schools at transition points.

It is essential that CPOMS provides an accurate, objective and complete record of incidents and records of concern.

• All staff must have access to CPOMS and report directly. Some staff may need technical support or help to write concisely and objectively. As far as possible, reports should use the member of staff’s own words and point of view. Pupil’s own language should be transcribed accurately.
• Safeguarding staff categorise initial concerns – see Why do we categorise incidents and concerns? below.
• Records of concerns provide fragments of a picture and may not always be relevant, but we do not deter staff from recording incidents.
• Even if an incident or concern has been recorded, we do not prevent other staff from sharing similar concerns.

All Trust schools use CPOMS to:

• Record – all staff are responsible for safeguarding so everyone in the Trust has access to CPOMS to record incidents and concerns.
• Triage – staff with DSL training make decisions about the appropriate actions to take for investigation, monitoring or referral.
• Analyse – the safeguarding team in each school can review a record of concerns and incidents to agree support and next steps.
• Report – CPOMS can produce reports about the type of incidents and concerns; reports are produced for senior leaders, trustees and external agencies such as Ofsted or CSC.

• The single central record for the school
• A list of any referrals made to the DSL and those subsequently referred to the local authority (along with brief details of the resolutions).
• A list of pupils who have open cases with children’s services or social care and all pupils that have a multi-agency plan.
• All actions are compliant with legal requirements on information-handling.

Every month, we collect the following information:

Key information	Current categories for tracking
• Number of reported CPOMS incidents/concerns • Looked after children (LAC) % • Referrals to CSC • Child Protection Plans • Child in Need Plans • PREVENT referrals • Open cases • Closed cases (within this academic year) • Elective Home Education (EHE) • Number at Alternative Provision (Ofsted and Non-Ofsted registered) • Part Time timetables • Early Help (CSC and school lead) • LADO referrals	• Prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying • Sexual violence and harassment • Radicalisation or extremism • Child Criminal Exploitation • Child Sexual Exploitation • Child on child abuse • Smoothwall Events

The tracking categories are reviewed annually by the safeguarding CET to ensure information accurately captures and reflects what is needed to inform our preventative work, subsequent practice and action plans.

• Categories allow a short-hand method of reviewing text-based records.
• Triage categorisation about the type of concern, the context of the concern and information about the child can support other people in the organisation to have a greater level of understanding about the concern.
• Categories provide a means of spotting patterns and connections between incidents and concerns that may emerge to build a whole picture.
• Categorisation allows us to report to leaders and external audit about the frequency and distribution of incidents and concerns across the school or Trust
• Category headings can be useful to quickly navigate an extended list of categories.
• Separate categories can be clustered to build more complex searches.
• CPOMS records when a student or an incident is categorised. By managing the monitoring history on CPOMS it is possible to build reports of key information and statistics about the proportion, type, location and frequency of incidents.

All staff should be aware of the indicators of abuse, neglect and exploitation (see below), understanding that children can be at risk of harm inside and outside of the school, inside and outside of home, and online. Exercising professional curiosity and knowing what to look for is vital for the early identification of abuse and neglect so that staff are able to identify cases of children who may be in need of help or protection.

All staff should be aware that abuse, neglect, exploitation, and safeguarding issues are rarely standalone events and cannot be covered by one definition or one label alone. In most cases, multiple issues will overlap. All staff, but especially the designated safeguarding lead (and deputies) should consider whether children are at risk of abuse or exploitation in situations outside their families. Extra familial harms take a variety of different forms and children can be vulnerable to multiple harms including (but not limited to) sexual abuse (including harassment and exploitation), domestic abuse in their own intimate relationships (teenage relationship abuse), criminal exploitation, serious youth violence, county lines and radicalisation.

All staff should be aware that technology is a significant component in many safeguarding and wellbeing issues. Children are at risk of abuse and other risks online as well as face to face. In many cases abuse and other risks will take place concurrently both online and offline. Children can also abuse other children online, this can take the form of abusive, harassing, and misogynistic/misandrist messages, the non-consensual sharing of indecent images, especially around chat groups, and the sharing of abusive images and pornography to those who do not want to receive such content. It is vital that staff are also aware of the range of behavioural indicators of abuse and report any concerns to the designated safeguarding lead. It is the responsibility of staff to report their concerns.

Abuse: a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or by failing to act to prevent harm. Harm can include ill treatment that is not physical as well as the impact of witnessing ill treatment of others. This can be particularly relevant, for example, in relation to the impact on children of all forms of domestic abuse, including where they see, hear or experience its effects. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by others. Abuse can take place wholly online, or technology may be used to facilitate offline abuse. Children may be abused by an adult or adults or by another child or children.

Physical abuse is a form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.

The following may be indicators of physical abuse

• Have bruises, bleeding, burns, bites, fractures or other injuries
• Show signs of pain or discomfort
• Keep arms and legs covered, even in warm weather
• Be concerned about changing for PE or swimming
• An injury that is not consistent with the account given
• Symptoms of drug or alcohol intoxication or poisoning
• Inexplicable fear of adults or over-compliance
• Violence or aggression towards others including bullying
• Isolation from peers

Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone.

