What’s new alert: Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings.

Summary of the document

This document is an updated guidance from Ofsted explaining how they will inspect provision including early years provision under the Education Inspection Framework that comes into place in England in September 2019. The guidance sets out the main features that inspectors need to consider when inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings. It takes into account;

• Safeguarding and inspectors’ responsibilities
• Definition of safeguarding
• Signs of successful safeguarding arrangements
• Evidence to look for when inspecting safeguarding arrangements
• Inspecting how effectively leaders and governors create a safeguarding culture in the setting.
• Inspecting arrangements for staff recruitment and vetting
• Inspecting the quality of safeguarding practice
• Inspecting arrangements for handling serious incidents and allegations

Expectations are clearly set out in the document stating that ‘early years settings, schools and further education and skills providers should be safe environments where children, learners and vulnerable adults can learn and develop’. Inspectors will consider how ‘well leaders and managers have created a culture of vigilance where children’s and learners’ welfare are promoted and where timely and appropriate safeguarding action is taken for children or learners who need extra help or who may be suffering or likely to suffer harm’. Inspectors will evaluate how well settings fulfil their statutory responsibilities and exercise their professional judgement in keeping children safe.

The guidance states that safeguarding action may be needed to protect children and learners from the following:

• neglect
• physical abuse
• sexual abuse
• emotional abuse
• bullying, including online bullying and prejudice-based bullying
• racist, disability and homophobic or transphobic abuse
• gender-based violence/violence against women and girls
• peer-on-peer abuse, such as sexual violence and harassment
• radicalisation and/or extremist behaviour
• child sexual exploitation and trafficking
• child criminal exploitation, including county lines
• risks linked to using technology and social media, including online bullying; the risks of being groomed online for exploitation or radicalisation; and risks of accessing and generating inappropriate content, for example ‘sexting’
• teenage relationship abuse
• substance misuse
• issues that may be specific to a local area or population, for example gang activity and youth violence
• domestic abuse
• female genital mutilation
• forced marriage
• fabricated or induced illness
• poor parenting
• homelessness
• so-called honour-based violence
• other issues not listed here but that pose a risk to children, learners and vulnerable adults.

It is clear that this revised version of the guidance has increased focus for on-line safety and the expectations to show how this is managed in the setting, also how children are helped to keep themselves safe in this respect. There is also additional emphasis on child criminal exploitation and county lines that was not featured in previous versions.

Expectations to consider wider aspects of safeguarding in settings focus on a number of areas including:

• children’s and learners’ health and safety and well-being, including their mental health
• meeting the needs of children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities
• the use of reasonable force
• meeting the needs of children and learners with medical conditions
• providing first aid
• educational visits
• intimate care and emotional well-being
• online safety and associated issues
• appropriate arrangements to ensure children’s and learners’ security, taking into account the local context

What will this mean for early years and educational settings?

Early years settings will need to evidence signs of successful safeguarding arrangements. Inspectors will want to evaluate the extent by which;

• Children are protected and feel safe
• Policies put in place by managers are effective and staff behaviour policies are understood by everyone in the setting
• Staff working in the setting are aware of procedures to follow if they are concerned about a child’s welfare
• the named designated safeguarding lead is proactive in ‘pursuing concerns’ that protect children
• children can take concerns to a trusted adult who will listen to them and respond to their concerns
• babies and very young children, form strong attachments to those who care for them through the effective implementation of the key person system
• child protection or safeguarding concerns are reported in a timely way to relevant authorities, they are held securely and shared appropriately
• where a concern or allegation is made about an adult or member of staff in a setting this should be referred to the designated officer in the local authority that the setting is situated
• records of referral are retained
• adults understand the risks associated with on-line technology including social media, of bullying, grooming, exploiting, radicalising or abusing children
• there are clear risk assessments that protect children while enabling them to take age-appropriate and reasonable risk
• babies and young children demonstrate strong emotional attachments with their key persons
• positive behaviour is promoted consistently
• adults understand that children’s poor behaviour may be due to their experience of suffering harm or as a result of traumatic experiences or abuse
• staff and volunteers are carefully selected and vetted appropriately and on-going suitability processes prevent children from harm
• the physical environment from babies and children is safe, secure and protects them from harm
• staff know how to report and respond to concerns about allegations, these are clearly written in the settings polices and procedures. They know how to whistle blow if necessary if they believe a child to be unsafe

The guidance refers to ‘effective arrangements’ that should be in place for settings and it is expected that leaders and managers are able to focus on identifying, helping and managing as part of their practice. The explanation of this emphasis which is also reflected in the Early Years Inspection Handbook is described as being able to;

Identify children and learners who may need early help or are at risk of neglect, abuse, grooming or exploitation. Help prevent abuse by raising awareness among children and learners of safeguarding risks and how and where to get help and support if they need it (and)Help those children who are at risk of abuse and need early help or statutory social care involvement, keeping accurate records, making timely referrals where necessary and working with other agencies to ensure that children and learners get the help and support they need. They should: Manage allegations about adults who may be a risk, and check the suitability of staff to work with children, learners and vulnerable adults.

Written judgments about the effectiveness of safeguarding for children will always be in the leadership and management section of the report.

What other important and relevant documents or legislation does this relate to?

Early Years Foundation Stage

Getting it right for every child (Scotland)

Keeping children safe in education

Working together to safeguard children

Ofsted Inspection Handbook for early years and education

Will this impact upon our policies?

No

If yes, how?

N/A

You can access the full documents here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspecting-safeguarding-in-early-years-education-and-skills-from-september-2015

(*It is correct; the date doesn’t reflect the updated version date)