SAFE
CIC
The Safeguarding Specialists
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Getting Started

A useful start point for your nursery, school, academy or college is the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF). This, coupled with the 'Are you Ofsted Compliant?' and 'eSafety Flow Chart' documents give an at-a-glance overview of everything you need to do to meet Ofsted standards for safeguarding, including DBS checks, training and policies.

SAFEcic offers training, DBS checks, audits and advice in many of the areas you will need, and also offers free 30 minute consultations with experts who can help you.

Our training courses include Safer Recruitment, Safeguarding and eSafety training and are available as Online, Live or Blended Learning courses.

Introduction

Introduction

Welcome to the SAFE child safeguarding information resource. This micro-site has been designed for all those engaged on an employed or voluntary basis with children and young people in the education sector. The focus is exclusively on helping your educational establishment meet its safeguarding obligations as defined by Ofsted, highlighting the checks required under the new DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) scheme (formerly CRB) and providing guidance on how to complete the application forms. The site also details the safeguarding training (child safeguarding training and eSafety training) required by Ofsted.

Ofsted-Specific Safeguarding Standards

In addition to the "Are you Ofsted Compliant Table" above, all educational establishments need to evidence they have the following in place:

  • Current and comprehensive Child Safeguarding and eSafety policies, formally reviewed every year by the governing board (or equivalent) and available to all staff, volunteers, contractors and parents on the website and in hard copy
  • Policies with processes for incident recording and monitoring, working with parents & carers; and strategies for reviewing, monitoring and managing:
    • behaviour & attendance,
    • sanctions & rewards,
    • bullying (including cyber bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to disability, sexual orientation, sex, race, religion & belief, gender reassignment )
    • harassment, discrimination, homophobia, extremism and racism
  • A curriculum which ensures children and young people understand very clearly what constitutes unsafe situations and how to keep themselves and others safe, including eSafety
  • An annual safeguarding report to the governing body (or equivalent) highlighting safeguarding activities including training and monitoring and/or referring concerns or allegations. A review of current policies and procedures should be carried out at the same time.
  • A single central record which gives an overview of the recruitment, selection checking and vetting of all staff and volunteers including right to work in the United Kingdom. Recruitment processes should be rigorous, clearly documented throughout and include a DBS (formerly CRB) check at the relevant level and a check against the Children’s Barred List for unsupervised posts.
  • All adults should be aware of the potential risks with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). There is an additional resource pack available here.
  • All adults should be familiar with the PREVENT / Channel initiative
    HELPLINE - Preventing extremism in schools and children's services
    Email the helpdesk by clicking here
    Telephone 020 7340 7264
    If you are concerned about extremism in a school or organisation that works with children, or if you think a child might be at risk of extremism, contact the helpline. Open Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm (excluding bank holidays).
  • All adults in educational establishments should know how to access the 'whistleblowing' policy , the contact details of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and the Ofsted 'Whistle Blowing Helpline':
    Tel: 0300 123 3155 (Monday to Friday from 8.00am to 6.00pm)
    Email whistleblowing@ofsted.gov.uk.

    Write to :
    WBHL
    Ofsted
    Piccadilly Gate
    Store Street
    Manchester
    M1 2WD

It is desirable that schools:

For more details of the Ofsted Framework for Inspection click here

For information on inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills click here

Important Documents

The important documents listed below can be accessed by clicking on the relevant button

Education Setting Safeguarding Training Requirements

In addition to the mandatory DBS checks all unsupervised staff who have contact with children within the educational setting must be trained in standard child safeguarding which will give them insight on how to recognise potential signs of abuse and how to respond to concerns in a way that provides protection for all those involved. In addition, if your personnel deal with vulnerable adult learners then they also require training in standard adult safeguarding.

Training can be taken online or face to face and both SAFE's online and face to face child safeguarding courses include scenarios that are specific to the educational setting, ensuring the training is applicable to students' roles.

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Ofsted requires all staff in education to be trained in Online Safety.

SAFE's Online Safety courses are designed for anyone working with children and young people. They teach participants about the power of digital communication and the accessibility and reliability of Internet information. The scope includes lessons where candidates can find out for themselves some of the information held about them personally on the Internet.

Course Content

The Online Safety course contains sections identifying the relevant key legislation for Online Safety Safeguarding issues and specific criminal offences which frequently involve modern technology. The course also teaches participants how to respond correctly to Online Safety concerns and identifies Online Safety Best Practice.

There are quizzes throughout the course designed to promote thought on this subject and help people consider what they know and how to apply their knowledge.

There is also a final assessment test which needs to be passed to gain a certificate confirming they have successfully completed the Wise up to the Web Standard Online Safety Course.

