Safeguarding: Ofsted Evidence Checklist
Safeguarding
Statutory Requirements and
Ofsted Expectations
Andrew Hall
Specialist Safeguarding Consultant
Statutory Requirements and
Ofsted Expectations
Completing this evidence checklist will help ensure that your school is meeting its statutory responsibilities.
For just £1 you can buy a copy of this document in Word format for editing and completion by going to
Andrew Hall
Documents
Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfE 2013) / Available? Yes/No
Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE 2014) / Available? Yes/No
Policy
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
Published on website / Yes/No
Reviewed annually / Yes/No
Ensure Publication date and review date are on it with signatures of Head and Chair of Governors
Staff Discipline, Conduct and Grievance Policy / Yes/No
Available to all staff? Where?
Managing Allegations against Staff Policy / Yes/No
Available to all staff? Where?
Managing Allegations against other Pupils Policy / Yes/No
Available to all staff? Where?
Reports
Annual Report to Governors / Last three reports and evidence of actions
Statutory Requirements / Evidence / Actions
Procedures
Appointment of Designated Safeguarding Lead / Yes/No
Name(s)?
Appointment of a designated teacher for ‘Looked After Children’ / Yes/No
Name(s)?
Mandatory DBS Checks for everyone in ‘regulated activity’
Policy Statement / Yes/No
Where is policy statement?
Policy for the supervision of volunteers / Yes/No
Where is policy statement?
Vetting Checks for all adults included on a Single Central Register (SCR) / Yes/No
Who are named person(s) for managing and completing the SCR?
Is this SCR up-to-date with no gaps?
Confidential record-keeping / Yes/No
Who manages in absence of Designated Safeguarding Lead?
records kept in writing / Yes/No
records kept separate to other pupil files / Yes/No
Statutory Requirements / Evidence / Actions
Training
Is there an up-to-date Training Record for all staff and volunteers? / Yes/No?
For the Designated Safeguarding Lead, every two years / Yes/No?
Noted on Training Record?
For all staff at ‘relevant intervals’ / Where is the policy statement on training intervals?
Yes/No?
Noted on Training Record?
For at least one person on every interview panel – Safer Recruitment / Is there a list of people who have completed this training?
Can you demonstrate that this was the case in the last three selection/interview rounds?
Statutory Requirements / Evidence / Actions
Mandatory Induction for all staff
Staff Code of Conduct / Given own copy?
Yes/No?
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy / Given own copy?
Yes/No?
Managing allegations against staff / Given own copy?
Yes/No?
Keeping Children Safe in Education – Information for all staff / Given own copy?
Yes/No?
Other
Report within one day, all allegations against staff to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) / List of referrals/discussions with LADO, including person reporting?
Record attendance of pupils / Yes/No?
Robust follow-up to pupil absence? / Yes/No?
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
School Inspection Handbook - September 2014
Leadership and Management
Paragraph 157
Single Central Record / Up-to-date with no gaps?
Pupil attendance / Attendance policy with flowchart of follow-up actions?
Is this follow-up rigorous?
What evidence is there to show that the attendance policy has driven improvements?
Is attendance above average/average/below average?
How does it relate to ‘statistical neighbours’?
‘At Risk’ students are identified – case study / How are ‘At Risk’ students identified?
Can you show groups of ‘At Risk’ students?
Can you demonstrate that there have been improves for ‘At Risk’ groups?
Have you prepared a case study?
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Decision-making process about taking pupils off-roll / Have any pupil(s) been taken offroll?
What were the reasons?
What steps were taken to do so?
Can it been shown that the pupil(s) were not placed at risk by taking them off-roll?
What steps were taken by the school to ensure a smooth transition to the new school/provision?
Actions following any serious incidents / Have there been any serious incidents at the school since the last inspection?
What steps were taken following the serious incident?
How did the actions the school took, minimise the likelihood of the serious incident reoccurring?
Actions taken to safeguarding students in off-site or alternative provisions / What steps are taken to ensure that pupils are safe at off-site or alternative provisions?
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Actions taken to identify students at risk of radicalisation and extremism / How are these students identified?
What evidence is there to show that the school’s leaders have considered the potential impact of radicalisation and extremism?
Steps taken to reduce the risk of harm from radicalisation and extremism / What steps are taken to minimise harm from radicalisation and extremism?
Is there a case study where the school has tackled this issue in practice?
Steps taken to promote eSafety and safe practices / Outline and evidence to help pupils stay safe online
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
School Inspection Handbook - September 2014
Paragraph 171
“Inspectors must look at a small sample of case studies to evaluate the experiences of particular individuals and groups” / Identify ‘At Risk’ groups or individuals and prepare case studies that illustrate how the school’s actions have reduced the risk of harm, worked to protect a pupil or taking a joint approach with other agencies.
