Introduction

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015’ establishes that, as a minimum requirement to fulfil its statutory function, a Local Safeguarding Children Board should assess whether its partners are fulfilling the statutory obligations set out in Chapter 2 of that guidance.

This self-evaluation framework is designed to assist schools and the Harrow Safeguarding Children Board in monitoring and evaluating compliance in respect of their statutory obligations under s11 of the Children Act 2004 and s157 and s175 of the Education Act 2002. These sections of the Acts place a duty on key persons and bodies to make arrangements to ensure that in discharging their functions, they have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The following standard descriptors for the audit tool are taken from s11 requirements and updated with broader responsibilities introduced in ‘Working together 2015’.

Self-evaluation RAG rating

School leaders are asked to use the traffic light system to evaluate safeguarding arrangements measured against the descriptors in column two.

Green:In place, up to date, and meets the standard descriptor

Amber: Requiring review or improvement

Red:Improvement required as a matter of urgency

Please shade each numbered descriptor of each section using the above RAG rating.

If the school assesses itself as red or amber against any descriptor, areas for development and a timescale for completion should be recorded in the fourth column on the right.

Evidence should be referred to in the third column. Good practice is modelled here in italics, giving school leaders examples that they can identify to further improve their practice. These can be deleted when the school inserts its own reference to evidence in the text of this column.

It is recommended that the headteacher, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Nominated Safeguarding Governor should work on the audit together. It should be signed by the Headteacher and Nominated Safeguarding Governor to confirm that they agree the contents and should be formally recorded within Governing Body minutes.

Date audit commissioned / 19/10/15 / Audit completed by: / Signature & date:
Date completed / 02/11/15 / Mr S. Murji / Sunil Murji 2/11/15
Return to
School / Kenmore Park Junior School
Headteacher / Michael Baumring
Designated safeguarding lead / M Baumring,
Deputy designated safeguarding lead / S Murji, J Mason, F Maloney,
M McEvoy.
Nominated governor safeguarding / C Kittredge (chair), N Parekh.
Designated teacher (CLA) / F. Maloney
Key feature of safeguarding arrangements / Descriptors / Evidence provided by the school / Identify areas for further improvement
Actions / Timescales
Leadership & Accountability
Senior management commitment to the importance of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children (including early help) – with clear lines of accountability /
  1. There is a nominated Governor who champions safeguarding and a Designated Safeguarding Lead who has clearly defined roles & responsibilities
  1. There is a written accountability framework and staff understand their responsibilities
  1. School community knows who the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Nominated Governor are & knows to whom allegations should be reported
  1. Designated Safeguarding Lead is allocated appropriate time, funding, training, resources and support to
  • provide expertise for staff on child welfare & CP matters
  • take part in strategy discussions and inter-agency meetings
  • contribute to assessment of children
  1. The Nominated Governor and Head Teacher have shared responsibility for ensuring the organisation has appropriate arrangements in place for the management of allegations against staff/ volunteers
  1. The designated teacher has the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding to promote the educational achievement of CLA
/
  • The school uses an adopted version of the Local authority model CP policy (updated to include Prevent duties/FGM in summer 2015). A copy is signed by the chair of governors once it is ratified by the full governing body (7/10/15). The school also adopts all staff discipline/grievances/complaints policies and related policies such as Staff Code of Conduct, Anti-bullying and Harrow LSCB protocols.
  • The school has 5 DSLs: all have Level 3 current training. 3 of these are involved in day-to-day safeguarding issues such as passing on information to outside agencies, managing disclosures and working with vulnerable pupils.
One DSL is trained by the HSCB to train others at Level 2. This training for all staff was completed on Sept 1st 2015.
2 x DSL are currently also being trained for Prevent duties – (November 2015).
One DSL has completed (14 Oct ‘15) the CSE Champion Lead for the local authority. This allows the school to train our whole staff on CSE and be a source of advice/signposting champion.
These measures allow the school to have high levels of capacity and succession planning.
The school has regular meetings with the nominated safeguarding governor who has come in to see:
1. PSHE lessons
2. Behaviour Management with individual pupils
3. Single Central Record check
4. Whole school recording system for all vulnerable pupils and pupils on CIN/CP.
5. Working with vulnerable parents.
DSLs work with external agencies and attend all CIN/CP/strategy/legal meetings. We pro-actively host such meetings when we have the evidence/met the threshold criteria. The school has the capacity to follow up any ‘live’ concerns –these can be anything up to 15 – 20 per week including calls, letters, parent meetings and external agency multi-agency working. See case studies.
The school has the capacity to lead effectively with allegations against staff and follows all advice given by the relevant LADO (Janice Miller 020 8736 6435 / 07814 385 469, )/HR and Personnel staff.
The designated teacher for CLA is also our SENCo and has the knowledge and skills to meet the needs of CLA (currently none) pupils. / Queries See page 4:
  1. Is a First Aid Policy the same as a Medical Care Policy?
  2. Is an intimate Care policy statutory?
Attend LA Prevent course 3/11/15.
Check with Kerry Edens re: NSPCC and Digital Sisters to promote esafety.

