2020 Amendment of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act

Essential Updates to your Single Central Record: 2020 Amendment of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act Summary: Important legal changes came into force on the 28th November 2020 to take into account a judgement by the Supreme Court. These changes are: Cautions given to under 18s are no longer legally disclosed The multiple conviction rule has …

Thinking about Safeguarding Training on Zoom?

At the beginning of this extraordinary year, I would have been the last person advocating online safeguarding training. Technology has never been my strong suit, and I have always viewed it as a necessary evil rather than an opportunity. And then Covid-19 hit. From April I found myself as a trainer getting to grips with …

Safeguarding Spotlight on Dennis O’Neil

A while ago I was delivering training and speaking with passion (I think) about a local Serious Case Review that had thrown up a number of insights. As I have said many times before, so much of my own continuing professional development is gained from reading Serious Case Reviews which tragically examine the death or …

Covid-19 and Mental Health

‘Self-isolating and social distancing was a bad habit I worked really hard to get out of. Now I’m being made to do it and being told it’s the right thing to do. It’s very confusing and I’m scared of falling back in to that cycle.’Survey Respondent, Coronavirus: Impact on Young People with Mental Health Needs, …

Are you safeguarding for LGBTQ+?

‘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 …

Are you safeguarding for LGBTQ+?

Online safety – what is a whole school approach?

‘I don’t think my dad realises how many messages from random boys I get or how many dick pics I get. And I have to deal with it every day… it’s kind of like a normal thing for girls now’ – female pupil, 14 – from ‘Learning about online sexual harm’ Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual …

What on earth are County Lines?

‘ 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 …

What on earth are County Lines?

Are you safeguarding for good mental health?

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 …

Are you safeguarding for good mental health?

Online peer abuse: are you educating children to keep safe online?

“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 …

Online peer abuse: are you educating children to keep safe online?

What would children vote for?

You may have missed it, but recently amongst all the political mayhem, and ahead of what seems like an imminent General Election, the Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield launched her ‘Children’s Manifesto’, setting out what young people want. What is the role of the Children’s Commissioner? The role of Children’s Commissioner is to promote and protect …