One minute guide: Education Safeguarding team

What is the Education Safeguarding Team

The Education Safeguarding Team is part of Children's Services. The team offers specialist advice, support and training for Leeds education providers, including: early years (Children’s Centres, and private, voluntary and independent settings); primary and secondary schools; off-site providers; and further and higher education settings. This is to support those working with children and young people in these settings to identify and manage safeguarding issues.

The team consists of experienced advisors and accredited safeguarding trainers with a strong track record of safeguarding, and an understanding of both national and local safeguarding agendas.

How the team works

The team work with Ofsted, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (regulatory body for academy schools), and the Department for Education. They also have representation on CAPE (Child Protection in Education) practitioners’ forum.

This partnership work takes place to ensure that up to date, high quality safeguarding advice, support and quality assurance is available to schools and other education providers in Leeds.

In order to address city-wide safeguarding needs effectively, the team takes a significant and active role on behalf of the Leeds education sector on the following multi-agency panels and groups: Channel Panel; Multi Agency Child Exploitation (MACE); Domestic Violence Forum; Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Forum; Serious Youth Violence Board, and independent review panels as required

e.g. Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (previously known as Serious Case Reviews), Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) and Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP).

The team also represent the education sector at a number of sub groups of Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) to ensure that the voice of schools and other education providers is reflected in locally agreed multi-agency protocols.

The Education Safeguarding Team also have a responsibility to respond to any safeguarding complaints referred to Ofsted about a school or other education setting.

Work undertaken by the team

Advice, consultancy and specialist safeguarding support

The team responds to queries from Designated Safeguarding Leads and other practitioners about safeguarding issues, concerns and policy matters, and advise as appropriate, including whether to contact the Duty and Advice team.

Senior leadership support

The team provide support with managing allegations against staff, including providing one to one safer working practice training for staff, and attendance at Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) meetings.

Traded offer

The team run a traded service for educational providers which includes a core training offer, inset (teacher training) days and twilight sessions, in addition to independent chairing for Risk Assessment Management Plans (RAMP) for children and young people exhibiting harmful sexual behaviours. The team also trade audit work – see quality assurance below.

Quality assurance

The team quality assure safeguarding arrangements in education settings and ensure compliance with local protocols, including monitoring attendance at child protection conferences. The team has oversight of the annual safeguarding monitoring return, all schools and education settings self-evaluate their compliance against statutory guidance and legislation. It is an expectation of each Chair of Governors to ensure any identified actions are followed up and completed. The Education Safeguarding Team use the learning from the returns to inform the LSCP of the quality of safeguarding practice in schools and education settings.

In addition, through the traded offer schools and other education settings can request the team to carry out a safeguarding audit. These audits can provide evidence for inspection purposes through an excellent high support and high challenge approach. Additionally, if any safeguarding issues are identified through an external review, such as Child Safeguarding Practice Review, the team may insist on carrying out a safeguarding audit.

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