Safeguarding policies

National safeguarding guidance for education settings

Education settings are required to comply with national guidance and legislation. This includes:

• Working Together to Safeguard Children outlines what individuals, organisations and agencies must do to protect children from harm and promote their welfare.
• Keeping Children Safe in Education is statutory guidance for all staff working in schools and colleges which outlines their responsibilities to provide a safe environment in which children can learn.
• Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework outlines the standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework is mandatory for all group and school-based early years providers and Childminders in England.

National and local guidance and information can also be found on the Kent Safeguarding Children’s Multi-agency Partnership

Links to other national guidance which may be useful for DSLs and education leaders includes:

• NSPCC - KCSIE CASPAR briefing
• LGFL - KCSIE part one and annex A translations

Professional practice

• Guidance for Safer Working Practice provides practical advice for education staff around their own standards and professional practice to reduce the risk of allegations being made against them.
• Teachers’ Standards for school leaders, staff and governing bodies, outlines the minimum requirements and standards for teachers’ professional practice and conduct.
• 'What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused' provides guidance to help practitioners identify the signs of child abuse and neglect and understand what action to take.

Parental responsibility

• Understanding and dealing with issues relating to parental responsibility
• School behaviour and attendance - parental responsibility measures

Information sharing

• Information sharing advice for safeguarding practitioners

Behaviour

• Behaviour in schools
• Searching, screening and confiscation at school

Data Protection and cloud services

• Data protection - toolkit for schools
• Cloud software services and the Data Protection Act

Child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment

• Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges

Inspection

• The Education Inspection Framework (EIF) applies to maintained schools and academies, non-association independent schools, further education and skills providers and early years settings.
• ISI safeguarding content

LESAS child protection policy templates

Education settings must have a suite of effective safeguarding policies which describe the expectations, procedures and arrangements put in place to safeguard and promote children’s welfare; these policies should be updated at least annually, or whenever there is an update or change to local practice and/or national statutory guidance or legislation. All members of the school/setting community should have access to these policies and all staff should sign to say they have read and understood its contents.

The following  templates and guidance documents are provided as a starting point and should be adapted by DSLs and leaders/managers to meet the specific requirements for their individual school or setting. LESAS make every effort to ensure that the information in our templates is accurate and up to date, however, ultimate responsibility for ensuring their individual policies are appropriate remains the responsibility of the school, college or setting leadership/management team. If errors are brought to our attention, we will correct them as soon as practicable.

Child protection policy templates

Our exemplar child protection policies for schools/colleges and early years settings are updated and developed in accordance with the key principles established in the Children's Act 1989 and 2004, related national statutory guidance and local procedures.

Online safety templates

Keeping Children Safe in Education requires schools and colleges to have “a staff behaviour policy which should, amongst other things, include: acceptable use of technologies, staff/pupil relationships and communications, including the use of social media” and that schools and colleges "should have a clear policy on the use of mobile and smart technology." The EYFS requires early years providers to "implement a policy and procedures to safeguard children ...must... cover the use of mobile phones and cameras in the setting."

As well as embedding online safety content within our child protection policy templates, LESAS provides additional policy templates for education settings to adapt. These templates can be embedded within existing safeguarding policies or standalone according to leadership decisions.

Additional online safety templates and guidance

• Online tools and platforms risk assessment form
• Dealing with complaints on social media - guidance for headteachers and managers
• Image use policy template and guidance

Additional templates, guidance and resources from the LADO Education Safeguarding Advisory Service

Other optional template resources are also available to support DSLs and leaders in educational settings.

Please contact the LADO and Education Safeguarding Advisory Service to discuss queries regarding our policy templates and guidance.