Protecting Children - A Shared Responsibility

PROTECTING CHILDREN - A SHARED RESPONSIBIITY

CHAPTER 3: ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDUCATION STAFF

Local Authority Department with responsibility for education.

37. Those responsible for education at a local authority level, are already required to appoint a senior officer responsible for child protection at authority level. (Circular 10/90). The person so appointed is expected to exercise direct responsibility for the contribution of the education authority to child protection matters. The authority should ensure that he or she has adequate time to exercise the duties concerned and undertake relevant training on child protection issues. His or her name and role should be clearly communicated to all schools and centres and to other sections of the local authority, including authority switchboards. This person's role will include:

co-ordinating policy and action on child abuse, in schools and community education centres throughout the authority;
ensuring all establishments are fully aware of this guidance, and providing any necessary customisation in terms of contacts, phone numbers and referral forms; ³
ensuring that all establishments have a fully trained Child Protection Co-ordinator and, where appropriate, a deputy CPC;
developing a child protection training strategy for the authority, ensuring that this is fully implemented across all establishments in the authority, making it available to partner-providers of pre-school provision and putting in place appropriate training arrangements for peripatetic and other visiting staff;
ensuring that there is a system in place to allow other agencies to obtain education information on child protection cases during periods when the schools are closed - in particular over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays;
in each case which has been formally referred as 'child protection', monitoring termly the work of the establishment and the educational outcomes for the child;
in schools with substantial child protection case-loads, ensuring the staff allocation is adequate to allow these schools appropriate time to contribute effectively to inter-agency child protection procedures;
promoting Personal Safety programmes in the curriculum; and
acting as the point of contact with the local social work department and other agencies, including the CPC.

Head of School or Centre

38. This guidance applies equally to the headteachers of local authority schools and those of independent and grant-aided schools.

The role of the head of school or centre is crucial in ensuring a climate in which

all staff (including those other than teachers) understand and take seriously their responsibilities for child protection;
meeting children's needs is given high priority; and
there are effective working relations with other agencies with responsibility for child protection.

39. Heads are also responsible for ensuring that the safety of children and staff are supported through good attention to Health and Safety and security arrangements.

40. The headteacher / head of centre has a number of specific responsibilities in relation to child protection:

41. S/he shall nominate a suitably experienced and trained person as Child Protection Co-ordinator for the school, and provide him/ her with support and adequate time to carry out this demanding remit. In small schools the Head may act as his/her own Co-ordinator. Generally, however, it is better for another member of senior management to carry this responsibility in order to facilitate discussion at a senior level in the establishment, to ensure that the interests of the child(ren) in question are fully represented within the school and to facilitate the development of specific child protection links between agencies. In all instances an appropriate person should be designated as depute to act in the absence of the co-ordinator.

42. S/he shall take steps to make sure that all staff are aware of the guidance contained in this document and give them ready access to a copy of it. S/he, in conjunction with the school Child Protection Co-ordinator should prepare a brief supplement setting out practical information in relation to the school operation of these procedures (e.g. names and phone numbers of key contacts within the school and in other agencies). This supplement should take account of the range of the school's work to be covered - including any pre or after school provision and out of school activities.

43. S/he should have procedures in place to ensure that new, temporary, supply and other visiting staff or volunteer helpers are properly informed of child protection procedures. The Head personally should also annually review these procedures with all staff at the beginning of the autumn session, and in doing so, convey the importance which attaches to the prompt and effective implementation of these procedures.

44. S/he shall put arrangements in place such that that all staff receive regular basic training in child protection and that those staff with a front line responsibility for child protection - the Child Protection Co-ordinator, other members of the senior management team, the member(s) of staff responsible for learning and behaviour support and guidance staff and other staff responsible for pupil welfare - undertake regular appropriate external child protection training. The Head should also ensure that, within the school's staff development programme, a high priority is given to

front-line staff attending appropriate courses and developing knowledge of local arrangements; and
new staff undertaking child protection training.

45. S/he is responsible for making known to pupils and parents the school's procedures on child protection and how they will operate. The school's child protection policy should be clearly set out in its information handbook. This should include:

identification of the school's Child Protection Co-ordinator;
the procedures which will be followed if an allegation or suspicion of abuse arises;
details of the school's complaints procedures and ways in which parents can raise concerns;
information on confidentiality;
a summary of arrangements for checking the suitability of staff and volunteers working with children on school activities (in or out of the school building); and
information on curriculum work which supports pupil safety.

