Safeguarding Assessments in School

Safeguarding assessments in school – are they just a box-ticking exercise?

There have been lots of conversations in schools recently around safeguarding audits, particularly those requested by local authorities. Local authorities are required to ensure that schools ‘are exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.’ Under Section 175 of The Education Act 2002. It also puts responsibility on governing bodies to ensure that they are checking the school is conducting safeguarding appropriately. 

Each authority conducts these audits slightly differently but the common theme seems to be that there is limited follow up. Schools are sent a form to complete, asked to include links to their policies and evidence, however from what we are hearing from schools, these are not checked and feedback is rarely given.  Another added complication for schools in MATs is that there is often a separate audit requested by their Trust, which is usually more in depth, but can feel like a repetition of information for the DSL to collate. Some headteachers have shared that they feel like they are reporting the same information in several different formats, to different people which takes up valuable time for not much return. These feelings were echoed in a recent TES article, ‘Warning over ‘unchecked’ safeguarding audits’ where several school staff shared their frustrations with the current process. One highlighting the added burden it places on already pressured safeguarding staff.

Here at One Education, we developed our Safeguarding Assessments to support schools in focusing on their safeguarding practice, evidencing strong elements but also giving clear recommendations for improvement. We spend a day on-site working through the assessment, reviewing the evidence provided and then the best part – our advisors write the full report. Our schools use these not only to show the effective safeguarding practice that is already embedded within their school, but also as a robust action plan for the elements they can further improve.   

We cover the following areas:

• Safeguarding training and professional development
• Safeguarding arrangements
• Promoting pupil welfare
• Working with families and multi-agency partners
• Governance, leadership and management

Prior to our visit to schools, we share some pre-assessment documents to enable Designated Safeguarding Leads and Senior Leaders to prepare evidence and involve the relevant staff. On the day of the assessment, we will ask for a tour of the school to help us understand the context and safeguarding ethos.  We discuss each area of the assessment, which is broken down into several lines of enquiry.  As part of this we ask to meet with pupils, to gain their voice around safeguarding in school, and ensure we speak to other staff to support triangulation. Towards the end of the day our advisors will provide initial feedback so areas of strength can be celebrated and any recommendations can be given immediately. Our aim is to showcase what the school already does well whilst providing clear and effective recommendations for any improvements.

Schools tell us they have used our safeguarding assessments as evidence to share with their governing bodies and during Ofsted inspections. We have also been commissioned by many Multi Academy Trusts to conduct assessments across all their settings, so there is a consistent approach to quality assurance and good practice can be highlighted and shared across the board.  

The aim of our safeguarding assessment is to provide an effective audit of your current practice without adding to the pressures of being a DSL. There will be a clear, comprehensive report provided that the school can actually use.

Here’s some feedback from a school where we completed a safeguarding assessment:

‘We found the safeguarding assessment useful and the final report has helped us structure safeguarding training for the current year.  It was a supportive process and we have been able to use the report meaningfully and share it with stakeholders.  It’s always useful to have that external appraisal which serves as a critique rather than a criticism.’

Stuart Harris, Deputy Headteacher and DSL at Grange School

If you are interested in safeguarding assessments for your school or have any other safeguarding queries, please do get in touch: safeguarding@oneeducation.co.uk