The following may be indicators of emotional abuse:

• The child consistently describes him/herself in negative ways
• Over-reaction to mistakes
• Delayed physical, mental or emotional development
• Inappropriate emotional responses, fantasies
• Self-harm
• Drug or solvent abuse
• Running away
• Appetite disorders – anorexia nervosa, bulimia; or
• Soiling, smearing faeces, enuresis

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.

The following may be indicators of sexual abuse:

• Sexually explicit play or behaviour or age-inappropriate knowledge
• Aggressive behaviour including sexual harassment or molestation
• Reluctance to undress for PE or swimming
• Anal or vaginal discharge, soreness or scratching
• Bruises or scratches in the genital area
• Reluctance to go home
• Refusal to communicate
• Depression or withdrawal
• Isolation from peer group
• Eating disorders, for example anorexia nervosa and bulimia
• Self-harm
• Substance abuse
• Acquire gifts such as money or a mobile phone from new ‘friends’

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy, for example, as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:

• Provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment);
• Protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger;
• Ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or
• Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

The following may be indicators of neglect:

• Constant hunger or stealing, scavenging and/or hoarding food
• Frequent tiredness
• Frequently dirty or unkempt
• Poor attendance or often late
• Poor concentration
• Illnesses or injuries that are left untreated
• Failure to achieve developmental milestones or to develop intellectually or socially
• Responsibility for activity that is not age appropriate such as cooking, ironing, caring for siblings
• The child is left at home alone or with inappropriate carers

Links to other policies are available on the Trust website https://www.beckfoot.org/about-us/policies-and-documents/trust-policies/

Safeguarding students requires a whole-school approach, therefore this policy is related to these other Trust policies:

• Complaints Procedure
• Code of Conduct for Employees
• Scheme of Delegation
• Recruitment and Selection Policy
• Disciplinary Policy
• Whistleblowing policy
• GDPR, Data Protection and FOI Policy
• Trust Attendance Policy
• Behaviour Policy
• Anti-bullying policy
• Care and Control Policy
• Intimate Care Policy
• Online Safety and IT use Policy
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Policy
• Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions Policy
• Trust Policy – What to do when a pupil goes missing?
• Children Missing in Education
• Looked After Children Policy
• Whistleblowing Policy

All our schools train regularly on what to do if you are concerned about a member of staff’s conduct or if you receive a disclosure from a child. Low-level concerns are defined in Part 4 of Keeping Children Safe in Education as any concern, no matter how small, and even if no more than causing a sense of unease or a nagging doubt that an adult may have acted in a way that is inconsistent with the staff code of conduct, including inappropriate conduct outside work and/or does not meet the allegations threshold or is otherwise not considered serious enough to consider a referral to the LADO.

Examples of such behaviour could include, but is not limited to:

• Being over friendly with children
• Having favourites
• Taking photographs of children on their mobile phone
• Engaging with a child on a one-to-one basis in a secluded area or behind a closed door
• Using inappropriate sexualised, intimidating of offensive language

For our culture of openness and trust to prevail, all staff should share any low-level concerns they have. Serious case reviews and safeguarding practice reviews have often evidenced how low-level concerns felt and/or expressed by staff relating to individuals who were later found to have sexually abused children at a school were not recorded. When they are not recorded, they cannot be studied for patterns of behaviour.

It is critical that staff understand their role in recognising and reporting low-level concerns to minimise and eradicate the risk of opportunities being missed. All staff should immediately report low-level concerns so that behaviour can be investigated and managed appropriately.

All low-level concerns should be reported to the Headteacher. Concerns about the Headteacher should be reported to the CEO. The procedure for reporting is consistent with that for reporting allegations outlined in section 3 of this policy. Staff do not need to determine whether their concern meets the threshold set out in section 3 or is a low-level concern. This will be determined by the Headteacher or CEO as appropriate once the issue is reported.

The Headteacher or CEO or COO, as appropriate, will review the concern to confirm that it is not a more serious issue that should be dealt with as an allegation. An issue reported as a low-level concern would be dealt with as an allegation where it meets the threshold set out in section 3 or there is a pattern of low-level concerns expressed about the individual or wider staff practices generally. If necessary, the concern will be discussed with the LADO to determine whether it should be dealt with as an allegation.

The Headteacher or CEO will discuss the concern with the individual who raised it and will investigate it as appropriate. If the concern has been raised via a third party, evidence will be collected by speaking directly to the person who raised the concern, the individual involved and any witnesses (unless it has been raised anonymously).

Most low-level concerns are likely to be minor and can be dealt with by means of management support or additional training. Where necessary, action may be taken in accordance with the Disciplinary policy.

Where a low-level concern is raised about a member of supply staff or a contractor, the concern will be shared with supply agency so that they can take appropriate steps in accordance with their own policies and statutory guidance.

Just as with children and concerns, nobody should ever feel that a concern Is too small. If you have any concerns, speak to the right person as listed below.

