Safeguarding information for governors

Prevent Duty

Following the introduction of the Prevent Duty for schools two years ago, the University of Coventry recently published a research report on What the Prevent Duty means for School and Colleges in England. Drawing on a combination of interviews with school staff, interviews with Local Safeguarding Authority Prevent professionals and an online survey of people working in education, the report found that:

• The message that Prevent is about “all forms of extremism” and that it should form part of a schools’ wider safeguarding duty, was widely accepted by all;
• There has been some opposition around the requirement to teach British values, which is linked to the Prevent duty. Specifically, schools are uneasy about calling the values “British” and are unsure as to how to embed this into the school curriculum effectively;
• Staff who are not part of a school’s “safeguarding team”, or are relatively junior, are less confident about fulfilling the Prevent duty; and
• There were “widespread concerns” that the Prevent duty caused “increased stigmatism of Muslim students”

Commenting on the report, Chris Keates, the General Secretary of NASUWT, highlighted that “schools need appropriate support to ensure that the Prevent duty is being implemented in a way which supports equality and diversity in schools and promotes community cohesion”. This emphasises the strategic role that Governing Boards need to play in order to ensure the effective implementation of Prevent within their schools.

Weekly Safeguarding Briefing

Governors can subscribe to a weekly safeguarding briefing as it provides practical information and resources for anyone with responsibility for safeguarding.

Preventing & tackling bullying (updated guidance for schools)

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its guidance for schools on preventing and tackling bullying.

The latest version (July 2017) includes additional information about how schools can support children and young people who are bullied.

Governing boards should familiarise themselves with the guidance, which also includes information on cyber-bullying and how to support vulnerable pupils.

Sexting in Schools and Colleges

Safeguarding governors may wish to share the following with school safeguarding leads. It contains a lot of information including a clear run through of the law in this area.

Sexting in schools and colleges: Responding to incidents and safeguarding young people by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety