Free safeguarding software launched in response to school closures

School safeguarding provider Impero has launched Impero Back:drop, a free digital safeguarding tool, designed to simplify the recording and management of pupil wellbeing.

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.