Information for schools

Schools, academies, alternative providers and early years education settings should all comply with statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (opens new window). 

Read this revised statutory guidance alongside Working Together to Safeguard Children (opens new window).  

You should also read Safeguarding Children Procedures Manual (pan-regional) (opens new window).

Minimum requirements for schools

By law schools must have the following safeguarding measures in place:

• a safeguarding and child protection policy. This should be, reviewed annually. It should include detailed procedures for handling suspected cases of abuse and procedures to follow if an allegation is made against a member of staff;
• a designated safeguarding lead (DSL). The DSL should be a senior member of staff, their training should be updated every two years, and a deputy DSL with the same level of training;
• a policy outlining procedures for the safer recruitment of staff;
• a single central record of all staff and volunteers used by the school;
• safeguarding training every three years for all staff and volunteers working with children in schools;
• an anti-bullying policy which prevents all forms of bullying and ensures pupils are safe to learn;
• procedure for passing child protection records to a receiving school;
• awareness of statutory requirements about forced marriage, extremism, female genital mutilation, child sexual exploitation, peer on peer abuse, domestic abuse and sexual violence;
• arrangements for pupils on work experience placements.

Gateshead Safeguarding Children Partnership has a Gateshead Model Safeguarding Policy for Schools (Word doc, 596 KB)(opens new window). This has been updated based on the updates in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 for use from 1 September 2024.

Besides the national legal requirements, we recommend schools have a designated person for e-safety and an e-safety policy. Read Ofsted's inspecting e-safety briefing (PDF, 177 KB)(opens new window) for inspectors for guidance on good practice in this area.
 
All schools are named as relevant agencies in the new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and are therefore under a statutory duty to co-operate with the published arrangements and are required to follow the procedures. Gateshead Safeguarding Children Partnership (GSCP) also offers advice, information and guidance to schools.

Visit Safeguarding children information for professionals for further information and guidance including:

How to report concerns about a child and thresholds document (opens new window)

Private fostering - how to identify and report private fostering arrangements
Modern slavery
County lines

Meetings

The what meeting am I attending guide (opens new window) aims to support schools understanding of their role in multi-agency meetings held in relation to safeguarding and child protection. 

Child exploitation 

Cases of possible child exploitation (sexual and criminal) are discussed at the GSCP's Missing, Slavery, Exploitation and Trafficking Sub Group (MSET) on a monthly basis. See the more child exploitation risk assessment and monitoring framework (including screening tool) for more information.

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass is a unique police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people exposed to domestic abuse. Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools before the start of the next school day when a child or young person has been involved or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous evening. 

The information is given in strict confidence to a school's key adult to enable support to be given dependent on the needs and wishes of the child. Each school should have a member of staff (key adult) who has been fully trained to liaise with the police and children's social care, so are able to ensure the right support is made available to the child following the disclosure of a domestic abuse incident. 

See 10 things you should know about Operation Encompass (PDF, 313 KB)(opens new window)

Operation Endeavour

Operation Endeavour is a joint operation between Gateshead Children's Services and Northumbria Police to safeguard children and young people at risk of harm from going missing.

This is an innovative project in which schools and colleges are participating, and which is run in partnership with Gateshead Council and Northumbria Police.

Operation Endeavour aims to support children and young people who go missing from home. Children who go missing from home are at risk of significant harm and they may be vulnerable to sexual exploitation, violent crime, gang exploitation, or to drug and alcohol misuse.

As a result, following any report of a child going missing to the police, the police will make contact with children's social care who will then communicate relevant and necessary information to nominated school staff. 

Each school has members of staff (key adults) who have been fully trained in liaising with the police and children's social care when required, and will ensure that the necessary support is made available to the child or young person following their return. 

See 10 things you should know about Operation Endeavour (PDF, 277 KB)(opens new window)