I don’t know what to do.

You should be in a union. You need to rectify that immediately.

There’s an escalation chain for safeguarding that everyone in schools is trained in. Download the school’s safeguarding policy, and follow it. It’s the local authority I believe which is your next step, LADO I think they were called? As pps said, a word with the union might be wise for your protection, and they should be able to go through the safeguarding too.

As a parent id be furious if my child was told to keep quiet in relation to safeguarding this perpetuates women not speaking up and being believed culture.

To the post who referred to complaint culture- vile comment and ignorant of the implications of not listening to vulnerable people in any situation.

As a professional I often have to follow safeguarding procedures. I would factually document the disclosures made and the actions you took and raise a further concerns with HT if they don’t respond to that I’d report to LADO. I’d also document everything as if the have an approach of retaliatory behaviour that is bullying then they need to be very careful.

I can not understand why the DSL doesn’t initiate a review of the risk assessments in place regarding supervision of children while on residential - at the very least to inform future policy of how residentials need to be managed.

It beggars belief, what would the DSL do if a child said something that could be concerning but is unclear and fail to follow through. I’d really be concerned about their professional judgement.

You have to report to the chair of governors - the issue is now with your head not having dealt with it appropriately.

Also, you're deeply foolish not to be in a union if you work in a school with such shitty approaches to basic safeguarding.

If you have concerns about a member of staff, you go straight to the head. If this is true, it's a massive safeguarding breach and the head needs to know.

Op you have been advised repeatedly to contact the LADO but have not engaged with that suggestion once. That is the next and only course of action.

Is this what happened?! Please report this in line with your schools procedures for safeguarding / whistle blowing. The DSL isn’t fit for purpose.

I find this deeply concerning and I have had regular and updated safeguarding training.

Have you had your safeguarding training? This is either a whistle blowing procedure now and it needs to go above the DSL, or going above to the Head (or a governor) the DSL has acted wrongly and needs to be called out. It’s a very serious issue.

I don't think this is serious enough that I would risk losing my job over it. I get where you are coming from entirely but personally I would drop it now.

As usual it's probably the cover up that that's worse. If I were the parent I probably would not be worried that my child had gone to another pod (depending of course on the circumstances) but I'd be very worried if the school was covering it up.

Sorry I back stepped! Wrong post

Have you written a CPOMS yourself containing the factual information? E.g.X told you that Y had been out of their pod on the residential. X said they had spoken to the DSL already but was also letting you know. You said thank you for the information and that you would have to let other adults know.
Action: also spoke to the DSL

What did the DSL say to you when you reported it? Were you told to forget about it?
While you do need to trust children do better aware that it could get twisted (e.g. leave it with me could appear as the DSL saying forget it/showing a lack of interest).

Also join a union immediately.

Absolutely this (DSL for 6 years). It’s not for you to investigate, it needs to go straight to LADO with the facts laid out.

@samysungy typically you go to the LADO as the next step if concern is about the head. You can’t go to DDSL. It has to keep escalating.

Does sound like some covering of backs and unfair on the child being punished.

Anecdotally, we might all think that it seems over the top based on our own feelings/experiences of sneaking about on school trips. However, we didn’t know the context e.g location, SEND need, proximity, risk assessments etc. there might be an ill established culture around safeguarding procedures. All of which is important to challenge. 9/10 safeguarding follow up may be something of nothing. I get that it may feel extra. But that’s safeguarding, to protect against no regrets.

I don't think the issue is the girls wandering around in the night, I think its the DSL telling them to drop it. However I think if I wasn't on the trip I wouldn't pursue it further. All kids do this on school trips. I'm not sure how the the teachers could stop it from happening in the night when they themselves are asleep. We had a school ski trip abroad when I was 13. Age range of kids was 13 to 15. One 14yo girl got out of her bed at night and went and had sex with a 15yo boy in another room. A 14yo girl had a holiday romance with a 19yo ski instructor. Alot of those things shouldn't have happened but besides locking the kids into their rooms I don't know how they could have stopped it.

I don't understand what outcome you're after here. Do you want the girls to be told off? Or the DSL to be told off by the head? Or the head to be told off by an even higher authority?

. If your ten year old child told you she had been wondering around a field on her own on a school trip in the middle of the night would you seriously think it was ok?

Well, yes - isn't that all part of a group camping trip, and to be expected? I did the same on every Girl Guide camp and school trip as a kid, there was never a rule against it.

Exactly, messing about like that is half the fun of school trips

"Is it really ok for a DSL to tell a child to keep something serious to themselves? Wow!!!!"

No but maybe not considered serious. No harm was done, kids do that sort of thing all the time and nobody died.

The girl who told you was daft to do so.

There should be a 2nd DSL - a deputy DSL. Report to them. They have a duty to report. They are also part of the safeguarding team so should report the DSL and HT too along with the original concern.