*indicates policies presented to GB without amendments to previous version.

Policy statement / Date reviewed / Policy statement / Date reviewed
Allegations against staff4 / 7/10/15* / Attendance / April 2013. Not on website. Emergency Leave Summary on website.
Behaviour1 / 7/10/15* / Bullying including
  • Cyber bullying
  • Hate based bullying (eg homophobic bullying)
/ 7/10/15* Anti-homophobic policy in place and on website.
Child Protection4 / 7/10/15 / Complaints3 / 7/10/15
Drugs and substance misuse / 7/10/15* / Female Genital Mutilation5 / As part of the CP policy.
First Aid / Same as Medical Policy? 7/10/15 / Health and safety2 / 7/10/15
ICT including e-safety / 17/6/2014. Two policies on website. / Incitement to racial hatred & radicalisation (Prevent) / As part of the CP policy.
Equality Policy 7/10/15*
Intimate care / tbc / Physical intervention (LA model policy) / 8/09
Safeguarding of children / Same as Working together to Safeguard Children/keeping children Safe in Education? 7/10/15. / Sex education1 (including awareness of CSE) / 7/10/15*
CSE Champion Oct 2015.
Special educational needs report1 / Report dated 2014 on website. / Staff behaviour / code of conduct / safer working3 / 7/10/15*
Supporting pupils with medical conditions4 / Medical Policy 7/10/15* / Whistle blowing / Sept 2013.
1Statutory policies required by education legislation4 Documents referenced in statutory guidance5 Specific safeguarding issues
3 Other statutory documents 2Statutory policies required by other legislation
Key feature of safeguarding arrangements / Descriptors / Evidence provided by the school / Identify areas for further improvement
Actions / Timescales
B. Policies & procedures
A clear statement of the school’s responsibilities towards children is available to staff
The statement includes the school’s extended responsibility for identifying or providing early help /
  1. The following statutory policies are consistent with LSCB standards and the CP policy is reviewed annually
  • Child Protection (including procedures in accordance with government guidance & locally agreed inter-agency procedures)
  • Managing allegations against staff / volunteers
  1. All risk assessments are in place & reviewed (eg risk of young people being drawn into terrorism)
  1. The CP policy is published & accessible to all
  1. The CP policy makes it clear that all children have equal rights to being safe and protected
  1. CP policy and procedures help staff to recognise the additional vulnerability of some groups e.g. babies; young carers; children with SEND
/ Statutory Policies and other key policies deemed so are annually presented to GB for discussion even if there are no amendments – this allows new governors to ‘keep up to speed’ with the cycle.
All Safeguarding Policies are based on LA model policies. Any amendments by LA/DfE advice or new legislation, e.g. Prevent duties are presented to the Governors. In the case of the CP policy, this was 3 times during 2014-5.
Website contains updated CP policy and other key safeguarding documents.
External providers agree to school CP protocols before being allowed to provide services such as after school clubs.
Attendance list for Whole school training available as evidence for dissemination of policies.
HSCB referred to in documents handed out to staff such as ‘What to do if you are worried about a child’. HSCB site used to access protocols e.g. CAF, advice and contact details. School DSL are adept at accessing Early Intervention Services (EIS course attended 2015) and have wide experience of matching service to need. The school is aware that preventative early intervention is a large part of our work to prevent issues escalating. To support this, we have created services into our own provision such as counselling, pastoral manager, external experts such as NSPCC, student social workers, DV advice, parent classes, etc. / To clarify what the Risk Assessment is for ‘Prevent’ – Prevent course completed by SM + JM 3/11/15.
Key feature of safeguarding arrangements / Descriptors / Evidence provided by the school / Identify areas for further improvement
Actions / Timescales
C.
Service development takes account of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and is informed by the views of children and families /
