News

 

 

Welcome back from hopefully a restful break. The Safeguarding in Education Team have been busy working over the holidays to bring you some resources which will hopefully make your start to the term/year easier.

 

Contents

• September resources - Model policy, Annual Refresher Slides, Local Contacts Poster
• Local Safeguarding Partnership updates  - S.175 Audit 2022-24 , KBSP Education Annual data Drop, Update your setting’s contacts.
• Safeguarding in Education Team updates -
• Networks and Training 2023-24 - Venue Requests
• Supporting inter-Parental Conflict Project

 

 

 

2023-24 Safeguarding Model Policy 

This has been updated alongside our table of changes to accommodate the new version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (effective from 1^st September 2023). Model Safeguarding Policies and procedures Bristol (bristolsafeguardingineducation.org). The team have been working on easy read and accessible versions of the model policy and complaints guide. These will be uploaded onto the webpage when complete as well as being cascaded to you in the next bulletin.

 

2023-24 Annual Training Refresher Slides

Please see linked safeguarding refresher slides for the academic year 2023-24. The modules reflect the local and national trends and offer time for reflection. Feel free to use them in its entirety, or use them to supplement your own local procedures. https://www.bristolsafeguardingineducation.org/resources-templates/topical-safeguarding-resources/basic-and-refresher-safeguarding-awareness/

 

We will produce a video resource in due course - it will take a little more time for us to produce this. We aim to get this ready for September the 1st 2023. Please check back on our website and follow us on X (Twitter - @SETBristol) to get this live update.

 

If you have colleagues that require a basic awareness course - you can access this for free through the Safer Schools App.

 

Local Contacts Poster

Please replace any old copies with this new version.  - please click here to access the new poster.

Changes:

• Updated to include Elisabeth Clark as the newly appointed permanent School Safeguarding Advisor for North Bristol.
• Updated to include the Mental Health Crisis number.

 

S.175 Audit 2022-24

Thank you for your patience. We are now in a position to share the 2022-24 audit with you. In the next couple of weeks -  we will be sending your DSL, generic safeguarding email address (if you have provided it to us) and Link Safeguarding Governor/Trust Safeguarding Lead a link to the KBSP Education SharePoint where a folder allocated to your setting will be hosted. You will be given exclusive access to your setting's information. We recommend you bookmark the link and keep it somewhere safe.

 

As part of the ongoing developments, you now have more time to complete the audit – to access more information about this please see the dedicated webpage.

 

What will it look like:

• You will be able to access an Excel audit spreadsheet that you will have the course of the year to complete.
• You don't need to submit this  -  as the Local Authority will have live access. Whilst there is no submission date - it is expected that  that you complete this with your governing body as an ongoing quality assurance process.
• The number of areas on the audit have been significantly reduced. There are descriptors for each area of practice which are hyperlinked on the excel spreadsheet to our website to provide further information and guidance.
• There are Macros enabled which automatically generate an action plan and progress your completion status. Due to this please ONLY complete the audit on the sharepoint site, downloading a copy to your personal devices may disable the macros and will restrict the Local Authority’s live access. This may then create additional work for you in transferring information.

  

Who needs to do what?

• Maintained settings- you will need to complete the s.175 Audit.
• Academies and independent settings - we recognise that many of you in academies will be asked to complete your own MAT audits. We respectfully ask that you share and upload a copy of your audit to the folder and share these with us. We strongly recommend that if you can, complete this local audit to ensure your compliance with the Local Safeguarding Partnership processes and expectations. Individual MAT audits do not always demonstrate the detail the Local Safeguarding Partnership requires so it is recommended that this version is completed where possible
• Early Years sector - you will receive further details in due course.

 

 

 

KBSP Education Annual data Drop - Action required,

https://www.bristolsafeguardingineducation.org/resources-templates/resources-for-strategic-safeguarding/annual-safeguarding-data-drop/

 

Previously this data was collected as part of the annual s.175 audit, this year the KBSP Education Reference Group has developed a different mechanism which has been separated from the requirement to submit the audit. Under your legal duties under the Children Act 2004 and in line with Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping Children Safe in Education, we are formally requesting that you complete and submit the numbers relating to safeguarding information which will support our understanding of the education workforce's needs in the Local Safeguarding Partnership. The results can assist with areas of need around particular safeguarding issues or topics. This will help us target where resources for the workforce are required.

