Bursar’s Review

Autumn 2021 www.theisba.org.uk 10 Feature Welfare and safety of children Victims should never be made to feel ashamed for making a report of abuse Your school’s policy on mobile and smart technology should be re ected in the child protection policy Safeguarding arrangements should be included in any lease or hire agreement as a condition of use and occupation of the premises A focus for many schools for the academic year 2021/22 is to update policies and procedures in light of the latest version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (2021) (KCSIE) published by the Department for Education (DfE). This statutory guidance came into effect on 1 September 2021. Last January, in conjunction with ISBA, we published a guidance note setting out the proposed changes to KCSIE following the release of the draft guidance and the launch of the DfE’s consultation, the majority of which have now been incorporated. Some of the changes are those that were considered in the abandoned consultation last winter, however, some are new. In addition to the updated KCSIE, the DfE has also published an updated version of the Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Between Children in Schools and Colleges advice, which also came into effect in September. In order to incorporate the changes as part of inset training, schools will have needed to consider both pieces of guidance and advice and ensured that their policies and procedures were updated in readiness for September 2021. The changes are likely to impact on a number of key areas in the school, including safer recruitment. The key sections of KCSIE have not changed although there are some additions, which are likely to prove helpful. There is insufficient room to detail all of the changes here and we have produced a detailed guidance note as well as updating the ISBA model/ template documents in ISBA’s online reference library to reflect the latest guidance. We have highlighted below what we see are key points to note. Summary section In the summary of KCSIE, there is a clear addition that the guidance should be read and followed by senior leadership teams, emphasising the important role they play to safeguard and promote the welfare and safety of children. There is also an explanation in the summary that there is a new condensed Part one of KCSIE at Annex A. The purpose of the new condensed Part one (Annex A) is to provide governing bodies and proprietors the freedom to choose between Annex A where they believe it will be appropriate for those staff not working directly with children as part of any induction or updated safeguarding training. Staff who work directly with children should continue to be provided with, read, and understand at least Part one of KCSIE. Kristine Scott , partner and head of education at Harrison Clark Rickerbys, goes through the revisions made to the Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance, emphasising the need for all schools to update their policies now. Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021: Understanding the changes Child protection policies should include procedures for dealing with peer on peer abuse