“I want to die.” Rob and Claire Johnson’s daughter was screaming, hysterical and inconsolable. Ten-year-old Emily told them a boy at school had slapped her, hard, across the face: “I want to die. Nobody believes me. He’s hitting me and nobody believes me.” “We didn’t know what to do,” Rob tells me, his voice echoing …
‘I felt like whatever I was doing was worthless. Even if I did well in school, it wouldn’t matter to people because all they would care about is me being gay.’ ZOE, 12, SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPIL, ENGLAND* It’s February, LGBTQ+ history month, and a good time to think about the safeguarding of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender …
‘ I can see them out the flat window, see the officers walking around, thinking alright, these lot are looking for something, but they don’t know who I am, cos I’m not from around here. I’m walking around the corner to where the flat is. Outside that flat, there’s two TSG vans, two cars, sniffer …
The current definition of Safeguarding is inclusive, ambitious and broad. It is not a concept that is interchangeable with Child Protection, rather it includes Child Protection (this is one of the most common misconceptions we encounter in our work). Safeguarding includes any aspect of care or engagement of children and young people that enables them …
“I recently dealt with a case of a child who was of p6 [Scottish Year 5] age who sent an indecent image to another pupil who subsequently distributed this to the rest of the school. This was only discovered by myself when I overheard other pupils discussing this. We were faced with a difficult choice …
It’s September and a range of settings are asking me what changes have taken place in the range of statutory safeguarding guidance they know they must comply with. Well, the good news is that, compared to last year, changes have been minimal. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2018) remains the same. ‘Keeping Children Safe in …
This time of year is the start of work for many new members of staff across the children’s workforce. Along with entrance codes, photocopying keys and how the tea and coffee supplies are organised, there is also the need to ensure that every induction should include training on safeguarding for each new staff member. Induction …
What is Pupil Premium Plus (PPP) funding and why is it in place? Children who’ve experienced trauma and loss in their early lives view the world through a different lens and need particular support to give them a chance to access (and hopefully thrive in) our current education system – see our earlier blog about …
A few weeks ago I attended a very useful briefing on neglect and a new assessment tool in Bristol available to practitioners that will help them assess the risk of neglect. The session developed my knowledge of the subject and offered a practical method to understand and evaluate the harm that neglect imposes on children …
Bristol as a culturally diverse region Bristol is the tenth largest city in the UK, with a rapidly growing child population. It is often ranked as one of the happiest ,most creative, and most culturally diverse places to live. There are 91 different languages spoken from 180 countries, 45 different religions, and currently 22% of …