• In school, any allegation about staff should be reported to the Headteacher unless it concerns the Headteacher in which case it should be reported to the CEO.
• If it is an allegation about a member of the central team, the allegation should be made to the COO who will be commissioned by the Chair of The Trust to investigate
• If it is an allegation against the CEO, it should be referred to the Chair of the Trust (details obtained from the COO)

The Headteacher or COO/CEO will conduct basic enquiries to establish the facts. If the allegation meets any of the following criteria, they will refer to the Local authority any of the following criteria, they will refer to the Local Authority Designated Officer on the same day if the employee has:

• Behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child
• Possibly committed a criminal offence against, or related to, a child
• Behaved towards a child, or children, in a way that indicates he or she may pose a risk of harm to children
• Behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children

The fourth bullet point above includes behaviour that may have happened outside the school or Trust that might make an individual unsuitable to work with children. This is known as transferable risk.

The Headteacher, through consultation with the Designated Senior Lead (DSL) for Child Protection and the CEO, will make a decision whether or not the member of staff should continue to work with children during the investigation (see Disciplinary policy).

We will be mindful of the need to safeguard and protect children’s welfare whilst also providing effective support and protection to the individual subject to the allegation.

Suspension will be considered in any case where there Is cause to suspect a child Is at risk of harm or It Is necessary to carry out a thorough and fair Investigation. Suspension is not a sanction.

Whilst we are not the employer of supply teachers, we will ensure that any allegation against a supply teacher working in any of our schools is dealt with properly and in line with guidance. We would follow the same process in liaising with the LADO as well as informing the agency. We will discuss the appropriate action for the agency and the school to take. Depending on the situation, this may be suspension of services whilst an investigation ensues, or redeployment if this is considered safe. In this case, we will take the lead in working with all appropriate agencies and also carrying out the investigation. All agencies are informed of our process for managing allegations and supply staff are trained on our policies and procedures before entering the classroom. Although not in employment 30 from an agency, we would also deal with any allegation against a volunteer in the same way in terms of investigation and involvement with external agencies such as the policy and the local authority.

It is important that a clear and comprehensive summary of any allegations made is retained in the member of staff’s confidential personnel file. This summary should include:

• Details of how the allegations were followed up and resolved
• A note of any action taken
• Decisions reached including whether information will be referred to in any future reference

A copy should be provided to the member of staff concerned. The summary should be retained, at least, until the member of staff has reached normal retirement age (or for a period of 10 years from the date of the allegation if that is longer).

If an allegation is made to the police, it should be reported to the Headteacher who, in turn, should inform the LADO (unless it concerns the Headteacher, in which case it should be reported to the CEO).

If the allegation is made to children’s social care, the person who receives it should report it to the LADO.

8.0 Initial consideration The LADO will discuss the matter with the Headteacher and obtain further details of the allegation and the circumstances in which it was made. The Headteacher should also consider whether there is evidence / information that establishes that the allegation is false or unfounded.

If the allegation is patently not false and there is cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer significant harm, the LADO will immediately refer to children’s social care and ask for a strategy discussion to be convened immediately.

If there is no cause to suspect significant harm is an issue, but a criminal offence might have been committed, the LADO should immediately inform the police and convene a similar discussion to decide whether a police investigation is needed. That discussion should also involve the school and any other agencies involved with the child.

Even in the case where an allegation appears to be less serious, it is important that the LADO is informed. An allegation may be considered so serious that there will be immediate referral to children’s social care and / or the police.

Where the initial consideration decides that the allegation does not involve a possible criminal offence, the employer must deal with the matter. If the nature of the allegation does not require formal disciplinary action, the Headteacher will institute appropriate action within three working days.

If a disciplinary hearing is required, and can be held without further investigation, the hearing should be held within 15 working days.

Where further investigation is required to inform consideration of disciplinary action, the Headteacher and the DSL will discuss with the LADO who will undertake the necessary action. In some circumstances, it may be appropriate for the disciplinary investigation to be conducted by a person who is independent of the school.

The investigating officer should aim to provide a report to the Headteacher within 10 working days. On receipt of the report of the disciplinary investigation, the Headteacher and CEO should consult the LADO within 2 working days to decide whether a disciplinary hearing is needed. If such a hearing is required, it should be held within 15 working days.

Where children’s social care has undertaken enquiries to determine whether the child or children are in need of protection, the Headteacher and CEO should take account of any relevant information obtained in the course of those enquiries when considering disciplinary action. The LADO should continue to liaise with the school to monitor progress of the case and provide advice / support when required / requested.

In the case of the allegation being made against a supply teacher, a contractor, or a volunteer from a voluntary organisation, the school may not be involved in disciplinary procedures, but will be involved and cooperate in an investigation. This investigation will reach a decision whether to continue to use the person’s services, or to recommend the person for work with children in the future, and whether to report to the DBS and the Teachers’ Regulation Agency.

Parents / carers of a child, or children, involved should be advised of any allegation/s as soon as possible except where a strategy discussion is required or police / social care need to be involved, in which case the school will not tell parents until it has been agreed what information can be shared. Parents / carers should also be kept informed regarding progress on the case and should be informed of the outcome in confidence where there is a criminal prosecution or a disciplinary hearing. The deliberations and information taken into account in reaching a decision will not normally be disclosed. The school should also inform the person who is the subject of the allegation and provide regular updates on the status of the case to that person. If the police or children’s social care are involved, the Headteacher will not do this until advised to do so by these agencies.

