Safeguarding is an important part of a schools duty towards the development of their pupils. It is also a very current topic this term with the new responsibilities for schools under The Counter Terrorism Act 2015. In addition, recent Ofsted bulletins have discussed the greater emphasis inspectors should be placing on looking at how well schools promote pupils’ behaviour and safety. So, here we focus on promoting safeguarding on your school website.
Here are some tips about promoting safeguarding on your school website.
Have a safeguarding page with:
- a statement about your philosophy and safeguarding practices,
- the name your DSP and who to contact in case of a safeguarding issue or concern,
- names of other staff who help in school in terms of safeguarding e.g. learning mentors, counsellors, family workers
- the name of your safeguarding governor
- relevant policies: safeguarding, inclusion, behaviour, bullying all of which should reflect radicalization, extremism and your commitment to and approach to counter –terrorism
- government documents related to safeguarding, e.g., Keeping Children Safe
- a summary, in non-educational speak, the approach and processes that you use in school to de-mystify the topic for parents
- definitions/FAQs to make the subject more understood
- a clear area children can go to remind them how to get help in school if they are worried or concerned about anything
- signposting for concerned adults who want to raise issues over the safety of a child in the school
- links to your e-safety page/area
- links to outside agencies/websites that may be helpful or informative e.g. childline
Ofsted
Ofsted check that you comply with what is required and provide a convincing provision. Here are some other ways to promote your approach to children’s behaviour and safety on your site:
- Have a dedicated area on your site about your counselors/learning mentors/family workers. And links to related outside agencies who support vulnerable pupils. Make sure you link to this on your safeguarding page
- Publish attendance summary data on a regular basis to promote good attendance in school
- Encourage your governors to contribute news about what they have been doing in relation to behaviour and safety
- Advertise workshops such as Road Safety, Childline in your school calendar. And then post some news after the event with children’s comments
- Hold parent workshops on e-safety, first aid, anger management, confidence and self-esteem building for children. And upload the resources for parents to download
- Showcase children’s keeping safe work and activities
- Get visitors in to talk to children about their jobs and celebrate the visit online. This is a great site for helping to set that up.
E-safety tips
E-safety is a topic we have discussed in detail before. But it cannot be left unmentioned when talking about children’s safety in our world today. Here is a little reminder of some key e-safety points for your website:
- Have regular e-safety events and hold sessions for parents
- Keep your e-safety page up-to-date with tips and resources, especially how to set parental controls and advice on social media use
- Register for the CEOP button
- Have a children’s e-safety page too, so they know where to go if they see something that worries them online or they receive in appropriate communications
- Link to this site: Families Matter – Extremism Online
Don’t forget to look back at our recent blogs for more information on how to demonstrate your compliance with your Prevent duties via your website and make sure you are Ofsted ready. Download our PYS Website Audit to help you too.
