Alfie Steele: A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review

A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) [previously a Serious Case Review] was initiated after the murder of nine-year old Alfie in February 2021 by Dirk Howell, the partner of Alfie’s mother, Carla Scott. In June 2023 Howell was convicted of murder and child cruelty and was jailed for life with a minimum of 32 years. Scott was convicted of manslaughter and child cruelty and jailed for 27 years with a minimum 17-year term. The judge in the case said that the suffering they inflicted on Alfie could “only properly be described as sadistic”. 

The review (which contains distressing content) can be downloaded here:  https://www.safeguardingworcestershire.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CSPR-Worcestershire-Alfie.pdf

Peer Education Project – Mental Health Foundation

Mental health in education has increasingly become a core function of educational establishments and their staff. However, one of the chief issues in approaching young people’s mental health in schools is the barrier between staff and students. Breaking down that barrier is key to getting the mental health message across to those who need it most. The Mental Health Foundation has developed a project aimed at that endeavour. Seeking to use older pupils to engage with younger pupils on mental health matters. To read more about this fascinating approach, please follow the link below:

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/programmes/families-children-and-young-people/peer-education-project

Safer Recruitment: Misconduct decisions with ‘no prohibition’ decision to be wiped from DfE’s website after two years

n 2023, the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) reviewed the policy which underpins how they publish information related to teacher misconduct cases. From 9 January 2024 all published decisions in which there is a finding of serious misconduct but no prohibition order imposed will be removed automatically from GOV.UK two years after the decision was first published. The details of these no prohibition order cases will no longer be accessible to employers when completing their safer recruitment checks as laid out in Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance. 

You can find more information on this story in Schools’ Week here: Misconduct decisions to be wiped from DfE’s website (Schools Week)  

Online Anti-bullying training (Anti-Bullying Alliance)

The Anti-Bullying Alliance is a coalition of organisations and individuals that are united against bullying. The Alliance has developed free CPD-certified anti-bullying online training for anyone that works with children and young people, topics include:

  • 10 principles to reduce bullying
  • Cyberbullying (Online bullying)
  • Bullying and Difference
  • Bullying and SEN/disability 
  • Young Carers and Bullying 
  • All Different, All Equal: Preventing and Responding to Appearance Targeted Bullying 

The training can be found here: https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/tools-information/free-cpd-online-training

Safer Internet Day – Tuesday 6th February 2024

It’s now less than a month until Safer Internet Day with its theme of “Inspiring Change? Making a Difference, Managing Influence, and Navigating Change Online,”

To help schools get ready, the UK Safer Internet Centre has recently released an exclusive collection of short films, designed to captivate and educate children and young people aged 3 to 18 years old. These films serve as starters for meaningful conversations, making them perfect for educators and professionals eager to participate in Safer Internet Day activities across various environments such as schools, nurseries, youth groups, libraries, and beyond.

You can access the films here: https://swgfl.org.uk/magazine/uk-safer-internet-centre-releases-safer-internet-day-films/

Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory

The  Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework has been updated, both the schools’ version and the one for child minders. Although there are other changes, from a safeguarding perspective, the new guidance says that group and school-based settings should ensure that ‘safeguarding policies and procedures include all electronic devices with imaging and sharing capabilities, not just mobile phones and cameras’. (see Section 3, Safeguarding policies and procedures)

You can find a summary of the changes and download the updated guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2

Safeguarding children statutory guidance

The Department for Education (DfE) has published updated ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance on multi-agency working to help keep children safe in England. The guidance applies to all organisations and agencies with functions relating to children and all education providers and childcare settings.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children–2

School inspection handbook

This handbook describes the main activities carried out during graded, ungraded and urgent inspections of maintained schools and academies in England under sections 5 and 8 of the Education Act 2005, respectively. It sets out the grade descriptors that inspectors use to make their judgements and on which they report. It applies to school inspections under the education inspection framework (EIF).

Full guidance:

How we inspect safeguarding in schools

In this blog, we’ll consider safeguarding through the course of an inspection. We’ll explain some of the main activities we undertake and why. You’ll find lots of references to keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) too. That’s because it sets out the Department for Education’s (DfE) expectations, as the regulator, of a school’s safeguarding responsibilities.

Full Blog: https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2023/11/09/how-we-inspect-safeguarding-in-schools/

Keeping Children Safe during Community Activities, After-School Clubs and Tuition


The government guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Out-of-School Settings’ has now been updated and replaced by new guidance published on 19th September 2023. The new over-arching guidance document is called ‘After-Schools clubs, community activities and tuition safeguarding guidance for providers’ (Department of Education, September 2023). This is now the latest version of the guidance to be followed by organisations other than schools who work with children and young people. These organisations include (but are not limited to): 

  • Community activities
  • Before and after school clubs 
  • Holiday clubs 
  • Supplementary schools 
  • Private tuition 
  • Music lessons 
  • Sports training 

Although this guidance is non-statutory, it is to be regarded as best-practice. The Department of Education is encouraging organisations, clubs and tuition providers (known as out-of-school settings) to follow it.
 

Downloads 

For Providers: 

After-school clubs, community activities, and tuition Safeguarding guidance for providers (Department of Education, 2023.) 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1185885/After-school_clubs__community_activities_and_tuition_safeguarding_guidance_for_providers.pdf

Summary of the Guidance:

Keeping children safe during clubs, tuition and activities summary leaflet for providers running out-of-school settings (Department of Education, 2023.) 

https://dfegovukassets.blob.core.windows.net/assets/14539%20OOSS/Keeping%20children%20safe%20during%20clubs,%20tuition%20and%20activities%20-%20provider%20leaflet.pdf

For Parents: 

Keeping children safe during clubs, tuition and activities summary leaflet for providers running out-of-school settings (Department of Education, 2023.) 

https://dfegovukassets.blob.core.windows.net/assets/14539%20OOSS/Helping%20to%20keep%20children%20safe%20posters.pdf