Safeguarding

Nothing is more important than children’s welfare. Children who need help and protection deserve high quality and effective support as soon as a need is identified. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined 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

Source – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Adults and Children Board

Schools have a duty to follow the latest requirements from Keeping Children Safe in Education https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education–2 which includes the duty to teach preventative skills and attitudes and to rigorously training staff. The teaching of a comprehensive, spiral Relationships and RSE programme as part of PSHE is recognised as having a positive effect on children and young people’s safeguarding skills and their confidence in recognising and asking for help in abusive situations.

  • How to recognise trusted adults and identify when a friendship or relationship feels unsafe, unhealthy, or uncomfortable.
  • The importance of boundaries, consent, and seeking permission in relationships.
  • That people online may not always be who they claim to be.
  • How to stay safe online, recognise risks, and report concerns.
  • How to think critically about online friendships and information.
  • The difference between privacy and secrecy, and that they should seek help if something affects their safety.
  • That their body belongs to them and how to recognise inappropriate, unwanted, or unsafe contact.
  • How to respond safely to unfamiliar adults, both online and offline.
  • How to recognise when they feel unsafe and confidently seek help for themselves or others.
  • How to report concerns, abuse, or worries and where to access support from trusted adults, school staff, family members, or other services.

Source: Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education Guidance (DfE).

  • How to identify trusted sources of support and recognise when a relationship, whether with family, friends, partners, or others, is unhealthy or unsafe.
  • The characteristics of healthy relationships, including trust, respect, honesty, boundaries, privacy, consent, and effective conflict resolution.
  • That behaviours such as coercive control, harassment, abuse, sexual violence, and exploitation are unacceptable and may be criminal offences.
  • Their rights and responsibilities under equality and safeguarding legislation, and the importance of respecting diversity.
  • The risks associated with sharing personal information, images, or content online, and the potential long-term consequences.
  • That creating, sharing, or possessing indecent images of children is a criminal offence.
  • How to access support and report concerns relating to online safety, abuse, exploitation, or harmful behaviour.
  • The laws relating to consent, grooming, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based abuse, and FGM.
  • How to recognise, communicate, and respect consent in all types of relationships, including online.
  • How to identify and respond to bullying, abuse, harassment, and other harmful behaviours, both online and offline.

Source: Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education Guidance (DfE).

Local Support

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Adults and Children Board

Multi-agency safeguarding training is important for supporting the collective understanding of local need and for practitioners to be effective in universal services and across the safeguarding pathway. This spans from early help through to targeted and specialist services. To be effective, practitioners need to continue to build their knowledge and skills and be aware of

Read More About Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Adults and Children Board

Embrace Child Victims Of Crime

Helping young crime victims and witnesses recover from trauma Embrace Child Victims Of Crime is a specialist support service for young victims and witnesses to crime on behalf of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The aim of the Cambridgeshire-based charity is to help children, young people, and families from all over

Read More About Embrace Child Victims Of Crime

NSPCC

Whether you’re looking for advice, or are worried about a child, the NSPCC have got a range of helplines to support you. While we understand that your school will have procedures and policies in place for safeguarding issues, we recognise that if you’re working with and supporting children and families, sometimes you might need to

Read More About NSPCC

SAFE

We are a voluntary service focused on supporting young people identified by services as being at significant/moderate risk of Criminal Exploitation within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We can work with young people up to the age of 17, currently we have no minimum age restriction. We take referrals from a range of statutory and community services

Read More About SAFE

Resources

Documents

Key Stage 1

Key Stage 2

Teacher Guidance

External Links