Course Certificate

Certificates are valid for two years, are downloadable at any time from our website (pdf file) by either the person who has completed the course or their administrator. They can be verified by visiting our website and entering the Certificate Number. This will check our files and display Name, Date, Expiry and type of certificate.

Training Record

SAFE's eLearning system provides a downloadable employee training record in Excel format for your single central record.

Prerequisites

These courses are designed for people who have completed current child safeguarding training. They are based on current research from Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP), SAFE and other organisations.

Purchasing Online Safety Courses

Purchase Online Safety training here

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Free Online Safety Resource Hub

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EZSafe is a free online resource for all those who work with children and young people and their parents/carers and contains a wealth of videos and text based information covering many aspects of Online Safety.

Online Safety Flow Chart

Click image to download pdf version

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The government recognises the need for knowledge and training around FGM, Counter Terrorism and Modern Slavery. The free resources and courses below have been developed by government departments to help with this.

Rather than developing our own versions (and charging for them) SAFEcic provides a page that links to the official, free training and resources. Click on any title to access the page.

Prevent Awareness; Official Home Office E-Learning Training on Prevent Awareness

Prevent Referrals; This package builds on the Prevent awareness eLearning training. It is designed to make sure that when we share a concern that a vulnerable individual may be being radicalised, that the referral is robust, informed and with good intention, and that the response to that concern is considered, and proportionate.

Channel Awareness; This training package is for anyone who may be asked to contribute to, sit on, or even run a Channel Panel. It is aimed at all levels, from a professional asked to input and attend for the first time, to a member of staff new to their role and organising a panel meeting.

FGM Training; All front line staff who have a mandatory duty to report FGM (Regulated health and social care professionals and teachers) and those who wish to raise their knowledge of the issues involved, please follow this link for their FREE Home Office training.

Modern Slavery; Guidance, resources and training from HM Government.

Leading on Child Safeguarding Course

Your senior/designated lead and deputy/alternate will require training in leading on child safeguarding and if your service provision includes vulnerable adults they will also require leading on adult safeguarding training. These courses detail their specific roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding. These are in addition to the mandatory DBS checks and standard safeguarding courses.

This child safeguarding course is specifically developed for the nominated Child Safeguarding Leads and Deputies in organisations and Designated Safeguarding Leads in educational settings. It is compliant with the latest legislation and government guidance and includes links to your local Safeguarding Children Partnerships/Boards.

The course covers the key aspects of managing safeguarding arrangements including child protection and other vital policies, identifying safeguarding concerns and how to make referrals. This online child safeguarding course includes handling allegations and complaints and includes an overview of eSafety (a more in-depth eSafety course is available separately for educational settings who need to undertake eSafety training annually). The course also meets the training requirements of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Annual SAFE Membership saves you time and money in meeting your safeguarding obligations and provides peace of mind for 12 months. Membership includes access to download template policies and procedures for child and adult safeguarding, saving many days of research and policy writing. Click here for more details.

Membership also provides expert telephone and email support on safeguarding matters, DBS and recruitment issues. Additionally we provide a free expert review of all your safeguarding arrangements to attain the SAFE Award. Successful online submission to the SAFE Award risk assessment allows the use of the SAFE logo, under licence, on all your publicity materials assuring customers and clients of high standards of safeguarding.

Membership also entitles organisations to generous discounts on face to face and online safeguarding training and insurance discounts. For a full list of membership benefits click here.

Click here to join.

Desktop audits (entirely online) and onsite audits  are available. Confirmation for onsite audits will be strictly subject to SAFE's risk assessment of the venue in accordance with relevant government COVID-19 guidance at time of the training.

The expert SAFE team has offered safeguarding audits and pre-inspection audit services for a wide range of organisations such as those in leisure, health and education since 1999. These services are dedicated to raise standards for safeguarding children and/or adults and also assist managers in benchmarking the safeguarding arrangements in their organisation.

Please email us with your contact details for further information and quotations.

SAFE audits are based upon the many years experience of the SAFE multi agency team and designed to reflect the expectations of inspection authorities including Ofsted and the CQC; and are based upon the seven SAFE standards for safeguarding :

  • Nominating and training appropriate personnel as safeguarding leads
  • Circulating current and accurate safeguarding policies and procedures
  • Managing the safer recruitment and supervision of staff
  • Adopting and implementing a staff training strategy
  • Circulating relevant associated polices including eSafety and confidentiality
  • Producing evidence of essential legal requirements including insurance, health & safety and relevant compliance such as CQC or Ofsted
  • Carrying out safeguarding risk assessments and “hot spotting” activities such as one to one work, sports, transport and photography

What does the Audit Service Involve?