  1. Safeguarding and the welfare of children are central to every aspect of school life including school improvement & school self-evaluation
  1. Curriculum development ensures children are made aware of their right to be safe from abuse and neglect and are taught about risks and how to keep themselves safe, including e-safety, across the curriculum.
  1. Information for children, young people and parents is made available, about where to go for help in relation to maltreatment and abuse
  1. Information for children, young people and parents is made available about keeping safe eg. e-Safety; child sexual exploitation (CSE)
  1. Information provided is in a format and language that can be easily understood by all service users
  1. There is a culture of listening to children
  1. The child’s wishes and feelings are taken into account when determining what action to take and what services to provide to protect them
  1. There are appropriate safeguarding responses to children who go missing from education, to help identify any risk of abuse and neglect (including sexual abuse or exploitation) and to help prevent their going missing in future
/ HT report highlights overview of vulnerable pupils to GB.
Website lists DSLs for school community.
SSE summarises CP overview.
SLT meetings discuss each priority pupil at least once a week in a formal setting and daily on a need to know basis.
Specific measures to promote these areas include:
NSPCC running assemblies and workshops, Parent esafety awareness training, a culture of listening to pupils, e.g. worry box, pupil surveys, parent surveys, drop-in sessions, young carers, school council, open door policy to meet the needs of our vulnerable parents.
Posters around the school identifying DSL team with photos and names. These are made available to external service providers.
Website has a list of DSL.
Parent newsletters reinforcing role of Pastoral Manager (e.g. 19/10/15).
School resources are directed to vulnerable pupils, e.g. Saturday School, Forest School.
PHSE programme set by PHSE Association to implement formally by Dec/Jan 2015/6. SMSC provision rated as ‘Good’ by previous ofsteds.
Curriculum map indicates where safeguarding issues will be covered. There is breadth and progression in all aspects, including e-safety:
1. Identity (their personal qualities, attitudes, skills, attributes and achievements and what influences these)
2. Relationships (including different types and in different settings)
3. A healthy (including physically, emotionally and socially) balanced lifestyle (including within relationships, work-life, exercise and rest, spending and saving and diet)
4. Risk (identification, assessment and how to manage risk rather than simply the avoidance of risk for self and others) and safety (including behaviour and strategies to employ in different settings)
5. Diversity and equality (in all its forms)
6. Rights (including the notion of universal human rights), responsibilities (including fairness and justice) and consent (in different contexts)
7. Change (as something to be managed) and resilience (the skills, strategies and ‘inner resources’ we can draw on when faced with challenging change or circumstance)
8. Power (how it is used and encountered in a variety of contexts including persuasion, bullying, negotiation and ‘win-win’ outcomes).
Children leave notes for Pastoral Manager when they have a concern. We have introduced the ‘PANTS’ rule via PHSE lessons – as recommended by the NSPCC. ChildLine posters around the school.
Addressed previous ofsted comment that some pupils feel unsafe (i.e. not sure who to go to if there is a playground issues) at lunch break – action – Mealtime staff are now aware of all vulnerable pupils, have a recording system in place and train once a week.
School survey results – 100% of responses said, ‘my child likes school,’ 95 % said, ‘The school’s values and attitudes have a positive affect on my child.’
The school works within a restorative justice approach for pupils and this includes discerning pupils’ wishes when incidences of bullying, etc occur. Pastoral Manager has completed a 6-day Restorative Approaches course. Simple 5-point behaviour code.
Events such as Anti-bullying week highlight how the school will deal with such incidents and how the school will listen to the voice of pupils. Much of the school’s work is based on preventative measures such as Circle time/PHSE provision, young carers club, lunch time clubs for vulnerable pupils. Effective School Council for many years.
