Safeguarding in schools is critical to protect the well-being of students, staff and visitors. Effective safeguarding policies and procedures enable staff to spot the warning signs of abuse or neglect and immediately address the situation or alert the relevant authorities.
Schools have a moral and legal responsibility to follow the safeguarding guidelines from the UK Government, outlined in the role in KCSIE Part 1. This guidance relates to the important role that safeguarding has in education.
School isn’t just an educational institution where you learn math, history, and biology. It’s a haven for students, a safe environment where children and adults are protected from mental and physical harm, and a place that reassures parents about their child’s safety.
Reality, however, isn’t always that simple, and staff members can’t always prevent bullying and abuse incidents. However, they can learn how to identify children experiencing abuse and take proper action to keep them safe.
The information below outlines best practices for safeguarding, the types of abuse that safeguarding can help prevent, and how it can help school staff spot vulnerable students.
What is Safeguarding for Schools?
Safeguarding best practices refer to the measures a primary, secondary, or special needs school takes to protect the physical and mental well-being of its students. It’s a responsibility that all staff, whether teachers, administrative, or support staff, must take.
Some of the common measures of safeguarding for schools include:
- Hiring conscientious teachers and enforcing a professional code of conduct for staff members.
- Make staff, parents, and students aware of the school’s CCTV policy and procedures if CCTV is installed.
- Providing safeguarding training to ensure all teachers know how to treat students and each other.
- Creating a straightforward process to follow if a staff member is worried about the well-being of a student.
- Understanding the sharing of safeguarding information in relation to data protection in schools.
Teaching safeguarding to children
Safeguarding isn’t just about enforcing rules to keep children safe. It’s also about teaching these children to avoid harmful behaviour and protect themselves. That includes:
- Establishing proper behavioural policies.
- Teaching students the difference between suitable and inappropriate physical contact.
- Helping students deal with peer pressure.
- Explaining the damaging effects of bullying and harassment.
- Teaching students how to navigate the internet safely in school and at home.
Why Should Schools Care About Safeguarding?
Try Us - Info, Quotes & Support
With the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people lost their jobs and faced numerous mental health issues. Unfortunately, the repercussions have manifested in recurring violent acts at homes worldwide. Parents who have lost their jobs took their frustration out on their children in the form of physical and verbal abuse.
The Guardian reports that child abuse cases have risen by 20% in England during the first year of the pandemic. A 2020 study showed that parents who were experiencing depression during the pandemic were more likely to mistreat their children. The effects of this can be long term, with not only abuse but self harm, as reported by the BBC in September 2023.
These behavioural patterns make safeguarding policies for schools all the more important. The lack of a designated safeguarding leader, whose job is to keep these children safe allowed for abuse cases to spread. If these children were able to confide in a staff member outside their homes, they would have received the help they needed.
One of the problems schools face is often children prefer to keep their abuse secret. To increase inclusivity, the terminology for abuse has been expanded in the KCSIE 2024 changes to include neglect and exploitation, and safeguarding encompasses all these to keep children protected.
Ultimately, safeguarding in schools is about staff members having empathy and forming safe connections with their students.
4 Types of Abuse and Safeguarding Concerns in Schools
Below, we look at the most common safeguarding concerns that education staff face and why safeguarding is so important in schools.
Bullying
Bullying safeguarding is the most common cause of concern at schools. Whether it’s acts of violence, name-calling, or spreading false rumours, bullying can have long-lasting effects on the ones experiencing it. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to detect. Bullying can happen inside school grounds, but it can also take place outside it, be it in a physical location or online.
To combat online bullying, schools need to implement monitoring software on their computers and devices accessed by students.
This is statutory guidance with the KCSIE regulations. It not only records online activity but also allows students to alert their teacher to bullying discreetly. Classroom Cloud is the filtering and monitoring solution Classroom365 recommends to comply with KCSIE guidelines and help combat online bullying.
Schools can also implement a mobile phone policy, which could include banning phones or installing mobile phone lockers on school premises.
The first step staff members need to take when they see a child getting bullied is to identify the cause of bullying. That way, they can address the core of the issue, which will help them solve it quickly.
Racial and Ethnic Marginalisation
Schools host students from different backgrounds, cultures, and ideologies. This provides staff members with the perfect opportunity to teach students to tolerate, accept, and respect other ideologies, no matter how different they are.
Unfortunately, that diversity can also create a space of discrimination and marginalisation. While some can attribute that to children being children, enabling that behaviour at a young age will perpetuate it in the long run. These children will never grow out of it.
That’s why staff members need to act quickly when they see these incidents, ensuring that children understand the implications of their behaviour.
Sexual Abuse
Children can experience physical, verbal and sexual abuse on school grounds. It’s actually more common than you think.
This behaviour can occur in all educational stages, from nursery school to college. According to a 2021 study in the USA, 1,064 sexual abuse cases have been recorded in 726 schools in 2017-18 alone. Sexual abuse doesn’t always involve students solely. The same study showed that 939 schools have reported sexual misconduct from staff members.
Ultimately, it’s the staff’s responsibility to solve sexual harassment issues between students. However, all the teachers and governing bodies must stay alert, ensuring no staff member abuses students.
Self-Harm
Self-harm is a common phenomenon among youngsters. This study from the National Children’s Bureau from 2023 examined the prevalence of self-harming between teenagers aged 14 to 17.
The study shows that a shocking 1 in 4 teenagers have reported self-harming and 10% of females had self-harmed with suicidal intent.
Identifying signs of self-harm can be challenging, as youngsters tend to hide the cuts and bruises they inflict upon themselves. However, several signs indicate someone is harming themselves. A student wearing long-sleeved clothes in warm weather and refusing to change in front of people is probably trying to hide their cut marks.
Isolation, low mood, and sudden behavioural changes are common symptoms among people who indulge in self-harm as well. In that case, school staff members must provide an empathetic ear and give the student judgment-free support.
Safeguarding in Schools Summary
Following safeguarding legislation and guidance is essential for schools to create a safe learning environment for students, staff, and visitors. Up-to-date safeguarding policies and procedures must be followed to protect students and the school community from visitors and harmful influences. Staff need to know their responsibilities and what to do if they are concerned about any incident involving a student.
If you have any questions regarding Classroom365 and safeguarding in schools, then please get in touch.
Please visit our home page to learn more about our services and IT support for multi-academy trusts, schools and all educational settings.
Mark Friend, BSc (Hons), is a Company Director at Classroom365 and has worked in technology for nearly 30 years. His IT career started with Rothschild Bank in Sydney, Australia, before working as a Global VPN Project Manager for the British Council. Mark has 20 years of experience in the UK education sector, helping schools integrate the latest tech into their curriculum and ICT vision.