Typically taking three days (or more for larger complex organisations or those with multi sites) the SAFE audit team carry out onsite visits, meet staff ( and customers if relevant), scrutinise paperwork to evidence standards, inspect premises and produce thorough reports. These reports include the evidence seen and highlight any actions required to meet the standards.

Actions are graded for priority and are followed up afterwards. Successful organisations are then presented with the National SAFE Award which can be used to reassure parents and carers that every possible step has been taken to safeguard the children and adults in their care.

 For more information please email us here with your contact details. Prices range from £500 per day for charities and £995 for large businesses.

Face to Face Services

SAFE Face to Face Training

SAFE provides a wide variety of safeguarding related courses for staff engaged with children and young people in schools, academies and colleges.. With our experienced trainers - all selected for their professional multi-agency backgrounds as social workers, head teachers, police officers and Ofsted inspectors involved with safeguarding, we are able to bring a wealth of experience that our clients and partners can capitalise on.

Delivery

Our training courses can be delivered at your own venue or at our training suite in Eye, Suffolk.

Standard Child Safeguarding Training

This half-day or after school course is a “must” for all those who work or volunteer directly with children, young people, and/or their families. It is carefully designed to ensure your staff know everything they need to from having a concern, confidentiality, recording and referring to your senior leads for safeguarding. It complies with the latest staff training standards for Ofsted.

Meeting the latest requirements of 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' and Keeping Children Safe in Education 2019, the course covers:

  • The latest safeguarding legislation, national and local policies and procedures
  • Recognition of child abuse concerns
  • How to respond appropriately to concerns and / or allegations
  • eSafety
  • Relevant case studies
  • Discussing best working practices

All participants receive a comprehensive training pack and SAFE Certificate, valid for 3 years.

Leading on Child Safeguarding Training

This course is specifically developed for the senior designated lead in educational settings and is compliant with the latest legislation and government guidance. The course covers the key aspects of managing safeguarding arrangements including child protection and other vital policies, identifying concerns and making referrals, handling allegations and complaints and elements of eSafety.

* Completion of the SAFE CIC Standard Child Safeguarding course (or equivalent) is a pre-requisite or can be added as a combined course at the end of the half day face to face Standard Child Safeguarding course. The session adds around 2 hours to the standard course.

The training meets Ofsted requirements.

All participants receive a comprehensive training pack and SAFE Certificate, valid for 3 years.

Standard Safeguarding Disabled Children and Young People Training

This course is designed for all those who work or volunteer directly with disabled children, young people or their families. NSPCC research tells us that children and young people with a disability are 3.4 times more likely to be abused than those without a disability. Therefore, it is critical for all those who work with disabled children and young people to be vigilant and aware of relevant safeguarding issues.

This after-school or half-day session will raise your awareness of safeguarding children and young people with a specific focus on

  • increasing your confidence in identifying and understanding the additional vulnerabilities of disabled children to abuse
  • gaining an increased understanding of possible difficulties faced by disabled children and young people in communicating their experience of abuse and strategies to support you in your communication techniques
  • understanding more about effective risk assessment within your work environment in order to prevent possible abuse to disabled children and young people
  • ensuring there is an equality of service delivery and experience of service provision for those children and young people with a disability.

All participants receive a comprehensive training pack and SAFE Certificate, valid for 3 years. This is a specialised course, which will build on your existing knowledge achieved from our Standard Child Safeguarding training.

Safeguarding Management Services

Please email us and we will contact you to discuss your requirements and arrange a free quotation.

The effective management of safeguarding is a priority for all organisations but can be difficult to implement due to constraints on time, resources and expertise. SAFE offers a comprehensive management service with;

  • named SAFE personnel to advise on managing or referring safeguarding concerns or allegations, available during office hours.
  • access to the SAFE out of hours phone (in an emergency 999 should be dialled)
  • back up advice and support from the expert

SAFE multi-agency team by email and phone plus the practical tasks of;

  • policy writing
  • making referrals
  • writing reports
  • liaising with external agencies
  • attending strategy meetings
  • risk assessing criminal records information
  • assessing staff safeguarding competencies
  • carrying out any internal investigations when necessary
  • annual review of all safeguarding policies and procedures
  • updates when the law changes and impacts upon practice

Contact us for more information on our Safeguarding Management Services and how we can help your organisation fulfil it's statutory and moral safeguarding obligations.

SAFEcic Audit Services

Please email us with your contact details for further information and quotations.

These include comprehensive policy reviews, recruitment and record keeping processes, personnel interviews and safeguarding walks to audit premises, activities and services.

The expert SAFEcic team has been providing safeguarding audits and pre-inspection audit services for over 20 years. We offer them for a wide range of organisations including charities, businesses, faith groups, leisure, health and education. These services are dedicated to raise standards for safeguarding children and/or adults and also assist managers in benchmarking the safeguarding arrangements in their organisation. Read a Review.