We need to collect data from you for the academic year 2022-23. Please can you complete the survey to the best of your ability - https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/KBSP-EDU-DATA-2022-23/ .

 

Please note:

•  You may need to count some cases twice (e.g., if a case went from CIN to CP  - we would want you to include that case in both fields)

• This will become mandatory for the academic year 2023-24.  - Please consider using the Excel Sheet as an ongoing record for the next academic year.

•  It might be helpful to review your CPOMs (or equivalent) coding to be able to generate reportable data.

 

Update your setting’s contacts – Action required  

Under the requirements laid out in Working Together to Safeguard Children  and the duties and responsibilities for education settings in Keeping Children Safe in Education , we request any updates of safeguarding contacts for every education setting.  This enables effective communication and information sharing between education settings and the local authority in order to promote the safety and welfare of children in Bristol. 

 

Please do not forget where possible to provide an out of office number should there be a critical incident and/ or child protection concerns. These will only be shared with explicit permission.

 

• Please complete the  Annual full survey. Thank you if you have already shared contact changes before the holidays – you do not need to repeat this.
• If you are an early years setting please can you complete the Early Years Contacts Update. 
• If you are an out-of-school setting please complete the following survey.

 

Safeguarding in Education Team updates

It has been a busy period for the team. In addition to the development of resources that are referenced in this email, we have:

• Recruited to the permanent position for the North School Safeguarding Advisor – congratulations to Lis Clark for getting through the competitive interview process.
• We say goodbye to Michael Sealy (Business Coordinator) who will be moving to a new role as Business Support Assistant at the Keeping Bristol Safe Partnership Business Unit. Laura Marris continues her role as Business Coordinator for two days a week.  
• Our data officer Alex has been supported by colleagues Mei and Bella to whittle down the backlog of police safeguarding notifications. You will notice that we have prioritised the higher risk notifications and are now working our way through the medium/low risk. You will be receiving notifications with the following blurb attached to the older notifications.

Please note the date of the notification may be historical. We acknowledge that this won't be effective in supporting timely interventions under the Operation Encompass ethos, however we continue to send this to you to support you to develop safeguarding chronologies for the child(ren) mentioned in this report.   We are working with the Local Safeguarding Partnership to address this, however if you have feedback on the negative impact this may have had on a child please let us know by completing this short survey. https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/PoliceSafeguardingNotifications/

 

Networks and Training 2023-24

You will be glad to know we are planning on resuming our face to face sessions for this academic year. We will still be offering virtual opportunities for those who prefer it but we know many of you miss doing things face to face.

 

Safeguarding Training for Education Sector colleagues (bristolsafeguardingineducation.org)

• Bristol Designated Safeguarding Lead Networks (bristolsafeguardingineducation.org)

 

You will see we have migrated our booking details on to our new platform PHEW – it will be really helpful for you to continue to use the generic safeguarding emails that you have produced to help us keep license costs down.

 

Venue Requests

We would love to continue to develop our community of practice. We have a limited budget, but if you are able to support us by hosting future training or network meetings please can you let us know. If you think you can support us – can you kindly pass on this link to your business manager to complete  https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Schoolvenues/

Supporting Inter-Parental Conflict Project

Do you work with parents/carers of a child or children aged between 8 and 14 who may be locked in conflict due to the pressures they are facing? The Supporting Inter-Parental Conflict (SIPCo) project could help. Supporting Inter-Parental Conflict Project for Bristol Families - YouTube

 

We are looking for Bristol staff to refer parents (separated/together) to the project who:

• Have a child aged 8-14
• Have intense, frequent, and unresolved inter-parental conflict
• Are willing to try something new to help reduce their conflict

 

The help on offer will either be relationship therapy (delivered by the couple therapy charity Tavistock Relationships) or access to some online resources with local support for reducing parental conflict. The project is trying to compare the two types of support, so parents will be provided with one or the other. We expect both kinds of support to be helpful for families. In the relationship therapy sessions (which will take place online), a therapist will help you and your partner/ex to communicate better, while the online resources are programmes that you will work through at your own pace with the support of a locally trained professional.

 

To find out more, please contact Gina: relationshipsmatter@bristol.gov.uk 07721 635376

 

 

We look forward to seeing you in the new academic year.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Safeguarding in Education Team

E: safeguardingineducationteam@bristol.gov.uk |T: 0117 9222710