Safeguarding

Some tips to try

Short pieces from the library, and a first thing to try from each.

• UK Safeguarding for Parents New Here. Your school’s focus on safeguarding is required by law, and every school in the UK shares it.
  • Safeguarding is a legal duty on every school in the UK: in England the framework is Keeping Children Safe in Education, and each other nation has its own guidance.
  • Every school has a designated safeguarding lead, whatever the title, the right adult for any concern.
  • Ask the DSL where you are unsure if something rises to the level of concern.
  • Families newly arrived at UK independent schools are often surprised by how seriously the school takes safeguarding: the training the staff have, the Designated Safeguarding Lead whose name appears in every policy, and how often safeguarding is mentioned in school communications. If you’re used to a different system, the way it’s presented can make it seem more alarming than it is.
  • UK safeguarding is statutory. In England, every school, independent schools included, works to Keeping Children Safe in Education, known across the sector as KCSIE, which sets out what schools must do to protect children. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own guidance, under a different name and with a differently titled lead, on the same architecture. The DSL in your child’s school is the senior member of staff who takes lead responsibility for safeguarding; the governing body or proprietor is answerable for it. All the training, the policies and the seriousness come from this framework. None of it is a sign of a particular concern about your child or your school.
  • In practice, this makes your school’s safeguarding something you can rely on. The DSL is the right adult to bring in if you have any concern about your child’s safety, online or in person. She is also the right adult to ask if you are not sure whether something rises to the level of a safeguarding concern.
  theparentbook.com/quick-tips/uk-safeguarding-for-parents-new-here

If you want to read further

• Your Child’s Online World. For parents who have seen something on their child’s phone that they can’t unsee. theparentbook.com/reader/online-life-beyond-screens
• Trauma in Childhood. For parents whose child has been through something hard, or whose family has. theparentbook.com/reader/the-shape-of-trauma-in-childhood

Worth your time

• A book for you: Off Limits, Sandy K. Wurtele & Feather Berkower. A research psychologist and a prevention educator explain how abuse happens and how parents can reduce the risk, from body-safety language and family rules to spotting grooming behaviour in adults.
• A book to read together: Pantosaurus and the Power of PANTS, Rebecca Gerlings. The NSPCC’s own picture book of its PANTS rule: privates are private, your body belongs to you, no means no, talk about secrets that upset you, and speak up. Calm and cheerful, it makes body safety an ordinary conversation. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/pantosaurus-and-the-power-of-pants-rebecca-gerlings/15d26accff745b76
• Something to watch: NSPCC Talking PANTS : Real Parents, NSPCC, YouTube. Real parents try having the PANTS conversation with their young children, showing how short and ordinary it can be. Takes the awkwardness out. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-m-gpG1mTU
• Something to listen to: How domestic abuse affects children, NSPCC Learning Podcast, 27 min. NSPCC Helpline and Childline staff explain how living with domestic abuse affects children even when they are not directly involved, and how it can show in behaviour, development and school. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-domestic-abuse-affects-children/id1492068617?i=1000674685321

Who else can help

You do not have to be sure. Tell someone whose job it is to know what to do next.

• The designated safeguarding lead at your child’s school. Every school has one, by law. They are trained for exactly this conversation and they have the routes a parent does not. As soon as you have a concern about a child’s safety. Ask for them by role; you do not have to explain yourself to the office first.
• The NSPCC helpline, for adults worried about a child. A line for the adult who is not sure whether what they have noticed is serious. You do not need to be certain, and you can call anonymously. When something has been said or seen and you do not know what to do with it. They will tell you whether it needs to go further, and help you take that step. Helpline 0808 800 5000, Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm Email help@nspcc.org.uk, read 11am to 4pm, seven days a week; a message sent while the service is closed is not received. If it is closed and the concern cannot wait, call the police on 101, or contact the child’s local children’s social care, social work or social services team. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. www.nspcc.org.uk

• NSPCC. The NSPCC helpline is for adults worried about a child. You do not have to be sure, you can call anonymously, and they will tell you whether it needs to go further and help you take that step. When something has been said or seen and you do not know what to do with it. Childline, 0800 1111, is the line for a child to call themselves. NSPCC Helpline (for adults) 0808 800 5000 · Mon-Fri 10am-4pm by phone; email 11am-4pm, seven days a week. An email sent when the service is closed is not received. · If the NSPCC service is closed and the concern cannot wait, call the police on 101. You can also contact the child’s local out-of-hours children’s social care, social work or social services team. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/reporting-abuse/nspcc-helpline
• CEOP (the police’s online child protection command). The National Crime Agency’s child protection command. Their parents’ pages explain grooming, image sharing and gaming risks calmly, and the CEOP Safety Centre is where you report an adult who has contacted your child online. When what has happened online may be a crime: an adult asking for images or personal details, or pressure on your child to share pictures. Report at ceop.police.uk/safety-centre. To report something, use the CEOP Safety Centre at ceop.police.uk/safety-centre. www.ceopeducation.co.uk/parents
• Report Remove (from Childline and the IWF). A free, confidential tool your child can use themselves to get a nude or sexual image of themselves removed from the internet, with a Childline counsellor alongside. When an image of your child has been shared. Your child makes the report; you can sit with them while they do. www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/online-mobile-safety/report-remove

The full list for safeguarding, with what each organisation does and when it is the right call, is at theparentbook.com/help/abuse-safeguarding/services