A new Head of Safeguarding, Health, Children & Families, a School Improvement Lead, a Digital Technology and Accessibility Lead, and IT Manager have all now taken up positions at the Trust, which supports 15 schools across Milton Keynes and Corby.

Victoria Blackmore has joined IFtL as Head of Safeguarding, Health, Children & Families after two-and-half-years working for Herefordshire Council as Manager of Safeguarding in Education and Social Inclusion. She was formerly Education Safeguarding Lead at Central Bedfordshire Council, and prior to that a Family Support Worker. Having started her journey in safeguarding a decade ago, Victoria has a real passion for both safeguarding and SEND. She has worked in a variety of education settings and this has given her vast experience and a focus on maintaining a ‘child-centred’ approach.

Isabel Parker has arrived as the Trust’s School Improvement Lead, bringing extensive experience as an Executive Head Teacher at Bedford Nursery Schools Federation, and also as a senior leader at Middleton Primary School and West Town Primary Academy in Peterborough. Previously she was the National Early Years Lead on the Teaching School Council. As a National Leader for Education, Isabel has supported many leaders to improve their schools. Most recently, Isabel has held the role of His Majesty’s Inspector for Ofsted since 2020, and continues to be a serving inspector.

Shaun Hughes is the new Digital Technology and Accessibility Lead. Shaun completed his PGCE in 2013-14 at Two Mile Ash Initial Teacher Training Partnership and began his teaching career at Two Mile Ash School. At Two Mile Ash, he went on to become Head of Computing and Technological Innovation and Deputy Head of Year 6, before taking up a role at GEMS Wellington Academy Silicon Oasis in Dubai in 2018. There Shaun was Head of Year 6 and Lead Practitioner of Digital Pedagogy before returning to the UK in 2020 to become Assistant Head and latterly Deputy Head Teacher and SENCO at Quainton Church of England School in Aylesbury. For the past 10 years, Shaun has sought opportunities to impact on schools, in particular in digital technologies and SEN.

Ray Smith has started his role as IFtL’s IT Manager, after working for Oxley Park Academy Trust for the past 17 years. Since moving into education in 2006, Ray has worked in a wide range of non-teaching roles including facilities management and safeguarding, as well as IT. These appointments follow the arrivals earlier this academic year of Bridget Daffern as Trust Business Manager, Nicola Molloy as Financial Controller, and Charlotte Howard and Philisiwe Jones as Marketing & Business Support staff.

IFtL Chief Executive Sarah Bennett said: “We are delighted to welcome our new colleagues to the Trust. Attracting, retaining and developing the best leaders, teachers and professional services staff is an essential ingredient of being successful in our vision to inspire the futures of us all through learning together. Young people only get one chance and everyone who works for IFtL, within our schools and within the central team, takes this very personally.”

The survey, carried out by Judicium with parent company Supporting Education Group, asked more than 620 designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) and SLT members in schools across England to rate the effectiveness of a range of key safeguarding activities.

Schools found that filtering and monitoring ICT usage, along with safeguarding training and updating safeguarding records to be areas of low effectiveness and high personal challenge.

Just 18% of all respondents said filtering and monitoring was as effective as it can be in their schools, with 59% claiming it is one of their biggest current challenges. These results were driven by DSLs – 65% rated it a big challenge, compared to 46% of SLTs.

Just a quarter (25%) of all respondents thought that their current safeguarding and child protection training works well and 43% said the activity is one of their biggest challenges. DSLs once again led these concerns – just 16% find this training works as well as it could, compared to 49% of SLT members.

Updating and reviewing safeguarding records to identify patterns of events or behaviour was another key pain point for effective safeguarding, with 30% finding this activity challenging.

Drafting and reviewing policies, and communicating with stakeholders, such as other professionals, parents, students and agencies, were rated as high effectiveness, low challenge activities.

The survey was carried out in June 2022 to better understand how schools think about and meet some of the challenges associated with safeguarding and to explore if any additional resources and support can be provided to help schools with this important area.

The findings follow analysis by Judicium which has revealed the important part safeguarding failures play in Ofsted category 4 inspection reports. Of the 130 inadequate judgements between 2019 and 2021, 59 (45%) cited safeguarding as ineffective. Record keeping, leadership, and governance, following-up concerns, staff training and pupil safety were most frequently cited in inspector feedback in these cases.

Helen King, a former DSL in a London secondary school and now head of safeguarding at Judicium, says: “We know from our safeguarding work with schools that the risks of getting safeguarding wrong are significant and can have a devastating impact on pupils. These findings will help to highlight key areas of concern for schools, service providers and policy makers.

