Safeguarding in Schools - govt consultation (England and Wales)

[ArabellaScott]

Hello, all

I'm not in that bit of the country - but anyone from the following groups:

School and college staff
Governing bodies of maintained schools (including maintained nursery schools),
Proprietors of independent schools (including academies, free schools and alternative provision academies) and non-maintained special schools
Management committees of pupil referral units (PRUs)
Post 16 providers in receipt of funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency
Children’s services
Professionals working in social care
Teaching unions
Safeguarding practitioners, including training providers
Supply agencies

May be interested in filling in this consultation? There is also a checkbox saying that you can respond as a parent/carer, which may make it relevant to (a whole lot) more people?

The govt 'seek views about proposed changes to statutory safeguarding guidance: Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE). KCSIE sets out those legal duties that schools and colleges must comply with, together with what schools and colleges should do in order to keep children safe'

Oh ffs, the link:

consult.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-in-schools-team/keeping-children-safe-in-education-schools-and-col/consultation/intro/

Thanks for the heads up - that will be a good one to complete - I will be doing it as a parent. Our local school apparently would let male children self identify into the girls spaces but ‘it would never happen’.

They have no policy defining any threshold at which a child can choose to identify as the opposite sex and they have helped at least one child socially transition without the consent (and maybe knowledge) of the parents.

Is anyone aware of some official guidance on basic safeguarding rules that would be publicly available? I mentioned safeguarding to the school teacher and she couldn’t see any safeguarding issues with their approach.

I had a similar response from a primary school governor - apparently there are no safeguarding issues with allowing children to use the facilities of the opposite sex and be socially transitioned without the knowledge their parents.

gardenbird48
The overarching statutory safeguarding guidance "Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 (the education guidance sits under this) states:
"All practitioners should follow the principles of the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 - that state that the welfare of children is paramount and that they are best looked after within their families, with their parents playing a full part in their lives, unless compulsory intervention in family life is necessary Paragraph 11 - link below.

Only the courts can remove parental rights . Schools are breaching statutory guidance in attempting to transition children in secret. A number of parents are considering going to the courts over this but of course, the expense alongside dragging their child and the school through the courts is unlikely to be in the child's best interests. So it continues until somebody stops this wilful undermining of families. Parents cannot protect their children if they are not in possession of critical information about their vulnerabilities.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/942454/Working_together_to_safeguard_children_inter_agency_guidance.pdf

Great info, thanks persistent.

Any teachers/education professionals fancy posting it in relevant places?

Thank you @ArabellaScott for starting this thread

I’m in NI but the info persistent posted will be useful across the board.

Pretty shocked garden that any school would not see any safeguarding issues.

@BarefootByMoonlight

Thank you *@ArabellaScott* for starting this thread

I’m in NI but the info persistent posted will be useful across the board.

Pretty shocked garden that any school would not see any safeguarding issues.

Thanks Persistent that’s very helpful.

And Barefoot I know - the teacher is a really good friend of mine and actively tried to promote girls, organising a girl/inspiring women only careers fair for the leavers and donating to a charity overseas that provides toilets for girls to help them access education.

I have attempted to discuss this a few times but the last communication we had was over her sharing of that awful guardian article about ROGD and how it was a load of nonsense.

She is a lovely person but worryingly misguided on this matter.

Am I missing something? The link is to the consultation, but I cannot find the amended guidelines. There is a brief description of some changes within the questions in the consultation, but not enough detail for me to feel I can answer it. For those who have already responded, did you do it based on the questions alone, or did you have something else to reference?

@Chrestomanci3

Am I missing something? The link is to the consultation, but I cannot find the amended guidelines. There is a brief description of some changes within the questions in the consultation, but not enough detail for me to feel I can answer it. For those who have already responded, did you do it based on the questions alone, or did you have something else to reference?

This is the link to the revised guidance. Judging by the summary below it looks as if it's fairly minimal focussing on the implications of Brexit rather than any other issues:

"18 January 2021
Updated 'Keeping children safe in education - for schools and colleges' to reflect legal changes following EU exit, including guidance on checking the past conduct of individuals who have lived or worked overseas".

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/keeping-children-safe-in-education-proposed-revisions-2021

Thanks persistantwoman.

I've now found a pdf link (sorry, not sure how to post links from my phone) consult.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-in-schools-team/keeping-children-safe-in-education-schools-and-col/supporting_documents/KCSIE%202021%20consultation%20document.pdf which contains the questions they are asking in the consultation and details on the changes (seems just to be a pdf version of the questions but I find it easier to read).

Thanks Chrestomanci3.
Please ignore my comment above about the limitations of the consultation - it is in fact far more detailed as evidenced in the link,

I think this consultation is for England only, rather than England and Wales.

Ah, could be, Enfys, apologies! It just looks like Elsewhere website from up here!