Month: October 2019

The team from ChildSafeguarding.com together with 112 SAFEGUARDING are attending EARCOS 2019 to talk about the planned launch of a new online course in 2020.

The International Schools’ target cohort includes but is not restricted to those in the following roles: gardeners, security guards; cleaners; maintenance staff; contractors; drivers; administration staff including HR, finance, receptionists, PAs and secretaries; chaperones; volunteers; personnel carrying out accreditation processes; guest speakers; long stay visitors; returning alumni; and similar.

The course is designed for these non-teaching employees, volunteers and subcontractors operating within an International School context, no matter their role, seniority, education or background. It is structured for delivery in the languages of the respective host countries.

An externally derived and bespoke safeguarding audit or review can provide your school with baseline measures and related recommendations for developing and improving standards going forward. Accreditation bodies integrate safeguarding assessment as only part of their comprehensive inspection processes.

Alternatively schools can undertake an internal review to yield some baseline data for benchmarking future progress.

Any review should examine efficacy linked to:

• The ITFCP recommendations as a minimum standard;
• A safeguarding ‘whole school community’ framework that is fit for purpose;
• Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or Child Protection Officers (CPOs) sufficiently trained and in adequate numbers for organizational size;
• Appropriate levels of safeguarding awareness and training for all those within the ‘school community’.

What are your school’s benchmarks for achieving safeguarding success? Passing your regular accreditation inspections might be one? Who establishes your safeguarding standards; the accreditation bodies, you or both? Are they based on ITFCP recommendations or higher?

Is success measured by decreasing numbers of recorded safeguarding incidents at school, or by the quality of your inquiries and outcomes achieved for children? Is it ‘the best interests of the child’ that forms the central measure of safeguarding achievement, or is it assessed by the expedience with which such matters are finalized?

Consider enhancing levels of confidence and understanding for senior leadership and establish a ‘safeguarding roadmap’ via an externally derived and tailored 112safeguarding audit.