Child Missing from Education is a case study currently Sept – Oct ‘15.
Vulnerable pupils have extensive pre-start arrangements in place, e.g. pupils excluded from previous schools, pupils about to transfer from infants – a close arrangement with infant feeder ensure we know in advance the pupils and families who are vulnerable before they start and that services are in place. / Parent esafety awareness planned for Dec 2015.
Formal adoption of PHSE Association programme of study to adopt by Dec/Jan 2015/6.
Website to update to make Safeguarding more prominent and to name each DSL. Photos of DSL around School.
Completed in Nov 2015.
Key feature of safeguarding arrangements / Descriptors / Evidence provided by the school / Identify areas for further improvement
Actions / Timescales
D. Training, induction & development
Staff training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children for all staff working with or in contact with children and families /
  1. Induction for staff, governors & volunteers includes
  • Roles & responsibility, accountability
  • CP & staff code of conduct and other safeguarding policies and procedures
  • Keeping Children Safe in Education (Part 1)
  1. All staff and volunteers, who work or have contact with children and families, receive CP & safeguarding/welfare training so that they know the school’s procedures and their own accountability
  1. Single agency training meets the standards and objectives of LSCB training requirements and staff receive regular updates
  1. All staff are trained to recognise signs of abuse and neglect, including domestic abuse (also peer abuse e.g. cyber bullying; and within the community e.g. gangs)
  1. All staff are trained to recognise signs of significant safeguarding issues e.g. CSE; FGM; radicalisation
  1. The DSL and Nominated Governor undertake Designated Person’s training and the LSCB’s multi-agency Working Together training
  1. The designated teacher attends updated CP training every 2 years
  1. The Head Teacher and Chair of Governors undertake Allegations Management Training
  1. Outcomes and findings from LA inspections and LSCB audits and serious case reviews are disseminated to staff
/ Level 2 training for all staff, including mealtime staff.
Training for governors – Pastoral Manager to lead governor training in Autumn 2015. All governors received training from LCSB officer regarding new CP duties (2014-15)
Regular training for all staff – formal (23/10/15) and informal – Pastoral Manager leads updates for ‘live’ cases. New staff receives individual training from Pastoral Manager – e.g. sports coach, apprentices.
All training delivered by LA/LSCB staff or our LSCB trained Pastoral Manger. HT+DHT attend all relevant CP priority training, e.g. ofsted, updates on FGM/Gang related violence, etc.
Senior staff are all DSLs and regularly cross reference ‘live’ cases with each other and staff that ‘need-to-know’. SENCo and Pastoral Manager meet with feeder infant school to ensure we are prepared for vulnerable new intakes
All staff are instructed to bring any concern to the attention of a DSL – these have included pupils with poor lunches, unexplained injuries, unexplained absences, significant changes of behaviour and behaviour at home, e.g. accessing inappropriate materials.
Staff are aware that poor communication is often the root cause of cases escalating – Serious Case Reviews, Munro Report.
Staff are aware and encouraged to report issues relating to parent capacity, e.g. mental health, disability, vulnerabilities, poverty, etc. School takes these issues and acts on them, e.g. signposting parents to appropriate services – often these are in-house – counselling, DV support. We work closely with the Children’s Centre (on-site) to engage difficult to reach families.
All DSLs trained within time limit.
HT/Chair have managed allegations against staff (2014) through LADO/HR.
During L2 training, serious case reviews are discussed, e.g. Baby ‘P’, Victoria Climbie, etc. and our response is clarified – that staff must report all concerns and follow up pupils in their care. Staff have been explicitly informed that good safeguarding requires all staff to follow up cases they have reported. Staff Meeting (attendee list) 23/10/15.