Any child / children making an allegation against a member of staff will be offered a ‘support person’ from within the school who is impartial to the formal proceedings. Where the allegations are unfounded, the school will not necessarily take the view that the allegations were false. Behaviour may have been misinterpreted. In this case, the LADO should refer the matter to children’s social care to determine whether or not the child concerned is in need of support from external services or may have been abused by others. The school will continue to provide support to the child / children in these circumstances.

Any member of staff facing an allegation will be offered a ‘support person’ who is impartial to the investigation and, where appropriate, other support such as a referral to occupational health / life coaching. The support person will keep the employee informed of progress of the case and other related matters.

Every effort must be made to guard confidentiality and to protect against any undue publicity.

The outcome of an investigation falls under five categories:

• Substantiated: there is sufficient evidence to prove the allegation on the balance of probabilities
• Malicious: there is sufficient evidence to disprove the allegation and there has been a deliberate act to deceive or cause harm to the person subject to the allegation
• False: there is sufficient evidence to disprove the allegation
• Unsubstantiated: there is insufficient evidence to prove or disprove the allegation. The term, therefore, does not imply guilt or innocence
• Unfounded: to reflect cases where there is no evidence or proper basis which supports the allegation being made

Allegations must be investigated even in situations where an employee tenders their resignation or ceases to provide services. The individual will be given the opportunity to engage with the investigation. A ‘compromise agreement’ will not be used in the case of allegations.

If a criminal investigation is required, the police will aim to complete their enquiries as quickly as possible consistent with a fair and thorough investigation and will keep the progress of the case under review.

A target date for the case review will be set. The review will include the progress of the investigation in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). If the police and / or CPS decide not to charge the individual with an offence, decide to administer a caution, or the person is acquitted by a court, the police should, wherever possible, aim to pass all information they have, which may be relevant to a disciplinary case, to the employer within three working days of the decision. In those cases, the employer and the LADO should decide how to proceed.

If the nature of the allegation does not require formal disciplinary action, the Headteacher will institute appropriate action within three working days.

If a disciplinary hearing is required, and can be held without further investigation, the hearing should be held within 15 working days.

Any case in which children’s social care have undertaken enquiries, which are relevant to a disciplinary case, these should also be passed to the school.

If the person is convicted of an offence, the police must inform the employer straight away so that appropriate action can be taken.

15.0 Referral to DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) / Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) There is a legal requirement for employers to make a referral to the DBS where we think that an individual has engaged in conduct that harmed or is likely to harm a child, or if a person otherwise poses a risk or harm to the child. If, upon conclusion of the case, the school ceases to use the person’s services or the person ceases to provide his / her services, the school should consult the LADO regarding whether a referral is required. If so, it should be made within 1 month. Additionally, a decision should be made with regards to TRA referral.

Where there is clear evidence that an allegation was deliberately invented or malicious, the Headteacher will consider whether any disciplinary action is appropriate against the student who made it.

Advice should be sought from the police regarding whether any action might be appropriate against the person responsible if he / she was not a student.

All low-level concerns will be recorded in writing and will include details of the concern, the context and action taken. The records will be kept confidential and held securely by the Head teacher and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

Records of low-level concerns will be reviewed so that potential patterns of concerning, problematic or inappropriate behaviour can be identified. If patterns are identified, the Headteacher will decide on an appropriate course of action and will refer the matter to the LADO where the behaviour moves from a concern to meeting the threshold for an allegation set out in section 3 of this policy.

Low-level safeguarding concerns will not be included in references except where they have met the threshold for referral to the LADO and found to be substantiated, in which case they should be referred to.

Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure an appropriate senior member of staff, from the school or college leadership team, is appointed to the role of designated safeguarding lead. The designated safeguarding lead should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection (including online safety and understanding the filtering and monitoring systems and processes in place). This should be explicit in the role holder’s job description.

The designated safeguarding lead should have the appropriate status and authority within the school or college to carry out the duties of the post. The role of the designated safeguarding lead carries a significant level of responsibility, and they should be given the additional time, funding, training, resources and support they need to carry out the role effectively. Their additional responsibilities include providing advice and support to other staff on child welfare, safeguarding and child protection matters, taking part in strategy discussions and inter-agency meetings, and/or supporting other staff to do so, and contributing to the assessment of children.

It is a matter for individual schools and colleges as to whether they choose to have one or more deputy designated safeguarding leads. Any deputies should be trained to the same standard as the designated safeguarding lead and the role should be explicit in their job description. Whilst the activities of the designated safeguarding lead can be delegated to appropriately trained deputies, the ultimate lead responsibility for child protection, as set out above, remains with the designated safeguarding lead, this lead responsibility should not be delegated.

During term time the designated safeguarding lead (or a deputy) should always be available (during school or college hours) for staff in the school or college to discuss any safeguarding concerns. Whilst generally speaking the designated safeguarding lead (or a deputy) would be expected to be available in person, it is a matter for individual schools and colleges, working with the designated safeguarding lead, to define what “available” means and whether in exceptional circumstances availability via phone and or Skype or other such media is acceptable. It is a matter for individual schools and colleges and the designated safeguarding lead to arrange adequate and appropriate cover arrangements for any out of hours/out of term activities.