“We also need to bear in mind that the DSL role is a high accountability job which has grown hugely in recent years – KCSIE has more than trebled in size over the past seven years, from 57 pages in 2015 to almost 180 today. That needs to be reflected in the understanding of the DSL remit and the support that is available to them if the role is to remain effective.”

A recent independent evaluation by the NSPCC confirmed an ongoing need for Speak out Stay safe (SOSS). Whilst most primary children have a good understanding of what abusive behaviour looks like and which trusted adults they can speak to, the children’s charity safeguarding programme is designed to boost schools’ relationships and sex education (RSE) teaching. Headteacher Sarah Oliver from Rowledge C of E Primary in Farnham shares how her pupils have engaged with the online assembly.

My sixth year in post also marks the sixth year we’ve rolled out the Speak out Stay safe (SOSS) programme. At Rowledge C of E Primary we feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to have the NSPCC in to speak with our children. Tapping into their expertise and resources has been hugely beneficial in enabling our pupils to understand abuse in all its forms. Their team made the initial outreach and the process of bringing them into the school was seamless. More recently due to COVID-19 restrictions we’ve taken advantage of their brilliant online assembly.

Just this term we ran our first online offering with our children to support them in feeling empowered – knowing how they can speak out and stay safe with the support of classroom resources. Making sure that pupils then have sufficient time to reflect on these sessions is a key priority for our teachers. Tapping into thought books that they use every morning, pupils are encouraged to write down any thoughts or feelings that they may want to share with their teacher. Having this tool available means they really took the content of the assembly seriously.

The SOSS online assembly is well-made, and the introduction of Ant and Dec is genius. The children absolutely love them, and it makes the film very current. With the programme’s goal of ensuring children know how to access support, if they need it, it wouldn’t be everyone who can deliver such difficult content. However, Ant and Dec and their co-presenter manage it with just the right level of sensitivity. At primary level if you don’t grab the pupils’ attention from the get-go you’ve lost them before you’ve even begun. So, the delivery being engaging and entertaining without trivialising the seriousness of the topic means the children really want to listen.

One of the pupils’ main takeaways from SOSS is that they are supported in telling someone if they think there’s a problem. Teachers encourage students to critically think about if something doesn’t feel right and listen to any butterflies in their tummy which might indicate that they need to confide in someone. From experience we know that a child is more likely to first disclose to a close friend than an adult, especially if they feel the grown-ups in their life are too busy. So, leveraging the NSPCC’s content, we have also developed extra materials around keeping friends safe.

It’s likely a friend may not know what to do or where to go with such information. As such we’re aiming to upskill the children as to next steps if they heard something that makes them uncomfortable. On top of my role, I am working with the Hampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) which prioritises keeping young people safe and ensuring their wellbeing in the local area. One of our focuses is how children can keep their friends safe, so collectively with the NSPCC’s resources, we’ve spearheaded the idea of upskilling into Rowledge’s classrooms. The overarching message we are trying to put across is that it is okay to talk. However big or small the problem is, there are adults they can approach who are available to listen and help.

SOSS has also helped support our safeguarding duties while linking directly to the curriculum. Working in the education sector you’re often told to deliver a subject but aren’t given the right resources to do so. For example, when it comes to PHSE subjects such as abuse or sex education, teachers naturally worry about getting it right. It’s critical that resources can either be delivered by external organisations or are made available for teachers, so SOSS is pivotal for tackling an issue that’s close to my heart. Other NSPCC resources such as Talk PANTS have been invaluable. With the help of the friendly dinosaur Pantosaurus, children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell someone they trust if anything worries them.

Given that some of the abuse that can be experienced as you get older isn’t always obvious, the impact of nuances in relationships is important for pupils to be aware of early on. Despite the sensitive nature of the topic the SOSS online assembly manages it superbly. Not shying away from difficult subject matters and approaching them in a way that is accessible for children is crucial, so they’ve really hit the nail on the head in my eyes. Available to every primary school at no cost I’d highly recommend SOSS to all. Unless you’re specifically teaching this in your own way, and you have a clear programme of study it should be 100% compulsory. It’s a non-negotiable that children know that abuse is never their fault and that they have the right to be safe.

Interested in the NSPCC’s online safeguarding programme? Receive their online assembly and supporting resources to use in your classroom discussions by signing up your primary school today.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a suite of lesson plans and worksheets aimed at teaching primary and secondary school pupils how to protect their privacy online and how they can control what online companies and platforms know about them.

Emily Keaney, ICO’s Director of Regulatory Strategy said: “With children learning how to use an iPad before they can ride a bike, it’s crucial that they’re taught how to keep their personal data safe. These plans will ensure that the UK’s children are learning about the value of their name, where they live, what they like and where they go from the very start of their data journey.”

