Many settings have been able to take a break for a few weeks over the summer, while others have worked throughout August. However you have spent the last few weeks, September always seems to offer the opportunity to review and refresh practice in many respects. In terms of safeguarding, that may mean delivering refresher training to staff and/or reviewing policy and practice.
I recommend that all settings review their safeguarding policies at least annually (although statutory guidance often stipulates a longer maximum time between revisions). Revisions can also take place before then if there is a major change in law, guidance or procedure throughout the year. These days the changes to guidance and law come so frequently I think it is good practice – and actually easier to manage – to check all your policies at the same time every year.I am often asked to revise and overhaul the safeguarding policies of different organisations and I always find that what policies they have and how they decide to set them out is completely unique to that particular setting. If the definition of safeguarding is anything that enables all children to have the best possible, outcomes, then safeguarding policies should be in place to clarify anything that affects their overall welfare.
So here is my list of possible related safeguarding policies which I suggest you have in place – but in itself it may not be exhaustive! Some policies may not apply to your setting, and some policies can be subsumed or combined with other policies.
- Accessibility
- Admissions
- Adopted or Looked After Children
- Allegations (staff)
- Appraisals (staff)
- Anti-bullying
- Arrivals and Departures
- Attendance
- Behaviour
- Birthdays and Gifts
- Child Protection (includes FGM and Prevent)
- Code of Conduct (staff)
- Communications
- Complaints
- Confidentiality
- Curriculum
- Data Protection
- Displays
- e-Safety
- Early Help
- Equalities
- Escalation
- Fire and Evacuation
- Health and Safety
- Healthy Eating
- Home School Agreement
- Induction (staff)
- Intimate Care
- Lettings
- Lockdown
- Lost Children
- Medical Conditions
- Mobile Phone
- Outdoor Play
- Outings and Trips
- Outreach (home visits)
- Parent Prospectus/Information
- Premises Management
- Race Equality
- Radicalisation
- Recruitment and Selection
- Safeguarding
- Smoking and Drugs
- Sex Education
- Special Education Needs
- Supervision (staff)
- Teaching and Learning
- Uncollected Children
- Visitors
- Volunteers and Students
- Whistleblowing
All maintained schools, maintained special schools, academies, free schools (including university technical colleges and studio schools), non-state-funded independent schools, pupil referral units, sixth-form colleges, further education colleges with 16 to 19 provision and non-maintained special schools must have certain policies in place as required by law and/or statutory guidance.
Most education settings must have the following policies which relate to safeguarding in place: accessibility, admissions, allegations of abuse against staff, behaviour, complaints, child protection (including FGM and Prevent), data protection, early years foundation stage (if relevant), equality information and objectives, health and safety, home school agreement, medical conditions, premises management, sex education, special educational needs and staff discipline/conduct.
Drafting policies is no one staff member’s job and indeed the task can be commissioned out.
For more information on statutory guidance on policies for schools check out:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-policies-for-schools
Don’t forget to also annually review the safeguarding information which appears on your website, which for most will mean ensuring the policies that appear are the most updated version. For schools, there is statutory guidance on the policies which must appear online (according to The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016). Online related safeguarding policies should include: admissions, curriculum, behaviour, complaints, SEN and disability information, equality objectives and values and ethos of the school.
For more information on what schools need to publish online, check out:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online