New statutory guidance on safeguarding

Did you know that new statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding has just been published? Are you clear on how this new guidance changes the inspection of safeguarding? Did you see the new guidance published in June on safer working practice for staff working in education?  

New statutory guidance

This month (Sept), the latest statutory guidance was published for schools and colleges on keeping children and young people safe in education. This explains what school and college staff should know and do. It also highlights what to look out for and actions that need to be taken in response to any concern. There are a number of sections including:

• information sharing
• data protection and confidentiality
• safe recruitment practice (including governors and contractors)
• managing allegations of staff abuse
• online safety
• roles and responsibilities
• signposting to further sources of information

You can download this guidance here

Inspection of safeguarding

To reflect the above new statutory guidance, Ofsted have issued a revised version of inspecting safeguarding. This sets out what inspectors must consider when inspecting safeguarding. It outlines the evidence that inspectors will look for during inspections and sets out the judgements they will make. It should be read alongside the education inspection framework and the relevant inspection handbook.

You can download ‘Inspecting safeguarding’ here

You can download the ‘Education Inspection Framework’ here

You can download the ‘FE and skills inspection handbook’ here.

Revised guidance for safer working practice

‘Guidance for Safer Working Practice for Adults who work with Children and Young People in Education’ was initially published in May, with a second version published in June 2019. Although non-statutory, it is an informative guide for staff to understand professional conduct towards young people. It should inform a provider’s behaviour policy (sometimes called the staff code of conduct).

The revised guidance covers all aspects of staff behaviour including:

• Confidentiality
• Sexual conduct
• Transporting students
• Educational visits
• Unplanned discussions during teaching and learning

You can download the revised guidance here