The resources explain what counts as personal data, how to protect it and how to keep it private on social media. They cover the curriculum in all parts of the UK and can be downloaded for free from the ICO website.

The resources form part of the ICO’s work on building awareness of the Children’s Code, a set of standards that online services must follow if they are likely to be accessed by children. That includes putting in place extra layers of protection for children’s data.

Ms Keaney said: “With the introduction of the Children’s Code last September, it’s more important than ever that teachers feel empowered to educate their pupils about the positives and negatives of sharing personal data with websites, apps and online services.

“We hope that these lesson resources will enable teachers to introduce these topics in the classroom, and begin the conversation around keeping safe online.”

The ICO will be producing more resources around the principles of the Children’s Code to ensure that young people know what to expect when they open an app, visit a website or play an online game.

For more information on the Children’s Code, please visit the dedicated website hub or email our Children’s Code team on childrenscode@ico.org.uk.

The cloud-based system enables remote safeguarding, ensuring that reporting, access and analysis can continue as schools across the UK close in response to COVID-19. The software has a market value of £600/year for a secondary school, and £350/year for a primary school, but it is being offered free of charge in a bid to transform the student safeguarding space moving forwards.

Impero Back:drop enables teachers and safeguarding staff to access a history for each student, including pastoral, child protection, behavioural concerns, or mental health needs, as well as first aid incidents, medical requirements and a log of medicine administration. The system highlights patterns and connects external agencies for a single comprehensive view that enables early interventions and can flag warning signs of serious concerns including suspected home abuse or suicide risk.

Impero has created options within the software to support reporting specifically related to the current outbreak of COVID-19. This update will allow schools to see at a glance whether a student has suspected symptoms, and to track the health of the student body as a whole.

Justin Reilly, former teacher and CEO of Impero says: “Across the country, more than half of schools are still using paper-based filing cabinet reporting systems. Having spent most of my career as a teacher or school advisor, I know how difficult and time-consuming these systems make it to access records, identify trends over time and intervene where necessary. For schools which rely on paper-based systems, in situations where they have to work remotely – as is now the case with COVID-19 – carrying out this activity becomes impossible. Safeguarding must not stop, just because of the pandemic.”

“Schools must be able to access records in cases where remote working is necessary”, continues Reilly. “The idea is to make the reporting of safeguarding concerns for schools across the UK as easy as possible. It’s not right that budget constraints mean some schools have inferior processes in place when it comes to student safeguarding. That is why we are launching this self-sign up system, completely free of charge for schools today, tomorrow and indefinitely.”

While schools remain closed the remote capabilities of the software will ensure that pupil records are kept up to date. Teachers carrying out safeguarding processes, such as home visits to children with child protection concerns can maintain reports in real-time so that no information gaps exist when schools return to normal.

Impero Back:drop is designed to be straightforward to use and quick to implement, so that schools can begin reporting almost immediately. The onboarding process is simple: schools create an account, and then import student and staff data using a CSV file. Depending on the amount of data being uploaded, most schools can be ready to go within half an hour.

The software is managed using an intuitive web interface, and Impero is also making knowledge base articles available on their customer portal so that teachers and safeguarding teams can quickly get to grips with the software.

Impero Back:drop is available for free and schools can sign-up from today on the Impero website.

The unprecedented school closures and social distancing measures in place across the UK, are leading to a significant number of concerns amongst educators about the welfare of pupils and students. Schools, which are a safe haven for many pupils, will now no longer be accessible to all. This will inevitably cause an increase in safeguarding risks that will still need to be managed; in most cases, managed remotely.

Whilst the most vulnerable children (such as those on Child Protection Plans and Looked After Children) will continue to attend school alongside the children of critical workers, there will be a significant number of children who will be at home and who remain at risk of serious harm as a result of abuse, neglect, anxiety, poverty and a whole host of other safeguarding and pastoral issues.

Martin Baker, co-founder and CEO of One Team Logic said, “With the safety and wellbeing of children and young adults at the heart of everything we do, we recognise the incredibly difficult situation that educators face in this uncertain time.

“We are therefore offering access to the MyConcern Safeguarding Software free of charge to all schools that currently don’t have an electronic record keeping system.  We will offer this service free of charge until September 2020 by which time we hope that schools will have resumed ‘normal service’.”

MyConcern will ensure that all staff whether remote or onsite will be able to quickly and easily record safeguarding concerns, and Safeguarding Leads will receive an instant notification of all concerns recorded with full reporting functionality.

To take advantage of this offer, please complete the online form with your details, email for details at c19@myconcern.co.uk, or call on 0330 6600 757.