What is the Education Safeguarding team
The Education Safeguarding team is located in Children and Families Services. The team offers specialist training and support for schools and educational settings including: early years (Children’s Centres, and private, voluntary and independent settings); primary and secondary schools; off-site providers; and further education. This is to enable 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 from early years, primary school, secondary school, youth justice and youth service backgrounds with a strong track record of safeguarding, and an understanding of both national and local safeguarding agendas.
The Children Missing Education (CME) team also sit within the Education Safeguarding team (more information is available through their own One Minute Guide).
How does the team work
The team work closely with
Ofsted, the
Education and Skills Funding Agency (regulatory body for academy schools), and the Department for Education. They also have representation on the national
Safer Recruitment Consortium and
CAPE (Child Protection in Education) practitioners’ forum.
This close working takes place to ensure that up to date, high quality safeguarding advice, support and quality assurance is available to schools and other educational settings 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; Modern Slavery 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).
In addition, the team also represent the sector at a number of sub groups of
Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) to ensure that the voice of schools and other education settings is reflected in locally agreed multi-agency protocols. Specifically, the team offers: advice, guidance, consultancy and specialist safeguarding support; training; senior leadership support; quality assurance and a traded offer. There is more detail about this on the next page.
The Education Safeguarding team also have a responsibility to investigate any safeguarding complaints referred to Ofsted about a school or other education setting.
More detail about what the team do
Advice, guidance, consultancy and specialist safeguarding support
The team provide an advice and consultancy service for schools, colleges and early years providers. The team take calls or email queries from education practitioners, including Designated Safeguarding Leads, about safeguarding issues, concerns, and policy matters, and advise as appropriate, including whether to contact 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 settings that 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:
Quality assurance
The team quality assure safeguarding policies and arrangements in education settings and ensure compliance of safeguarding arrangements with local protocols, including monitoring attendance at child protection conferences. The team sends out an annual safeguarding monitoring return to all schools and education settings for them to 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 a Serious Case Review, the team may insist on carrying out a safeguarding audit. Lastly, the team can offer access to model policies, procedures and protocols agreed locally through the LSCP.
Key contacts and more information
Consultation, advice and training booking enquiries can be made by contacting the team by phone: 0113 378 9685 or email:
estconsultation@leeds.gov.uk.
The Education Safeguarding team aim to respond to all messages for advice within 24 hours. However as the team are often out training or auditing, people are advised to contact their local Early Help Hub should they require immediate non-urgent advice.
You can find out more about the Education Safeguarding team and their traded offer on the
Leeds for Learning website.
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