The designated safeguarding lead is expected to refer cases:

• Of suspected abuse and neglect to the local authority children’s social care as required and support staff who make referrals to local authority children’s social care
• To the Channel programme where there is a radicalisation concern as required and support staff who make referrals to the Channel programme
• Where a person is dismissed or left due to risk/harm to a child to the Disclosure and Barring Service as required, and
• Where a crime may have been committed to the Police as required. NPCC – When to call the police should help understand when to consider calling the police and what to expect when working with the police.

The designated safeguarding lead is expected to:

• Act as a source of support, advice and expertise for all staff act as a point of contact with the safeguarding partners
• Liaise with the Headteacher or Principal to inform him or her of issues- especially ongoing enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 and police investigations. This should include being aware of the requirement for children to have an Appropriate Adult. Further information can be found in the Statutory guidance – PACE Code C 2019.
• As required, liaise with the “case manager” (as per Part four) and the local authority designated officer(s) (LADO) for child protection concerns in cases which concern a staff member
• Liaise with staff (especially teachers, pastoral support staff, school nurses, IT technicians, senior mental health leads and special educational needs co- ordinators (SENCO’s), or the named person with oversight for SEND in a college and senior mental health leads) on matters of safety and safeguarding and welfare (including online and digital safety) and when deciding whether to make a referral by liaising with relevant agencies so that children’s needs are considered holistically
• Liaise with the senior mental health lead and, where available, the mental health support team, where safeguarding concerns are linked to mental health
• Promote supportive engagement with parents and/or carers in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, including where families may be facing challenging circumstances
• Work with the Headteacher and relevant strategic leads, taking lead responsibility for promoting educational outcomes by knowing the welfare, safeguarding and child protection issues that children in need are experiencing, or have experienced, and identifying the impact that these issues might be having on children’s attendance, engagement and achievement at school or college 154. This includes:
  • Ensuring that the school or college knows who its cohort of children who have or have had a social worker are, understanding their academic progress and attainment, and maintaining a culture of high aspirations for this cohort, and
  • Supporting teaching staff to provide additional academic support or reasonable adjustments to help children who have or have had a social worker reach their potential, recognising that even when statutory social care intervention has ended, there is still a lasting impact on children’s educational outcomes.

The designated safeguarding lead is responsible for ensuring that child protection files are kept up to date.

Information should be kept confidential and stored securely. It is good practice to keep concerns and referrals in a separate child protection file for each child.

Records should include:

• A clear and comprehensive summary of the concern
• Details of how the concern was followed up and resolved
• A note of any action taken, decisions reached and the outcome.

They should ensure the file is only accessed by those who need to see it and where the file or content within it is shared, this happens in line with information sharing advice as set out in Part one and Part two of this guidance.

Where children leave the school or college (including in year transfers) the designated safeguarding lead should ensure their child protection file is transferred to the new school or college as soon as possible, and within 5 days for an in-year transfer or within the first 5 days of the start of a new term.

This should be transferred separately from the main pupil file, ensuring secure transit, and confirmation of receipt should be obtained.

Receiving schools and colleges should ensure key staff such as designated safeguarding leads and special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCO’s) or the named person with oversight for SEND in colleges, are aware as required.

Lack of information about their circumstances can impact on the child’s safety, welfare and educational outcomes. In addition to the child protection file, the designated safeguarding lead should also consider if it would be appropriate to share any additional information with the new school or college in advance of a child leaving to help them put in place the right support to safeguard this child and to help the child thrive in the school or college. For example, information that would allow the new school or college to continue supporting children who have had a social worker and been victims of abuse and have that support in place for when the child arrives.

The designated safeguarding lead should:

• Ensure each member of staff has access to, and understands, the school’s or college’s child protection policy and procedures, especially new and part-time staff
• Ensure the school’s or college’s child protection policy is reviewed annually (as a minimum) and the procedures and implementation are updated and reviewed regularly, and work with governing bodies or proprietors regarding this
• Ensure the child protection policy is available publicly and parents know that referrals about suspected abuse or neglect may be made and the role of the school or college in this
• Link with the safeguarding partner arrangements to make sure staff are aware of any training opportunities and the latest local policies on local safeguarding arrangements, and
• Help promote educational outcomes by sharing the information about the welfare, safeguarding and child protection issues that children who have or have had a social worker are experiencing with teachers and school and college leadership staff.