SAFEcic audits are based upon the SAFEcic multi agency team’s many years of experience and are designed to reflect the requirements of;

What does the Audit Service Involve?

All policies and procedural documentation associated with Safeguarding are sent to SAFEcic electronically and scrutinised by the assigned auditor and feedback is given.

The SAFEcic audit team carry out onsite visits, meet staff and pupils/students, scrutinise paperwork to evidence standards and inspect premises. Live documentation (personnel records, single central record etc) are checked for consistency and correct record gathering, plus actual records are "dip sampled". A safeguarding walk also takes place.

Throughout the process SAFEcic will signpost and advise methods and resources to address any issues that arise. If there are any "quick fixes" available, those can be put in place and the final report will recognise these.

A full report is then prepared (in consultation with the customer) and future actions prioritised and agreed. Successful organisations are then presented with the SAFE Award which can be used to reassure parents and carers that every possible step has been taken to safeguard the children and adults in their care.

Actions are graded for priority and are followed up afterwards. Successful organisations are then presented with the SAFE Award which can be used to reassure parents and carers that every possible step has been taken to safeguard the children and adults in their care.

As mentioned, SAFEcic audits include a Single Central Record (SCR) audit (also available separately, without a full audit).

SCR audits can be delivered either on site or remotely and typically take one day and involve dip sampling the SCR and a minimum of 12 associated HR files for a range of posts including senior management, staff, volunteers and contractors recruited over time. All evidence is triangulated comparing the information  in the HR files against the details recorded on the SCR throughout the entire recruitment process in line with the requirements, as relevant to the organisation, of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (as amended 2013, 2020 and 2023), Part 5 of the Police Act 1997, Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, Child Care Act 2006, Section 128 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, The Immigration Act 2014, Ofsted, the CQC and other regulators 

For more information please email us here with your contact details.

Is a SAFEcic Safeguarding audit worthwhile? This is just one of our audit reviews;

Excellent service from start to finish. I am an Education Consultant working in Further Education, largely for Independent Training Providers / Apprenticeship Providers.

I recommended the audit for one of my clients to review the providers safeguarding of direct and subcontracted provision, and boy, was it a thorough review! Policies, procedures, insurance levels, training needs analysis all carried out.

A detailed and comprehensive RAG rated action plan and report was provided. Formative feedback as the process unfolded enabled actions to be implemented, or underway, so so by the time we got to the final feedback, we had put in place much of the actions, so this was highly beneficial.

It was exceptionally good value, considering the depth the audit, and potential benefit and impact. We now feel we have not only got good systems to safeguard individuals, but that we also are more confident about our processes for Ofsted.

We also have become members so have accessed discounted training and access to policy templates. The membership fee for this service is very good.

Rosie was the auditor and she is highly professional, incredibly knowledgeable, and does the review with a 'critical friend approach'. I would definitely recommend this audit, service and the company as a whole.

Lynn Hart

Management Briefing and Five-Point Health Check

(Suitable for Trustees, senior management, CEOs, HR, the corporate Lead and Deputy for safeguarding and the Trustee or director with safeguarding in their portfolio)

This half day management briefing and five point health safeguarding check will provide the opportunity to identify and plan actions needed to help your organisation meet it's ‘legal duty of care’ both in the UK (and abroad if relevant) including: safeguarding policies and procedures, safer recruitment, DBS checks, managing concerns and staff allegations, crises and media management. This will involve scrutiny of your corporate structure and the relevant policies, procedures, handbooks, safer recruitment and training strategy. It will also create the opportunity to address any issues arising and adopt recommendations for future actions. The session will include consideration for various legislative responsibilities, quality assurance and best safeguarding practice.

This briefing includes a comprehensive training pack and certificate of attendance, valid for 2 years, for each delegate.

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Safeguarding Supervision face to face and on-line.

Safeguarding Supervision (1:1 or group of up to 5) is available for you and/or your team members from a trained safeguarding supervisor.

To purchase, either select the appropriate item from the drop down menu on this page, or email supervision@safecic.co.uk for orders, quotations or further information.

NCVO23 109x179Effective supervision provides support, coaching and training for staff and promotes the interests of children. Supervision will foster a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement, which encourages reflection and confidential discussion of sensitive issues.

Safeguarding Supervision can be delivered online at a time to suit your schedule - face to face sessions are also available at the same prices, but with travel/accommodation as an additional charge.

Successful safeguarding supervision will contribute to safer outcomes for children and families.

Each session takes typically 1.5 hours for up to 5 people maximum. Pricing also includes a follow up.

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