Safeguarding Board Sub-Committee Update
The Education subgroup of the Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB), now chaired by Chris Malone, WCC Head of Education and Learning, met recently. The terms of reference of the group were updated and are available at the link below.
WSCB is keen to establish a robust process of two-way communication with the education sector. The Education, Schools and Learning Sub-Committee is the identified mechanism to facilitate that communication however, the Board is very keen to improve the links between the sub-committee and the sector, ideally through local schools' consortia.
Consortia are therefore invited to nominate representatives to sit on the Sub-Committee, which meets four times per year.
If you are interested in attending the Sub-Committee on behalf of your local consortia, please contact Chris Malone chrismalone@warwickshire.gov.uk to express your interest.
Reminder to schools following learning from Child Death Overview Panels
Child Death Overview Panels (CDOP) were introduced by the government in April 2008 to review the deaths of all children aged 0-17 years, irrespective of how they died, in order to identify any learning and/or wider public health issues which may prevent future deaths. Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire has a sub-regional arrangement where learning from all panels is shared across the sub-region.
Following the learning identified from the reviews of children and young persons of school age from across the sub-region we would like to issue the following reminders to schools. A more in depth report is attached which includes some detail of individual cases.
Road Safety
Schools are encouraged to provide regular updates on road safety to pupils, which should include:
- The safe use of pelican and zebra crossings
- The dangers of being distracted by using i-pods/mobile phones etc when crossing roads
- Winter road safety i.e. if it is dark to wear high visibility clothing if walking or cycling to and from school
- Raising awareness of bike and rider safety - wearing protective gear e.g. high-vis clothing and helmet
Schools are encouraged to sign up to FREE cycle training for pupils such as 'BikeRight!' and Bikeability'. For more information please visit the BikeRight website.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Schools are also encouraged to:
- Raise awareness with students and parents of the dangers of under-age alcohol consumption particular around exam results time
- Utilise the school newsletter to reinforce the dangers of solvent abuse and to remind staff to look out for signs and symptoms of solvent abuse amongst pupils