Education

Greater Manchester Safeguarding Children Procedures Manual Welcome to the Greater Manchester Safeguarding Children...

Keeping Children Safe in Education. Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment.  Keeping children safe in education - GOV.UK

Working Together to Safeguard Children.  Statutory guidance on multi-agency working to help, support and protect children. Working together to safeguard children - GOV.UK

Children missing education•Salford City Council

Schools: statutory guidance - GOV.UK

Salford policies, procedures and school guidance Policies and procedures | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

Elective Home Education

Local authorities have a statutory duty under s.436A of the Education Act 1996 to ensure that every child in their area is in receipt of the suitable, full-time education that they are entitled to. Salford local authority have robust procedures in place to identify any child who does not have access to an efficient, full-time education, and work closely with wider agencies in order to ensure a child’s development is protected from significant harm.

There is no proven correlation between home education and safeguarding risk. However, a child being educated at home is not necessarily being seen on a regular basis by professionals, such as teachers, and this logically increases the chances that any parents who set out to use home education to avoid independent oversight, may be more successful by doing so. Local authorities have the same safeguarding responsibilities for children educated at home as for other children, and Salford local authority are ready to use our safeguarding powers appropriately, when warranted.

Our regularly reviewed policies are consistent with the current legal framework and reflect both the challenges and rewards of educating children in this way. They take into account local circumstances and set out how the authority will seek to engage and communicate with parents, schools, and wider services. If a parent or carer has written to the headteacher stating that they wish to home educate their child(ren), the most appropriate member of school staff should complete our EHE online notification form ensuring that a copy of the written request is uploaded at the end of the form.

The EHE Team can be reached at: electivehomeeducationadmin@salford.gov.uk

Cared for Children

Cared for children are children who are subject to Care Orders and those who are voluntarily accommodated who live with foster carers, in residential homes or remain with their family.

Salford Virtual School Team  work closely with schools, social workers and other professionals to ensure that all of our cared for children who are of school age have the best educational opportunities possible and that they receive their entitlement to a good education.

Salford Safeguarding Childrens Partnership

SSCP Practice Reviews Practice reviews | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

Child death overview Panel Child Death Overview Panel | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

Education inspection framework (EIF) - GOV.UK

You can search Salford safeguarding guidance and support here Professionals | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

7 Minute Briefings 7 Minute Briefings | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

SSCP multi agency training SSCP Training Programme | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

Salford Trauma Informed Practice Training | Partners in Salford

School resources | Partners in Salford

Online training | Partners in Salford

Online resources | Partners in Salford

Whilst schools continue to be amongst the safest places to be, no school can afford to ignore the risk and impact of having to deal with a range of security related incidents, including those as a result of terrorist acts. The sheer range and scale of threats today mean that we have to be more pro-active to reduce the vulnerability of our organisations, our people, and our buildings. The law requires all schools to carry out adequate risk assessments and ensure that suitable measures are in place to manage ALL identified risks. Prompt and regular reviews of those assessments and measures, in light of new threats and developments including terrorism and extreme violence, should be conducted.

For impartial advice, guidance and training that makes a real difference to the safety culture in your school, contact the Salford Safer Schools Team  SaferSchools@salford.gov.uk  or see the Home | Safer Schools Hub. They can provide bespoke advice on security solutions, business continuity and emergency planning, with dedicated resources delivered through strong links with the local Counter Terrorism Security Advisors from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit (NWCTU).

Prevent is safeguarding, it’s about safeguarding individuals from being drawn into terrorism, ensuring vulnerable people are given appropriate advice and support at an early stage. Prevent is no different to any other form of safeguarding from harm. Often vulnerable people simply need some help and support and if we can give them that at the right time then they may not become radicalised in the first place. Remember that radicalisation and grooming can take many forms and it is sometimes hard to know what to look out for but trust your instinct and always pass on your concerns to the designated safeguarding lead. They will decide whether further action is needed, or a referral should be made and can phone the Prevent Team if they need support.

Visit Salford City Council's page on The Prevent Duty•Salford City Council to find information on how to make a referral, ideologies, training dates and much more. You can also sign up to the Prevent newsletter and find contact details for support.

What is Channel?

Channel is an early intervention multi agency panel designed to safeguard vulnerable individuals from being drawn into extremist or terrorist behaviour. Channel works in a similar way to existing multi agency partnerships for vulnerable individuals. It is a voluntary process allowing the individual to withdraw from the programme at any time.

Channel is for individuals of any age who are at risk of exploitation by extremist or terrorist ideologies. Early intervention can prevent individuals being drawn into terrorist related activity in a similar way to criminal activity such as drugs, knife or gang crime.

What does this look like in Education settings?

The Salford Prevent Team have produced a handbook for education about safeguarding and supporting anyone vulnerable to radicalisation. The Handbook also contains links to training and resources.

Referral pathways

It is important that the school responds effectively to the identification of a concern and the subsequent actions taken. For this, all staff – including support staff - should know who they should talk to if they identify a concern. Senior leadership should also know how to refer and share information, using the usual safeguarding procedures and involving the relevant stakeholders such as the local authority and police as appropriate.

 The Prevent Duty and online referral form

Protecting children from radicalisation: the prevent duty  is the Government Guidance for schools and childcare providers on preventing children and young people from being drawn into terrorism.

Training and resources

The department has published further advice for schools on the Prevent duty. The advice is intended to compliment the Prevent guidance and signposts to other sources of advice and support.

The Home Office has developed three e-learning modules:

Prevent awareness eLearning offers an introduction to the Prevent duty.

Prevent referral eLearning supports staff to make Prevent referrals that are robust, informed and with good intention.

Channel awareness eLearning is aimed at staff who may be asked to contribute to or sit on a multi-agency Channel panel.

Educate Against Hate - Prevent Radicalisation & Extremism is a government website designed to support schoolteachers and leaders to help them safeguard their students from radicalisation and extremism. The platform provides free information and resources to help school staff identify and address the risks, as well as build resilience to radicalisation.

The Prevent duty requires all education providers ‘to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. This includes safeguarding children, young people and adult learners from extremist ideologies and radicalisation.

Most importantly, providers should consider the needs of children, young people and adult learners at each stage of the safeguarding process. Providers should consider radicalisation concerns in line with their existing safeguarding processes, skills and experience. DfE have updated the Prevent Duty and produced a self-assessment for education settings. The Prevent duty: safeguarding learners vulnerable to radicalisation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Prevent duty self-assessment tool for schools - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please see the following pages:

• E-safety for professionals
• E-safety for parents and carers
• E-safety for children and young people

Document with links to free NSPCC resources to help keep children safe