46. Consideration should be given to providing pupils and parents with a separate statement of confidentiality, (an example is given at Appendix 6), and parents a copy of the Parent Checklist for Youth Activities published by the Scottish Executive.

47. When the Child Protection Co-ordinator judges that a pupil is in need of protection, the headteacher is responsible for ensuring that the school develops and implements its own support plan for that child, together with any additional appropriate action necessary.

48. S/he is responsible for the school's effective contribution to interagency child protection procedures. In particular the Head is accountable for seeing that:

detailed school reports are provided timeously whether for use at a child protection case conference or by the Reporter;
an appropriate member of staff who knows the child attends case conferences or hearings when invited;
the school contributes as agreed to child protection planning and implementation.

49. In an education authority school, the Head is responsible for supplying to the designated authority Child Protection Officer, termly monitoring reports on children subject to child protection procedures. In an independent school, reports should be provided to the relevant Governors' sub committee.

50. Where a child protection complaint is made about a member of staff, in addition to taking appropriate action in relation to the complaint (see chapter5) the headteacher should enter, sign and date a short summary of the complaint in a Record of Child Abuse Complaints maintained for that purpose and kept in a secure place. The summary should include:

date and brief details of the complaint;
by whom and against whom it was made;
if formally referred - to whom and when;
if the complaint was dealt with internally a brief note of the outcome including why the decision not to formally refer the complaint was made.

51. The Head should make this record available on request to the authority's Child Protection Officer, or, in the case of an independent school, the School's Chairman of Governors and to HMIE when the school is inspected.

Child Protection Co-ordinator

52. The role of the Child Protection Co-ordinator is critical to the effective operation of child protection procedures within the school. On a day to day basis, s/he will be the main point of contact both for staff within the school and for outside agencies seeking contact with the school on child protection matters. Accessibility, empathy with children and young people, a readiness to listen, clear thinking, good record keeping and determination are key qualities for the co-ordinator. The Child Protection Co-ordinator needs to ensure his or her own knowledge of child protection matters is up to date through regular attendance at authority and inter-agency training events. S/he should also develop and maintain effective working relationships with his or her counterparts in the other agencies. Within the school s/he will have a key role in developing staff understanding of child protection, their roles in relation to child protection and the procedures to be followed in cases of serious concern. S/he needs to keep her/his deputy fully informed of developments. S/he will also be responsible for overseeing the planning of appropriate curricular provision designed to help children become good parents and to protect themselves from the risk of abuse. In line with the recommendation of the School Drug Safety Team s/he will be responsible for managing risk from drug-related incidents in school.

53. In cases of alleged or suspected abuse, s/he has the following responsibilities:

to listen to and record staff concerns, seeking further information from other staff if necessary;
to have in place an appropriate and secure record system for child protection information, which takes account of the requirements of data protection;
to observe the child;
if necessary, to seek advice from the nominated authority Child Protection Officer and/or from the person designated as a point of reference in the local inter agency guidelines. NB Seeking advice from another agency will not be considered by them as a referral, and they cannot be expected to act as a result of such a phone call;
to arrive at a judgement as to whether there is reasonable cause to suspect or believe that the child is at risk of abuse.

54. If the Child Protection Co-ordinator concludes that further referral is inappropriate at this time, s/he should discuss the concerns with the headteacher to:

consider what action the school needs to take to provide further support for the child in question;
where appropriate, put in place logging arrangements to ensure that additional relevant information is gathered; and
decide how best to advise the parents of the identified concerns.

55. Together they should record, sign and date brief details of the concern and the decision made within the school child protection log.

56. If there is evidence of the need to protect the child the Child Protection Co-ordinator should:

discuss the concerns with the headteacher (unless the headteacher is directly implicated in the concerns in which case contact should be made with the authority's nominated Child Protection Officer, or in the case of an independent school, the Chair of Governors, or of the relevant governors' sub committee) to consider whether immediate action is necessary to protect the child (e.g. can the child be allowed to return home that lunchtime/ afternoon?) and what action the school itself should take to provide further support for the child;
explain to the child (or ensure that another member of staff, in whom the child has confidence, explains) what actions the school is going to take, and, as far as is known, what is likely to happen as a result;
make a child protection referral in accordance with local arrangements, initially by telephone, to be followed up by a written referral copied to the authority designated child protection co-ordinator, or, in the case of an independent school, to the chair of the relevant governors' sub committee. NB The responsibility for making a formal child protection referral rests with the Child Protection Co-ordinator, not with the headteacher.
Consider whether a direct referral to the Reporter is also required, and if so make it in accordance with the advice set out in the Education Protocol - Appendix 2;
in consultation with the headteacher and with the agency referred to, decide how parents are to be advised of the identified concern.

