Child Protection: Safeguarding and Welfare (Summer school video)

Safeguarding:

- Any system employed by the school to keep them safe when in the care of the school. i.e. DBS checks, restricted websites & robust behaviour policies.

Child Protection:

- The policy and procedures specifically for those young people who are at risk of harm or those who have been seriously harmed. i.e. Targeted counselling, multi-agency work & confidentiality.

Abuse:

- Deliberate act of ill-treatment that can harm or is likely to harm a child or young person's safety. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional or neglectful.

Welfare:

- Efforts designed to promote the basic physical, emotional and mental well-being of people in need.

[Note: all of my definitions are logged on the 'Glossary' page}

It is the responsibility of all staff to safeguard the children and students.

As a student teacher we will have a lot of support, for example from the safeguarding team.

The role of the safeguarding team is to lead responsibility for all safeguarding and child-protection matters.

Keeping Children Safe in Education Statutory guidance changes.

2022:

Relevant parts of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty have been outlined and explicitly linked to safeguarding, particularly in regard to diversity inclusion, prejudicial and discriminatory bullying and sexual violence & harassment.

2023:

More clarity on the roles of various education staff, as well as further information regarding responsibilities around filtering and monitoring. explanation around how being absent or missing from education can indicate various safeguarding concerns and forms of abuse.

Why should schools safeguard their young people?

- Protect - them from abuse and maltreatment

- Prevent - harm to their health or development

- Provide - safe and effective care as students grow up

- Progress - and achieve the best possible outcomes for young people

- Pastoral - Loco parentis legal responsibility

ACEs - This stands for Adverse Childhood experiences, This can include a one off event or a continuous event, and examples include - All forms of abuse, Parental separation, mental ill-health, imprisonment etc.

Children with 4+ ACE's are 4.5 x as likely to develop depression

Also:

3x likely to smoke

4x likely to have poor mental health

5x likely to have underage sex

6x likely to have an unplanned pregnancy

7x likely to be involved with violence

11x likely to have used illegal drugs

11x likely to face imprisonment

Children with 7+ ACE's are 3x as likely to develop lung cancer and coronary heart disease

Signs of Physical abuse:

Unexplained bruises and other visible scars

Fractures and dislocations

Scratches and cuts

Loss of clumps of hair

Black eyes or bruised ears

Scalds or burns

Bruises in the shape of hands/fingers

Explanations which are not consistent with injury

Deterioration of health with no obvious cause

Signs of Emotional abuse: (can be less identifiable with singular examples)

Reluctance from the individual to be around specific people/ parents/ carers

Being overly affectionate with strangers

Lack of confidence

Severe anxiety

Aggression towards others

Not being allowed to voice an opinion

Disturbed sleep patterns

Signs of Neglect: (can be less identifiable with singular examples)

Poor personal hygiene

Constant hunger

Unattended medical issues

Abuse of alcohol or drugs

Inappropriate clothing for the weather

Frequent illness

Being left unsupervised for long periods without explanation

Becoming withdrawn

Low self-esteem

Signs of Sexual abuse:

Bruising, swelling, itching, bleeding or pain in the genital, anal region or thighs

Bite marks/ scratches

Recurrent STIs and/or bladder infections

Blood in underwear

Abdominal pain that has no apparent cause

Pregnancy (especially for under 16 year olds)

Proactive and inappropriate sexual behaviour

Self-harming

Refusal to undress in front of others - or on a hot day

Sexual behaviours - Brook's traffic light tool of acceptable and unacceptable sexual behaviours.*

(sexual abuse may involve grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet).)

*Brook's traffic light tool:

Problematic age brackets - i.e. penultimate point on green category is not appropriate for a 13 year old. - even for a sixteen year old, power balances and age differences must be accounted for.

National safeguarding priorities:

Issues relating to Covid - 19 and the lockdowns

Sexual harassment - INCEL culture and Misogyny - fuelled by influencers such as Andrew Tate

Extremism and radicalisation (PREVENT Duty)

Child sexual exploitation

Female Genital Mutilation - honour based violence

Child-on-child abuse

Promoting positive mental health - recognising when children are struggling & early intervention

Child Criminal Exploitation - Gang violence and 'County lines'

'At risk' groups

Some groups are more at-risk to bullying than others. These tend to be marginalised groups that are at risk of discrimination, and it is therefore important that extra attention is paid to these groups to safeguard them from bullying.

Examples include:

- Those from global minority backgrounds

- Looked after children

- SEN children

- Children that associate and identify with the LGBTQIA+ spectrum

If you have concerns about a young person, you should....

Act immediately

Follow the school's child protection policy

Speak to your DSL as soon as you can

Creating a safe learning environment:

- Look at what you teach and decide on whether it is sensitive and how you can adapt the lesson material with this in mind.

- Examine your resources - be aware of potential triggers, emotions and re-traumatising content.

- Examine your own language and behaviours (pedagogy) - ensure that you distance your language whilst also ensuring that your language doesn't "other" certain groups of students.

- Ground rules - confidentiality, strategies to not make public disclosures, not laughing at others, supporting friends, sign posting any services in and out of school

------

#Summerschoolvideo