LADO Education Safeguarding Advisory Service (LESAS)
What we do
Our role is to provide statutory LADO function for the whole of the children’s workforce and support education settings (early years settings, childminders, schools, and colleges) in Kent who work with children aged 0 to 18 to meet their safeguarding responsibilities and respond to safeguarding concerns.
The LADO Education Safeguarding Advisory Service (LESAS) consists of qualified Social Work England registered social workers and education professionals, all of whom have extensive knowledge of safeguarding children - both in children’s social care and in a variety of education or other services. Our team has a thorough understanding of key local and national legislation and statutory guidance related to allegations against members of the children's workforce and education safeguarding practice.
What we provide
We provide a variety of different types of support ; this includes:
- Undertaking the LADO statutory function; primarily this involves managing the process when an allegation is made against a member of the children’s workforce, not just education specific, in Kent.
- Advice for Kent education settings on how they can meet their safeguarding responsibilities, including online safety specific advice, through an enquiries service. This does not include queries relating to individual children; in these cases, a request for support should be submitted to the Front Door Service.
- Up-to-date exemplar Child Protection policy and Acceptable Use Policy for Kent education providers to adapt.
- Support for Kent education settings in times of crisis and unexpected critical incidents, for example following the unexpected death of a child who attends the setting.
- A 6 times a year newsletter for Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) in Kent education settings.
- Network meetings for Kent DSLs to share local information and guidance. These take place 3 times per academic year, for schools and early years settings.
- Targeted outreach work and subsidised support for Kent education settings following critical safeguarding needs.
The service can also be commissioned to provide a range of high-quality training and other safeguarding support products for schools, settings and other organisations, including safeguarding reviews which promote best practice and empower education settings to ensure their learners are as safe as they can be.
To see a comprehensive list of the training and other services we can be commissioned to provide, please see our training and other services menu
Contacting LESAS
Please use the LESAS enquiry form to contact LESAS:
- if you need clarification on whether to make a LADO referral;
- if you need general education safeguarding or online safety advice (not specific to individual children);
- or want to enquiry about our training or other safeguarding products.
Please view the LESAS access to support flowchart.
Making Referrals
If your concern relates to the welfare of a child: Please contact the Front Door Service or submit a request for support via the Kent Integrated Children's Services Portal
If you need to make a referral to the LADO regarding an allegation against a member of staff: Please complete a LADO referral through the Kent Integrated Children's Services Portal