Safeguarding children

Governing Bodies have a general duty to ensure that children are safeguarded and their welfare promoted, a duty they share with headteachers, school staff, the Local Authority and other professionals. “Safeguarding” includes child protection issues in respect of individual children, but is wider than that. Governing Bodies should ensure that their school has in place policies and procedures that comply with statutory requirements and with guidance issued by the Department of Children, Schools and Families [DCSF].

 
Governing Bodies are accountable for ensuring that their school has in place effective child protection policies and procedures that are in accordance with guidance issued by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and by Tower Hamlets Council. This will include having a senior member of the school’s leadership team designated to take lead responsibility for dealing with child protection issues. All Governors should know who this is. However, neither the Governing Body nor any individual Governor has any automatic role in dealing with individual cases of abuse, or a right to know the details of such cases.

 
Procedures should be in place for dealing with allegations of abuse against members of staff and volunteers who work with children. Chairs of Governing Bodies are expected to work with the headteacher (unless the allegation concerns the headteacher) and Tower Hamlets officers to confirm the facts of individual cases and to reach a joint decision on the way forward in each case.

 
Governing Bodies should have in place policies on Physical Interventions (including the Use of Force and Restraint), Health and Safety, Anti-Bullying, Racist Incidents, and should receive regular reports from the headteacher on bullying and racist incidents. Tower Hamlets can provide model policies for all these.

 
Governing Bodies must also ensure that safe recruitment policies and procedures for staff and volunteers are in place. For more information on this, and to download “Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education – Statutory Guidance” (January 2007), go to the DCSF website:

http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/resources-and-practice/IG00175/

This Guidance also sets out the recruitment and vetting checks that should be carried out. Governors must ensure that this guidance is being followed, and that the school is keeping securely a list of the current Criminal Records Bureau [CRB] checks of all staff and volunteers working in school.

 
Governing Bodies should be aware that a new scheme for vetting staff and volunteers working in schools, including School Governors, is being phased in from the autumn of 2009 under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.  The scheme will be operated by the government Independent Safeguarding Authority [ISA]. More details of how this will be made available to Governors by Tower Hamlets Governor Services when they are known.

 
Further information can be found on Teachernet:

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/familyandcommunity/childprotection/