57. Following on from the initial referral, it is the Child Protection Co-ordinator's responsibility, with others to:

prepare and oversee the implementation of a school support plan for the child or young person. As part of that plan, consideration should be given to which staff (including any temporary or supply staff) require information and how much information they require, bearing in mind both issues of confidentiality and the need for the child to be adequately supported;
co-ordinate the preparation of reports on the child in response to requests from other agencies.(Even where the meeting will be attended by a school representative, a report should be prepared for inclusion in the conference papers;)
attend (or arrange for a more suitable nominee to attend) case conferences; core group meetings and Children's Hearings as required, and see that school contributions to a child protection plan are implemented;
where it is likely that inter-agency child protection meetings will occur during periods of school closure, in education authority schools, make arrangements with the authority's Child Protection Officer to ensure that those attending these meetings are furnished with the appropriate information to allow considered decisions to be made. In independent schools, the child protection co-ordinator should set up appropriate mechanisms to ensure that such requests are effectively met.

Pre-School Staff / Primary Class Teacher / Guidance Teacher/ Learning and Behaviour Support Teacher/ Community Education Worker

58. It is most likely that the member of staff who may first be alerted to a child in need or suffering from abuse will be the assigned member of nursery staff, child's class teacher in a primary school, his/her guidance or support teacher in a secondary school or a youth worker involved in regular out of school activities. This awareness may be the result of one or more of the following:

the way the child presents in school e.g. unkempt, inappropriately dressed for the weather, persistently hungry or tired;
an unexplained but significantly different pattern of attendance, attainment or behaviour than that previously noted;
seeing unexplained or unaccustomed injuries on a child; or
something the child says or chooses to confide.

59. Where there is clear evidence of harm to the child, as a matter of urgency the staff member should relay his/her concerns to the Child Protection Co-ordinator or, if he or she is not available, to the person designated to deputise for him/her. It is most important that a child should not be placed at risk of further harm through a delay in reporting. Steps should also be taken to meet the immediate needs of the child, taking care in doing so, not to remove or contaminate evidence. Once the member of staff has decided to relay concerns to the Child Protection Co-ordinator, the staff member should not discuss his or her concerns with other members of staff or others, save in the forum of a support planning meeting convened by the Child Protection Co-ordinator. However, the member of staff should on the same day, record, sign and date the nature of the concerns and the actions s/he took. Where other children or young people have been involved in the disclosure staff should ensure that they are appropriately supported.

60. Where there are grounds for concern, but no clear evidence of abuse, the staff member should discuss his/ her concerns with the Child Protection Co-ordinator, and agree whether further observation is necessary, when and how concerns should be relayed to the parent(s), and how on-going concerns should be recorded. (Very often the reluctance of other agencies to become involved in inter-agency child protection proceedings, is based on a lack of clearly recorded substantiated causes of concern). The staff member should also discuss with the Child Protection Co-ordinator what further support the child is likely to need and how best this can be met.

Teaching staff

61. All teachers have responsibilities for the welfare of children and need to be aware of the possibility of child abuse in its several forms. Generally it is less likely that staff not in sustained contact with a child will be the first to be aware of possible abuse. However children's choices of to whom to disclose cannot be controlled. It is also possible that a particular lesson may provide opportunities not available to others to observe injury e.g. swimming, home economics, technical education. In the event of a member of staff becoming aware of actual or possible abuse they should follow the guidance in paragraphs 60-62. All staff, however, should be aware of children under stress, even if the precise causes are not known or shared with them. In these instances they have a responsibility to take account of these pressures in their dealing with the child or young person and as far as possible provide support for him or her. Where a child is known to be at risk, teachers have a responsibility not to take actions which, in their effects, may expose the child to a greater degree of risk - this applies particularly to the operation of escalating disciplinary systems, where a further referral may result in exclusion and greater exposure to harm.

