Blog – Latest stories tagged 'ofsted'

Highlights from the 2017/18 report relating to Safeguarding

On Tuesday (4th December), Amanda Spielman, Ofsted's Chief Inspector, launched their annual report.

Some of the headline findings highlighted by Ms Spielman included:

95% of early years providers are at least good

as are 86% of schools

and 76% of general FE colleges

and 82% of children’s homes

and, the number of local authorities judged good or outstanding for children’s social care continues to rise

While the report praises the progress that has been made, it also acknowledges that there is still much work to do, and four key themes were identified:

the first is the crucial importance of getting the basics of education and care right

the second is our concerns about the impact of lack of capacity in certain areas and its effect on standards and rates of improvement

the third is the danger of expecting schools to become a panacea for all of society’s ills

and the last is the importance of focusing on the substance of education and care

Of course, all areas of education were discussed in the report, however, we will today pinpoint just a couple of the areas specifically relating to safeguarding.

Knife Crime and Gangs
Two of the more worrying areas of safeguarding now dominating concerns (and indeed the media), are knife crime and the criminal exploitation of children.

The report identifies that both these areas are on the rise, but that schools are teaching children how to stay safe. It recognises that these issues cannot be tackled by schools alone and must be supported by external agencies such as the police, health services and LAs etc.

Schools at risk of poor quality safeguarding
The report identified a number of settings where safeguarding arrangements were potentially at risk. These included unregistered schools as they "can evade scrutiny of safeguarding practices". Where unregistered schools had been inspected, 35% were identified as having safeguarding or health and safety issues.

Other groups of schools identified were independent schools (with 10% having ineffective safeguarding arrangements) and secure training units.

Also, and somewhat surprisingly, schools who are currently graded as outstanding are on the 'at risk' list. Due to the exemption from inspection, some of these schools have not been inspected for over 10 years, leaving Ofsted with a lack of clarity on the quality of continuing safeguarding practices in these schools. While poor performance data will trigger an inspection, there is no such trigger for safeguarding. And in schools which fell from outstanding to inadequate, safeguarding is typically not effective.

You can read the speech delivered by Amanda Spielman here or the full annual report here, and you can let us know your thoughts on the report using the comments section below.

Only 68% of schools reported that all staff are receiving regular e-safety training and updates.

In 2012, Ofsted released their inspecting e-safety briefing, placing an emphasis on educating young people about staying safe online, while providing a safe environment in which to explore the web.

In the six years that have followed, a great deal has changed, not least the available technology and indeed how young people are connecting to the virtual and online world.

From a school perspective, the greatest change has come in the form of responsibility. Gone are the days when e-safety was considered the domain of the IT teacher – now the responsibility lies with the senior management team in the form of a designated safeguarding lead.

To that end, e-safety is no-longer a separate entity but is incorporated in the DfE guidance relating to the wider safeguarding issues, primarily set out the in the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance, which was updated at the beginning of September.

One of the key elements of the guidance is that of staff training, with the KCSIE stating that:

Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that all staff undergo safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety) at induction. The training should be regularly updated.
And
In addition, all staff should receive regular safeguarding and child protection updates (for example, via email, e-bulletins, staff meetings) as required, and at least annually, to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to safeguard children effectively.

To underline this requirement the “Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings” Ofsted guidance issued earlier this month advises inspections to include evidence that:

staff, leaders, governors and supervisory bodies (where appropriate) and volunteers receive appropriate training on safeguarding at induction, that is updated regularly.

However, it seems that many schools are currently not providing adequate staff training on internet safety. According to figures extracted from the E-safety Support e-safety checklist, in the 2017/18 academic year, only 67.8% of users who logged progress in this area reported that they were fulfilling this requirement.

In addition, less than half (48.2%) of governing bodies were considered to be is involved the e-safety policy and practice within schools, while only 59% of users reported having an effective e-safety policy in place.

With the safeguarding remit ever widening, it’s not hard to understand why some schools may not be meeting the DfE requirements for e-safety – budgets, time and the expanding areas of risk which need to be considered make the safeguarding arena a challenging one to keep up with. However, we must remember that “Early years settings, schools, and further education and skills institutions should be safe environments where children (that is, everyone under the age of 18), learners and vulnerable adults can learn and develop” and having trained staff is essential to ensuring this is the case.

Online e-safety training available from Safeguarding Essentials

Our online training courses are simple to distribute and monitor. They are a cost effective way to make sure your whole school community receives regular up-to-date training. With no 'per-user' costs, you can distribute the training to as many staff, parents, governors and pupils as you need and can repeat the training as often as necessary.

There are currently 13 online training courses for staff covering a range of safeguarding topics - a full list of courses can be viewed here

Review your e-safety provision with our interactive online checklist

The statistics quoted are taken from our interactive online e-safety checklist, which is available to all Safeguarding Essentials members. The 9 point checklist gives you an outline of the necessary action or procedure that needs to take place in your school, with references to additional information and support if you need them. Find out more

Subsidised memberships available

Since 2013, we have been supporting schools across the UK and beyond to deliver consistent, outstanding practice in online safety. Recently, we have added resources to our service to address wider safeguarding requirements. To date, our online training has been completed over 130,000 times.

However, we recognise that some of the schools who need the greatest support are those with the least resource. That’s why we have teamed up with our partners at Friendly WiFi to offer subsidised membership to those most in need - up to 100% discounts are available to qualifying schools. Discover your discount now!

Since 2013, we have been supporting schools across the UK and beyond to deliver consistent, outstanding practice in online safety. Recently, we have added additional resources to our service to address wider safeguarding requirements.

To date, our online training has been completed over 130,000 times and over 100,000 downloadable resources have been accessed by our members.

However, we recognise that some of the schools who need the greatest support are those with the least resource, particularly financially, to overcome their challenges.

That’s why we have teamed up with our partners at Friendly WiFi to offer subsidised membership to those most in need - up to 100% discounts are available to qualifying schools.

Discover your discount now! Click here

How do schools qualify for subsidised membership?
Our subsidised memberships are allocated based on current Ofsted rating or school status.

What does membership include?
Membership to Safeguarding Essentials provides your school with a suite of resources to support your safeguarding provision, including teaching materials, guidance for colleagues, advice for parents, policy templates and online training courses for staff. A full list of downloadable resources can be found here

In addition, our supporters at Friendly WiFi are pleased to be offering their certification at exclusive rates, with up to 100% discount to qualifying schools.

What is Friendly WiFi?

Friendly WiFi is the world’s first safe certification standard for WiFi that shows users that they are being protected online from exposure to child sex abuse images and inappropriate adult content. The scheme was initiated by UK government and industry in a move to increase online safety measures for WiFi services, especially where children and young adults can be present.

For schools it is essential to have some form of safeguarding for their students and visitors when they access the WiFi available and by evidencing that their WiFi includes the correct filters, schools can become Friendly WiFi certified. Friendly WiFi status shows they are protected and that the school is taking responsibility for the online safety and health of their students whilst providing a safe browsing environment for all users.

To find out more, download a Friendly WiFi leaflet here

To find out if your school qualifies for discount, click here