The designated safeguarding lead (and any deputies) should undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills required to carry out the role. This training should be updated at least every two years. The designated safeguarding lead (and any deputies) should also undertake Prevent awareness training. Training should provide designated safeguarding leads with a good understanding of their own role, how to identify, understand and respond to specific needs that can increase the vulnerability of children, as well as specific harms that can put children at risk, and the processes, procedures and responsibilities of other agencies, particularly local authority children’s social care, so they:

• Understand the assessment process for providing early help and statutory intervention, including local criteria for action and local authority children’s social care referral arrangements155
• Have a working knowledge of how local authorities conduct a child protection case conference and a child protection review conference and be able to attend and contribute to these effectively when required to do so
• Understand the importance of the role the designated safeguarding lead has in providing information and support to local authority children social care in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
• Understand the lasting impact that adversity and trauma can have, including on children’s behaviour, mental health and wellbeing, and what is needed in responding to this in promoting educational outcomes
• Are alert to the specific needs of children in need, those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), those with relevant health conditions and young carers156
• Understand the importance of information sharing, both within the school and college, and with the safeguarding partners, other agencies, organisations and practitioners
• Understand and support the school or college with regards to the requirements of the Prevent duty and are able to provide advice and support to staff on protecting children from the risk of radicalisation
• Are able to understand the unique risks associated with online safety and be confident that they have the relevant knowledge and up to date capability required to keep children safe whilst they are online at school or college
• Can recognise the additional risks that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) face online, for example, from bullying, grooming and radicalisation and are confident they have the capability to support children with SEND to stay safe online • Obtain access to resources and attend any relevant or refresher training courses, and
• Encourage a culture of listening to children and taking account of their wishes and feelings, among all staff, in any measures the school or college may put in place to protect them.

In addition to the formal training set out above, their knowledge and skills should be refreshed (this might be via e-bulletins, meeting other designated safeguarding leads, or simply taking time to read and digest safeguarding developments) at regular intervals, as required, and at least annually, to allow them to understand and keep up with any developments relevant to their role.

3.5 Providing support to staff Training should support the designated safeguarding lead in developing expertise, so they can support and advise staff and help them feel confident on welfare, safeguarding and child protection matters. This includes specifically to:

• Ensure that staff are supported during the referrals processes, and
• Support staff to consider how safeguarding, welfare and educational outcomes are linked, including to inform the provision of academic and pastoral support.

It is important that all children feel heard and understood. Therefore, designated safeguarding leads (and deputies) should be supported in developing knowledge and skills to:

• Encourage a culture of listening to children and taking account of their wishes and feelings, among all staff, and in any measures the school or college may put in place to protect them, and,
• Understand the difficulties that children may have in approaching staff about their circumstances and consider how to build trusted relationships which facilitate communication.

The critical importance of recording, holding, using and sharing information effectively is set out in Parts one, two and five of this document, and therefore the designated safeguarding lead should be equipped to:

• Understand the importance of information sharing, both within the school and college, and with other schools and colleges on transfer including in-year and between primary and secondary education, and with the safeguarding partners, other agencies, organisations and practitioners
• Understand relevant data protection legislation and regulations, especially the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and
• Be able to keep detailed, accurate, secure written records of concerns and referrals and understand the purpose of this record-keeping.

Our safeguarding culture is built on; hyper-vigilance, forensic monitoring, and highly professional relationships – the last one, about professional relationships could be taken to mean ‘we trust people’ when what we actually want to do is test things out.

All leaders understand and constantly communicate that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

We start with the assumption that ‘it could always happen here’.

• Nothing is too small to report (about a member of staff or child).
• Low level concerns about a colleague must never be ignored and must be reported to the Head who must decide whether to just record, follow up, or seek advice from the LADO (even if low level a pattern may emerge).
• It could always happen here (and is more likely to if we are not vigilant).
• You can never be too risk averse with safeguarding children.
• Safeguarding is our primary statutory duty, nothing trumps it.
• We don’t just want to be compliant; we want to be extremely competent and have a culture of safeguarding where everyone knows it is their responsibility to keep children safe.
• We don’t do things just for Ofsted (as important as they are as a regulatory agency), it is for our children and always in their best interests.
• The main areas of safeguarding are hyper vigilance and reporting, securing early help, the preventative curriculum, training for staff, IT safety and safer recruitment.
• The Head has the statutory duty to keep children safe and although they may delegate responsibility for aspects of safeguarding, they are always accountable.

• Safeguarding is an extremely important part of any Ofsted inspection and for a Section 5, it will be an in-depth focus.
• Ofsted will ask staff and students questions on the ‘preventative curriculum’ (i.e. how we teach students to be safe) and also on safeguarding CPD – this is usually when they are passing on corridors as well as at formal meetings.
• They are very interested in how the school prevents sexual harassment, online sexual abuse, and sexual violence as a whole school approach and expect schools to ‘assume it is happening here’.
• Although they check statutory requirements (e.g. policies, Single Central Register) they are interested far more in how the whole culture of the organisation contributes to children’s safety.
• They will want to know what LSC members and Trustees understand about how the school and Trust keeps children safe and prevents children coming to harm and that they are aware of contextual safeguarding challenges.

• All of our schools invest time in the preventative curriculum. This is age-appropriate and flexible enough to respond to contextual issues.
• Each school has a Relationships and Sex Education policy and we have a Trust-wide Behaviour Policy which is adapted by each school, sexual harassment and violence is part of the consequences pyramid.
• All schools must be aware of the children that are more vulnerable to harm.

