LA communications to schools

Title: / Working with outside organisations - guidance to schools
Summary: / Guidance for schools regarding working with outside organisations
Target school(s): / All Schools
Specific schools
For attention of: / Heads, Designated Safeguarding Officers
Author:
Contact: / Kembra Healy, Safer Organisations Manager and Local Area Designated Officer (LADO)
Email: /
Telephone: / 07823532538
Newsletter date: / 03/07/2017
Action required/
due date:

Working with outside organisations - guidance to schools

In a context of increasing demands on resources, schools are exploring links with the charitable sector and community organisations to deliver additionally to the core education offer via activities or organised events that take place after school or in the holidays. Additional arrangements through letting of space in schools contribute to income streams as well.

Parents often assume that organisations based in school settings have been vetted by the school and therefore are safe for their children; this assumption places the school in a position of responsibility to pupils that goes beyond the ending of the school day.

A school has the right and the duty to ensure that any organisation they have an informal or formal arrangement with follows good practice in the area of safeguarding children. If any school has concerns that an organisation is not meeting this standard or able to meet this standard, the school should consider withdrawing from the arrangement with the organisation to clearly communicate to parents where responsibility for safeguarding effectively sits.

The following guidance is intended to assist the school in reviewing and assessing the safeguarding arrangements of community based or charitable organisations in an effort to ensure those organisations linked with Tri-borough schools are following good safeguarding practice. The principle is always to offer guidance and support to organisations to help them identify good practice and improve; it would only be if organisations express reluctance or inability to meet these standards that the recommendation be to withdraw from the informal/formal arrangement.

  1. All organisations working with children should have a safeguarding children policy. Guidance for drafting this is available on NSPCC website:
  1. Schools should request to see the safeguarding children policy and code of conduct of any organisation that could be seen to have the endorsement of the school. Including

-Organisations that offer services to children and use school property via lettings

-Organisations approaching schools to promote an activity taking place elsewhere to their pupils

-Organisations offering extracurricular activities on school premises

-Organisations providing one off pieces of work to school pupils (ie assemblies, specific projects).

  1. Safeguarding Policies should explicitly reference how allegations against professionals/volunteers will be addressed and managed as well as how allegations of abuse within families will be reported. This should include referring matters to the LADO (with a name and number to phone) or to the front door of social services (with correct number/email). Codes of Conduct should include specific guidance to staff/volunteers on contact with children on social media or external to the organisation; photographs/videos; physical touch/care; behavioural management/restraint; expectations to follow other policies (such as health and safety); and when they are expected to inform the organisation if they have child protection investigations or police investigations in their personal lives. If the organisation has a lone working policy, this should also be referenced in the code of conduct and should clearly set out how volunteers/staff can manage safely working with children one on one. This guidance should be in line with good safeguarding practice and good examples can be found again on the NSPCC website.
  1. Schools should draft as part of the contract with any such organisation an expectation that the organisation will review the school’s own safeguarding children policy, agree to follow the school’s policy during the period the organisation is using the school and consult with the school if there are any safeguarding concerns the organisation is aware of either within the school or elsewhere. The appropriate senior officer of the organisation should either sign this as a part of the contract or if it is a separate document sign to indicate their agreement. This makes clear the expectations for the organisation to communicate if there are safeguarding concerns raised elsewhere.
  1. Schools should within the contracts with external organisations specify circumstances in which early termination would occur and this should include safeguarding concerns.
  1. If safeguarding concerns arise, the DSL of the school and the LADOs for both the school and the borough where the organisation is based should be informed.
  1. If there are concerns raised and the organisation plans to continue to operate within the school, the school’s DSL should be a part of the network that develops the risk management plan even if this group sits in another borough (ie chaired by another borough’s LADO).