Ancillary Staff

62. Classroom assistants, special needs assistants, playground supervisors, janitors and catering staff are often seen by children as possible confidantes because of the nature of their contact. In the nature of their responsibilities, such staff are often able to see different patterns of behaviour emerge outwith the classroom. In relation to younger children, some staff may be well positioned to observe the interaction between children and their parent(s) at the beginning and end of the school day. Similarly, in secondary schools, others may be in a position to observe young people putting themselves at risk through ill-judged behaviour or friendships. Special needs assistants, in particular, may develop strong relationships and good communication with those they support. Often ancillary staff live within the catchment of the school, and may have local knowledge or receive information which suggests that a pupil may be at risk. As with other school staff, it is vital both that all concerns regarding the welfare of a child or children are reported to the Child Protection Co-ordinator as soon as possible, and that such suspicions or concerns are not discussed more widely.

School Nurses

63. School nurses may identify child abuse and child protection issues in several ways:

when undertaking school health screening activities;
by health monitoring and accurate recording when a health related problem has been identified;
by listening to and observing children in school;
by being available to children and parents to approach informally; and
through liaison with other health professionals such as health visitors when children transfer to primary 1.

64. Where a school nurse has concerns about the safety of a school child these should be shared with the school's Child Protection Co-ordinator, and with other professionals in accordance with his or her own professional guidance.

Home School Link Workers/Education Welfare Officers/Attendance Officers

65. The implementation of Scottish Executive policies on inclusion, has resulted in the creation of posts whose basis is strengthening the links between home and school through direct work with parents. Such posts are found in Sure Start, Early Intervention, New Community School, Support for Parents and Better Behaviour projects, as well as some specifically funded for individual schools serving areas of difficulty. Education Welfare Officers or Attendance Officers have a role which also involves direct contact with children's families. All these workers are well positioned to identify conditions which may present a risk to children, e.g. drug or alcohol misuse or inappropriate living conditions. Where serious risks are identified, these should be reported promptly to the school's Child Protection Co-ordinator. More importantly, however, such workers are often able to identify problems before they reach the stage of placing children at risk of significant harm. In these circumstances, these workers have a responsibility to ascertain directly from education authorities what support is available to the family, but also, through liaison with other agencies, to seek to set other supports in place.

Educational Psychologists

66. A significant number of children who have been abused or are experiencing abuse exhibit a variety of disturbed and disturbing behaviours in school and so are referred by their schools to authorities' educational psychology services. However, it was a finding from the Child Protection Review, that very few of those children were thoroughly assessed, or successful in accessing a service. Psychological services should ensure that where a school's referral indicates concerns in relation to child protection, priority is given to carrying out a full psychological assessment of the child. Where that assessment indicates a need for a programme of intervention, authorities have a responsibility to see that these needs are met promptly.

Governors of Independent and Grant-Aided Schools

67. Those responsible for independent schools are required to 'safeguard and promote the welfare' of their pupils. This being the case, proprietors of independent schools have a responsibility to see that child protection concerns are appropriately dealt with. In particular they have a responsibility to ensure that the appropriate handling of child protection concerns is not subordinated to concerns over adverse publicity. Given the confidential nature of much child protection work, it would not be appropriate for such cases to be discussed by the full Governing Body. However the Governing Body should ensure that a properly constituted sub committee is formed with responsibility for the oversight of child protection matters. Its work should include:

ensuring that an appropriate child protection policy is agreed, implemented consistently and supported by relevant staff training;
ensuring that parents and pupils are familiar with details of the school's child protection policy and procedures, confidentiality code and of how to raise their concerns through an agreed complaints procedure;
providing robust support for the headteacher and designated Child Protection Co-ordinator when they require to deal with cases of child protection;
being the point of reference for the Child Protection Co-ordinator or the depute should either the headteacher or the Child Protection Co-ordinator be implicated in the allegations;
monitoring the work of the school in relation to any cases known to it;
particularly in the case of boarding schools, putting in place structures which allow them to satisfy themselves directly that pupils' needs and welfare are fully met by the school; and
ensuring all Governors receive appropriate training on their roles and responsibilities in relation to children's rights and child protection.

68. Where an independent school operates without a Board of Governors, then an independent person should be appointed who will visit the school on a regular basis and with whom both staff and pupils can raise concerns. This person should monitor the operation of the child protection policy, liaise with the Child Protection Co-ordinator and raise issues with the Headteacher as necessary.

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