• Holds all members of the Central Team and Executive to account by ensuring safeguarding is a priority and features regularly as an agenda item and training item at all leadership meetings • Ensures safeguarding is a key feature of annual external audits
• Ensures leaders are regularly trained on all aspects of safeguarding, commissioning external trainers as necessary
• Supports the Named Member of the SIT by reviewing policies and co-constructing the Collective Efficacy Team meeting agendas
• Ensures safeguarding is given priority in The Trust Contract
• Ensures all Directors and Associate Directors lead annual training on role specific child protection and professional conduct training
• Approves any training providers/external audit company
• Sources supervision for Designated Safeguarding Leads if this is required as a whole Trust

• Providing expertise to the CEO and Executive
• Updates central Trust policies annually or as necessary and produces a recorded training session for all central staff and for DSLS to use or supplement as necessary
• Leads the Collective Efficacy Team (CET) of every school DSL (a minimum of four times a year (more if there are any changes) and in line with the expectations in The Trust Contract • Ensures attendance at the CET by all DSLs (following up with HTs as appropriate)
• At the CET the named member of the SIT trains, updates and supports and identifies the need for any external training
• At the CET, DSLs may agree further alignment around best practice and safeguarding policies are consulted on at this meeting, as well providing responsive training in relation to contextual matters, or any in-year change to policy (local or national)
• Acts as a support and advice for other DSLs in relation to early help and referral
• Refers back to the Executive Headteacher any matter related to staff allegations

• Is either the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or appoints a member of the SLT (preferably no less senior than a Deputy Head) who has specific training that must be kept up to date – every 2 years minimum)
• Completing and returning the Local Authority’s S175 (to deadline) and this is ratified by the external safeguarding audit
• Makes sure the DSL meets all aspects of the JD and Person Spec and is a suitable person to hold the position
• Completes the Local Authority S175 (returns to deadline) and uses as the basis for the annual external safeguarding audit
• Holds monthly safeguarding meetings with the team with specific responsibility for all aspects of safeguarding (e.g. DSL, CBM, Site Assistant, HRO) where a site walk around takes place and the SCR is checked along with a view taken around any necessary changes to the preventative safeguarding curriculum and training (e.g. CPOMs referrals)
• Provides support for the DSL, recognising the emotional and physical demands of the job and sources supervision if necessary
• Appoints a Deputy DSL to support the work of the DSL
• Ensures in larger schools that there are other Named Persons (there is no limit to this, and it is advisable to have several Named Persons in larger school and as many pastoral staff trained as possible)
• As a new Headteacher undertaking named person training and commits to undertake specific (CP) training for Headteachers, including regular face to face safer recruitment training (every 3 years as a minimum)
• Ensures all staff and students know who the DSL and named persons are, that they are identified on the Single Central Register, and this is also visible in the school for all
• All staff are trained either face to face by the DSL or by a video created by the AD SI with formative questions every year on Keeping Children Safe in Education (usually reviewed annually by the DfE) at the start of the year
• Ensures all staff are given time and a deadline to read the KCSIE policy and Part 1 of the guidance as a minimum and sign on Every HR to say they have read and understood (the policy is always annually reviewed and updated if necessary to reflect KCSIE)
• Ensures all new staff are trained on KCSIE either by the DSL or if they are central staff on Every and they also read KCSIE Part 1 and the Child Protection policy
• Ensures all new staff receive training on how KSCIE and CP guidelines relates to their role specifically by their line manager, this is updated annually along with training on professional conduct
• Leads good practice by having ongoing training sessions (short or long) in relation to safeguarding and child protection throughout the year, particularly in relation to contextual safeguarding and all aspects of Prevent – this could be the context within the school (i.e. most frequent referrals) or in the wider community (e.g. right wing extremism)
• Makes sure there is a big emphasis on the ‘preventative curriculum’ for all children and this is given adequate time, e.g. the risks young people face, e.g. political extremism of any kind (depends on the context), online risks, sexual violence and abuse and in particular staff are to be hyper vigilant at all times, particularly of the most vulnerable and to watch out for changes in behaviour
• Makes sure that families understand the school’s preventative curriculum and safeguarding procedures through website / workshops / blogs / newsletters.
• Is familiar with all safeguarding policies and How Tos and knows when to seek advice and refer to external agencies (e.g. the LADO and the Safer Schools Officer)
• Understands that the processes around HR and recruitment are a vital aspect of safeguarding and does not expect recruiters to take risks (e.g. how you interview, what checks you do, what proven training staff have)
• Supports an annual safeguarding audit and works with the central team if there are areas for improvement
• Sets deadlines for areas for improvement (AFIs) with the central team and welcomes re-audits where necessary
• Follows centrally written policies and procedures, although has their own How Tos re. site security and the preventative curriculum • Uses CPOMs and the Collective Efficacy Team agreed categories
• Reports to their LSC on safeguarding, a minimum of three times a year and invites the DSL to attend at least annually
• Encourages LSC members to come into the school to learn more about safeguarding
• Understands that safeguarding has to be embedded in the culture, not a bolt on, it is about the most vulnerable being central to all decision making
• Makes sure that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and leads by example in relation to ‘it could always happen here’ 42

