Safeguarding children in school

This page explains the duties placed upon schools to safeguard and protect children. It explains the law on child abuse, giving examples of different forms of abuse and what teachers should look out for.

Under Section 175 of the Education Act 2002, Local Authority maintained schools have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Under The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (Part 3) independent and academy schools also have duties to safeguard children and promote their welfare.

Regardless of what type of school, all schools will need to be aware of their duty to safeguard children. There is statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education which applies to all Local Authority Maintained school and Academies. Schools and their staff are part of the wider safeguarding system. This system is described in the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children .

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined in Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance as: 

• protecting children from maltreatment; 
• preventing impairment of children’s health or development; 
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; 
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes. 

Where a child is suffering significant harm, or is likely to do so, action should be taken to protect that child. Action should also be taken to promote the welfare of a child in need of additional support, even if they are not suffering harm or are not at immediate risk.

What is the role of the school and teachers?

Schools have an important role to play in safeguarding a child, as they can usually identify concerns early on and can prevent these from escalating. Schools should work with other services such as Children’s Services, police and health services to promote the welfare of children. 

Each school should have a safeguarding officer who will support members of staff to fulfil their safeguarding duties and to also liaise with other services. This person should receive safeguarding training every 2 years. 

All schools have the responsibility to:

• Provide a safe environment where children can learn
• To identify children who may be in need of extra help or who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm 
• To take appropriate action, working with other services as needed. 

All schools should have a safeguarding policy in place, which all members of staff must be aware of. All staff should also undertake appropriate child protection training. 

What steps should members of staff take when they have concerns regarding a child?

The member of staff should consult with the safeguarding lead at the school to determine whether a referral should be made to Children’s Services. Where it is felt that a child could benefit from other agencies, then an inter-agency assessment can be carried out, which can prevent matters escalating.  If a referral is made to Children’s Services, they will have one working day to inform the referrer of what action they have decided to take. If the child’s situation does not improve, then the referrer should press for re-consideration.

If it is decided that a referral should not be made, the child’s situation should be continued to be monitored. 

If there is concern that the child is suffering from immediate serious harm, then a referral should be made to Children’s Services immediately. 

What should members of staff look out for? 

The Department for Education has produced advice on what to do if you are worried a child is being abused. This is for practitioners to help identify child abuse and neglect and take appropriate action in response. 

There are different types of abuse and neglect, these are:

Physical abuse

This is where a person deliberately causes physical harm to a child. 

This can involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating and also includes where a parent fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child. 

Signs:

• Frequent injuries
• Unexplained injuries including broken bones, fractures, bruises, cuts, burns, bite marks and scalding. 

Emotional abuse

This is the persistent maltreatment of a child. 

It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. 

Signs:

• Children who are excessively withdrawn, fearful, or anxious about doing something wrong
• Parents or carers who withdraw their attention from their child, giving the child the ‘cold shoulder’ 
• Parents or carers blaming their problems on their child
• Parents or carers who humiliate their child, for example, by name-calling or making negative comparisons. 

Sexual abuse

This involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities. 

The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse.

Signs:

• Children who display knowledge or interest in sexual acts inappropriate to their age 
• Children who use sexual language or have sexual knowledge that you wouldn’t expect them to have 
• Children who ask others to behave sexually or play sexual games
• Children with physical sexual health problems, including soreness in the genital and anal areas, sexually transmitted infections or underage pregnancy. 

Neglect

This is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter, protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs. 

Signs:

• Children who are living in a home that is indisputably dirty or unsafe
• Children who are left hungry or dirty
• Children who are left without adequate clothing, e.g. not having a winter coat
• Children who are living in dangerous conditions, i.e. around drugs, alcohol or violence
• Children who are often angry, aggressive or self-harm
• Children who fail to receive basic health care
• Parents who fail to seek medical treatment when their children are ill or are injured. 

Specific safeguarding issues

A child missing education

A child going missing from education is a potential indicator of abuse or neglect. School and college staff should follow the school’s or college’s procedures for dealing with children that go missing from education, particularly on repeat occasions, to help identify the risk of abuse and neglect, and to help prevent the risks of them going missing in future. All schools must inform the Local Authority when a child is removed from the school roll. All schools must inform the local authority of any pupil who fails to attend school regularly, or has been absent without the school’s permission for a continuous period of 10 school days or more, at such intervals as are agreed between the school and the local authority.

Child Sexual Exploitation 

Child sexual exploitation is a form of sexual abuse where children are sexually exploited for money, power or status. It can involve violent, humiliating and degrading sexual assaults. In some cases, young people are persuaded or forced into exchanging sexual activity for money, drugs, gifts, affection or status. Sexual exploitation involves varying degrees of coercion, intimidation or enticement, including unwanted pressure from peers to have sex, sexual bullying including cyberbullying and grooming.

Children should be aware of the risks of sexual exploitation and how to seek advice and help on how to deal with the risks. 

Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs. It is illegal in the UK and a form of child abuse. There are multi agency practice guidelines relating to female genital mutilation. The majority of cases of FGM are thought to take place between the ages of 5 and 8 and therefore girls within that age bracket are at a higher risk. FGM can cause physical pain, but can also cause psychological and mental health problems due to distressing nature of the procedure.

Some indicators to look out for:

• A child being part of a family where FGM has already taken place
• A parent withdrawing a child from personal, social and health education
• A parent indicates they are taking a child out of the country for a long period and the country is one where it is known that FGM takes place. 
• A child having pain and discomfort between her legs and having  difficulty walking, being in pain, prolonged absences from school

Schools should try and create an open environment, where girls feel they are able to discuss their concerns regarding FGM. It is important that the pupils are aware of FGM and so it may be considered appropriate to include information about FGM as part of the school’s curriculum.  Schools should also ensure they display the relevant information on where girls can seek help and advice in relation to FGM. 

If a member of staff is concerned about a child, they should speak to the safeguarding lead. If after examining the facts there is a concern that a child is at risk of being subjected to FGM or there is a concern FGM has already been undertaken, then the police and Children’s Services should be informed. 

Section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 places a statutory duty on teachers where they discovered FGM has been carried out on a child.  If they discover FGM has been carried out they must report this to the police. Those failing to report such cases can face disciplinary sanctions but not legal liability.

Radicalisation 

Radicalisation refers to the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and forms of extremism. Schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” This is known as the Prevent Duty. The Department of Education has published advice on this duty for schools. 

Schools are expected to assess the risk of children being drawn into terrorism, including support for extremist ideas that are part of terrorist ideology. This means being able to demonstrate both a general understanding of the risks affecting children and young people in the area and a specific understanding of how to identify individual children who may be at risk of radicalisation and what to do to support them. Schools and colleges should have clear procedures in place for protecting children at risk of radicalisation. These procedures may be set out in existing safeguarding policies. 

The Prevent guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. Individual schools are best placed to assess the training needs of staff in the light of their assessment of the risk to pupils at the school of being drawn into terrorism. As a minimum, however, schools should ensure that the designated safeguarding lead undertakes Prevent awareness training and is able to provide advice and support to other members of staff on protecting children from the risk of radicalisation. 

Schools must ensure that children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet in schools. Schools should ensure that suitable filtering is in place. It is also important that schools teach pupils about online safety more generally.