Look at LADO referrals and the follow-up / List LADO referrals and discussions, along with the follow-up
Discuss safeguarding with pupils and parents / How are the views of parents and pupils gathered and what is the impact of knowing these views?
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
School Inspection Handbook - September 2014
Paragraph 174
Explore the school’s success in keeping children safe, for example, effective risk assessments and actions taken following serious incidents / Have there been any serious incidents?
How has the school changed its processes in the light of this issue?
Are there examples of risk assessments?
Look at the extent to which pupils understand, respond to and calculate risk, for example about child sexual exploitation, domestic violence, gangs and radicalisation and extremism / How are pupils helped to understand these issues?
How does the curriculum support learning in these areas?
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Inspecting Safeguarding in maintained schools and academies - September2014
Governors
Are statutory responsibilities met? / Yes/No
Are governors systematic in discharging their strategic responsibilities? / Yes/No
Do governors receive an annual safeguarding report and what action have they taken as a result of the issues raised? / Yes/No
Evidence of change?
School Leaders
Do school leaders create a culture of vigilance? / What evidence do you have to show that this is the case?
Is the welfare of pupils promoted? / What evidence do you have to show that this is the case?
Is there ‘timely action’ arising from safeguarding concerns? / Use the case studies from the previous section to illustrate ‘timely action’.
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Is there a ‘strong, robust [and] proactive’ response to reducing the risk of harm? / How are you able to show this?
Evidence from all the other areas should support this judgement.
Are there written child protection plans?
Are written records kept confidentially? / Who has access to these records?
Are plans in place to reduce risks from known issues? / What are the potential risks in your particular school?
What are the potential risks in your particular school?
Where physical intervention strategies are used, are they monitored and is the frequency of use reducing? / Physical Intervention Policy
Physical Intervention Training Record
Individual pupil plans for managing their challenging behaviour
Monitoring documentation
Physical Intervention record book
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Are staff carefully selected and vetted? / Evidence from the Selection and Recruitment Policy.
Evidence from a recent recruitment round.
Is there a proactive response to managing pupil absence? / Attendance Policy
Attendance strategy meetings
Record of fines or court proceedings
Absence monitoring
Attendance data (is there a fall/increase, what are the reasons, what changes have been made to tackle poor attendance by individual students or identifiable groups?)
Is there a proactive and partnership response to children who go missing? / Does the school have a policy?
What steps are taken locally to work in partnership?
Are safeguarding and child protection referrals made to the local authority? / Evidenced by the case studies referred to earlier
Refer to Annual Report to Governors
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Staff
Are all staff aware of safeguarding procedures? / How do you know?
Refer to training opportunities?
Information readily available around school, eg. posters or leaflets
Reminders in staff meetings, refer to minutes, newsletters or briefings.
Do all staff understand the risks of the internet and social media? / What steps have been taken to help staff understand these issues and use this knowledge to support students?
Do the staff work effectively as a team to reduce the risk of harm to pupils? / What evidence do you have to demonstrate this?
Do all staff work together to create a safe, physical environment in the school? / What evidence do you have to demonstrate this?
Are there effective risk assessments to reduce the likelihood of pupils being harmed? / Yes/No
Use examples
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Pupils
Do pupils feel safe? / How do you know?
What has been done to listen to their concerns and improve their feelings of safety?
Are pupils helped to protect themselves from a range of risks? / How does the curriculum help protect pupils?
Are pupils able to identify risks of harm?
How do you know?
Are pupils able to identify a trusted adult to listen to their concerns? / Who are these trusted adults?
How are pupils informed about these pupils?
Are these adults trusted because of their role or their personality?
Ofsted Expectations / Evidence / Actions
Training
Are statutory responsibilities met for training of the Designated Safeguarding Lead and for Safer Recruitment? / Yes/No?
Training record
Are staff trained in the safe use of the internet and social media? / Yes/No?
Training record
Are staff trained to identify and reduce the risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)? / Yes/No?
Training record
Are staff trained to identify and reduced the risk of Child Sexual Exploitation? / Yes/No?
Training record
Statutory Requirements and
Ofsted Expectations
Completing this evidence checklist will help ensure that your school is meeting its statutory responsibilities.
For just £1 you can buy a copy of this document in Word format for editing and completion by going to
Andrew Hall, Specialist Safeguarding Consultant
Safeguarding Ofsted Evidence Checklist 1