• Regularly carrying out spot checks on the SCR and feeding back any issues (with a deadline for update)
• Regularly carrying out spot HR file checks, reporting any AFIs to the Head and CBM and giving a date for corrections (when follow ups will happen)
• Providing How Tos for all aspect of safer recruitment
• Is regularly Safer Recruitment trained
• Ensures all staff have signed to say they have read part 1 of KCSIE annually (Every HR)
• Responsible for arranging safer recruitment training for central staff
• Creates How Tos so that there are standard processes for all aspects of safer recruitment
• Responds to any Trust wide issues that emerge from safer recruitment audits by producing training and supporting materials
• Trains the HR User Group, HTs, CBMs, CIT at least annually on relevant aspects of keeping children safe, e.g. professional conduct, safer recruitment aspects

• Ensuring safeguarding is a priority for training of ITT, ECF
• Constantly considering the culture of safeguarding and being hypervigilant on school visits
• Working with the AD Risk and Compliance and the HR Director on the completion of the annual safeguarding report to Trustees
• QAing the safeguarding audit provider and process and advising the CEO if they feel a better provider could be sourced
• Attends the feedback for safeguarding audits (or delegates to another member of the SIT) so that safeguarding is an integral part of school improvement

• Training at least annually members of their team on safeguarding and professional conduct in relation to their role and includes knowing who the DSL is in each of the schools they work in and other relevant contextual information
• Ensuring safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and that all colleagues understand that education and safeguarding children is ‘the business that we are in’

• Working with the COO in creating an annual planned programme of works that is agreed by the Audit and Risk Committee and includes an annual safeguarding audit which focuses on all aspects of safeguarding (given the importance of Safer Recruitment, this may form part of a standalone annual audit)
• The framework for all compliance, with safeguarding at the heart
• Works with the Director of HR and Director of School Improvement to produce the annual safeguarding report to the Trustees
• Works with the external safeguarding auditor and the School Improvement Director to scope the audit and to liaise with schools for their planned annual safeguarding visit
• Liaises with the Director of School Improvement and the external provider, attending the safeguarding feedback, and over-seeing the production of a high-level executive summary as well as individual reports for each school
• Works with the Associate Director for Technology to assess the cyber security risk and its implications for safeguarding
• Ensures all AFIs from audits are followed up in a timely fashion and that updates are kept and reported to Trustees
• QAs the safeguarding audit with the SID and reviews the provider on a regular basis
• Ensures all websites are compliant in relation to safeguarding and that all DSLs are up to date with their training
• Checks that all Trustees are trained at least annually on safeguarding and that the SCR is up to date for all LSC members and Trustees
• Oversees the process for any safeguarding complaint, ensuring the policy is met and referring to the CEO any Ofsted complaint, qualifying or otherwise
• Supporting any Whistleblowing process
• Updating the Trust risk register with regards to key safeguarding risks

• Facilitates the Trust approach to safeguarding, ensuring safeguarding and child protection are at the forefront and underpin all relevant aspects of process and policy
• Undertakes additional training for the role as and when necessary and works with the CEO and Chair of the Trust to ensure training for the board is undertaken and appropriate
• Is familiar with all the safeguarding policies and government guidance, particularly Keeping Children Safe in Education
• Meets with Ofsted in the eventuality of a Trust-wide Ofsted
• Makes sure the Trust Board keeps safeguarding children as a priority agenda item at each meeting (e.g. item in the briefing, asking questions where necessary)
• Meets twice a year with the Named Executive, the Named Member of the SIT and the AD for Risk and Compliance to consider priorities and to feed back to the board if necessary
• Ensures the high-level exec summary is presented to the Audit and Risk Committed
• Ensures safeguarding is a priority in the annual programme of works for internal audit
• Ensures safeguarding data is a priority for development for Beckfoot Trust
• Where possible, sits on disciplinary panels where there is a safeguarding element

7.9 Designated Teacher for Looked After Children Trust schools must appoint a designated teacher who should work with local authorities to promote the educational achievement of registered pupils who are looked-after. •

• Possess appropriate training and the relevant qualifications and experience.
• Responsible for ensuring the progress, attendance and well-being of children in care, or who have been previously looked-after.

Designated teachers should take lead responsibility for ensuring school staff understand the things which can affect how looked-after and previously looked-after children learn and achieve and how the whole school supports the educational achievement of these pupils. This means making sure that all staff:

• Have high expectations of looked-after and previously looked-after children’s learning and set targets to accelerate educational progress
• Are aware of the emotional, psychological and social effects of loss and separation (attachment awareness) from birth families and that some children may find it difficult to build relationships of trust with adults because of their experiences, and how this might affect the child’s behaviour
• Understand how important it is to see looked-after and previously looked-after children as individuals rather than as a homogeneous group, not publicly treat them differently from their peers, and show sensitivity about who else knows about their looked-after or previously lookedafter status
• Appreciate the central importance of the looked-after child’s PEP in helping to create a shared understanding between teachers, carers, social workers and, most importantly, the child’s own understanding of how they are being supported
• Have the level of understanding they need of the role of social workers, VSHs and carers, and how the function of the PEP fits into the wider care planning duties of the authority which looks after the child; and
• For previously looked-after children, understand the importance of involving the child’s parents or guardians in decisions affecting their child’s education, and be a contact for parents or guardians who want advice or have concerns about their child’s progress at school