Article: Safeguarding inspections

During their Inspection, Ofsted inspectors will be seeking assurance that children in your school are safe and that they feel safe. 

To help inform their judgement on the effectivness of safeguarding in your school, they will take into account:

  • the extent to which your school has clear policies, strategies and procedures to ensure the safeguarding and welfare of pupils, including those relating to behaviour, bullying, health and safety, harassment and discrimination, and meets all required duties.
    • Have leaders, managers and governors taken account of the former DCSF guidance, Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education, setting out schools' responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children?
    • Are there robust governance and lines of responsibility to ensure that the school's practice meets required standards?
    • Does the school have a child protection policy and procedures that are in accordance with local authority guidance and locally agreed inter-agency procedures, and is this policy made available to parents on request?
  • the extent to which the school has clear management responsibilities in relation to child protection, including relevant designated staff
    • is there a senior member of the school's leadership team designated to take lead responsibility for dealing with child protection issues, providing advice and support to staff, liaising with the local authority and working with other agencies
    • does the school have procedures for dealing with allegations against staff which are in accordance with locally agreed inter-agency procedures and the government guidance?
    • has the school referred serious staff safeguarding concerns to the Independent Safeguarding Authority and/or the local authority designated officer (LADO) where relevant?
  • the extent to which the school monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of its policies and practices
    • is there robust governance and, also, lines of responsibility and accountability to ensure that effective and prompt action is taken and any deficiencies put right?
  • the extent to which the school ensures that adults working with pupils are appropriately recruited and vetted. See single central record- questions for the school, below. The governing body must ensure that:
    • any person who interviews a candidate for a post, or
    • in the case where a selection panel is appointed for that purpose, at least one panel member, has completed safer recruitment training approved by the Secretary of State (delivered by the Children's Workforce Development Council).
  • the extent to which the school ensures that adults receive up-to-date, high quality, appropriate training, guidance, support and supervision to undertake the effective safeguarding of pupils.
    • in addition to basic child protection training, has/have the designated member(s) of staff undertaken training in inter-agency working that is provided by, or to standards agreed by, the Local Safeguarding Children Board, and refresher training at the recommended two yearly intervals to keep her or his knowledge and skills up to date?
    • do all staff and other adults who work with children undertake appropriate and up-to-date training, relevant to the type of school, to equip them to carry out their responsibilities for child protection effectively, that is kept up to date by refresher training at the recommended three yearly intervals?
  • the extent to which the school encourages and enables pupils to report any concerns or complaints, including concerns about poor or abusive practices.
    • is there a clear reporting system if a pupil, member of staff, parent or other person has concerns about the safety of children?
  • the extent to which the school takes reasonable steps to ensure that pupils are safe on the school site, for example by monitoring visitors or volunteers or those using the premises during school time.
    • does the school have adequate security arrangements for the grounds and buildings?
  • the extent to which the school identifies concerns about possible abuse and/or neglect and/or pupils who may have gone missing, and refers such concerns promptly to the relevant agencies.
    • are there effective and prompt systems for referring safeguarding concerns about pupils to relevant agencies?
    • are relevant staff aware of pupils who are persistently absent or missing and have they taken appropriate action to respond to this, especially with regard to the most vulnerable? Has the school notified the local authority of any children who have been removed from the school's roll?
  • the extent to which the school records information relevant to safeguarding concerns clearly and accurately and shares it appropriately, both internally and with other agencies.
    • does the school support inter-agency working to safeguard children by regular attendance at child protection conferences and reviews and, where appropriate, by attending other professional meetings?
    • is the school aware of its duty to refer a person who is deemed to be unsuitable for working with children, to the Independent Safeguarding Authority?
    • since the last inspection, has there been any member of staff who has been disciplined, dismissed, currently under investigation or left prior to the end of an investigation on a matter related to safeguarding of children?
    • if so, was a notification made by the school to the local authority designated officer (LADO) and to the Independent Safeguarding Authority and what action was taken as a result?
  • the extent to which the school helps pupils to keep themselves safe, including encouraging pupils to adopt safe and responsible practices and deal sensibly with risk.
    • do pupils feel safe and adopt safe practices?

You can find more information about the requirements of safeguarding inspections by following this link to Ofsted's safeguarding briefing.

In addition Ofsted has recently released guidance to inspectors on esafety 'A briefing for inspectors - e-safety'. This supports the changes to the new 2012 framework that address safeguarding. Although not mentioned specifically in the new safeguarding inspection framework, there are several references in the document that apply to this aspect of technological use both in and outside school as well as covering this in its description for an outstanding school:

  • 'All groups of pupils feel safe at school and at alternative provision placements at all times. They understand very clearly what constitutes unsafe situations and are highly aware of how to keep themselves and others safe,including in relation to eSafety.' - Pupils must know HOW and WHERE to go for support if they feel unsafe when they are online.'
  • Staff need to be aware that this might include 'online extremism' and need to be clear of any signs of pupils being targeted by extreme organisations, e.g. political, religious  groups.'
  • The extent to which pupils are able to understand and respond to risk, for example risks associated with extremism' and 'the school's response to any extremist behaviour shown by pupils'
  • 'the respect and courtesy shown by staff towards each other and pupils' - Although this does not implicitly mention eSafety, staff need to be aware that that their online conduct could be reflected, especially if they use social networking to communicate with other colleagues. 

 Many of the areas the inspectors are being asked to look at are a carry over from the last Ofsted report on 'The safe use of new technologies' and can be seen in the questions that they are being recommended to ask;

 Leadership

  • How do you ensure that all staff receive appropriate online safety training that is relevant and regularly up to date?
  • What mechanisms does the school have in place to support pupils and staff facing online safety issues?
  • How does the school educate and support parents and whole school community with online safety?
  • Does the school have e-safety policies and acceptable use policies in place? How does the school know that they are clear and understood and respected by all?
  • Describe how your school educates children and young people to build knowledge, skills and capability when it comes to online safety? How do you assess its effectiveness?

 Students

  • If you felt uncomfortable about anything you saw, or if anybody asked you for your personal details such as your address on the internet would you know where to go for help?
  • If anybody sent you hurtful messages on the internet or on your mobile phone would you know who to tell?
  • Can you tell me one of the rules your school have for using the internet?
  • Do you understand what the risks of posting inappropriate content on the internet are (secondary students only)?

 Staff

  • Have you had any training that shows the risks to your and pupils online safety?
  • Are there policies in place that clearly demonstrate good and safe internet practice for staff and pupils?
  • Are there sanctions in place to enforce the above policies?
  • Do all staff understand what is meant by the term cyber-bullying and the effect it can have on themselves and pupils?
  • Are their clear reporting mechanisms with a set of actions in place for staff or pupils who feel they are being bullied online?
  • Does school have any plans for an event on Safer Internet Day (note: this is an annual event now in its fifth year at least so any school who are engaged would know about it)?

Inspection related documents

Barnsley Safeguarding Children Board Policies and Procedures are available here