Education law conference, March 2017 - London - Policy drafting masterclass

Education law conference
March 2017, London
Policy drafting masterclass

Policy drafting masterclass
How to draft, disseminate and train your staff on your
policies and ensuring they are applied effectively and
consistently
1st March, London
Victoria Hatton, Solicitor
Join the conversation #BJ_EDC

This session
1. Why policies matter
2. What does guidance require?
3. What do Ofsted want?
4. 10 tips for effective policies
5. Child protection policy
6. Separate policies
7. Dissemination and training

Why policies matter
• Structure and clarity of organisation
• Parents, pupils and staff expectation
• Statutory requirement/expectation
• Ofsted
• Why else?

Your policies
• What is good about your policies?
• What could be better?
• Do they comply fully with what the guidance requires and what
Ofsted are looking for?

Rest of this session
• Useful to focus on one policy to work through the principles
Child Protection Policy
• Required
• High Profile
• Ofsted focus
• Statutory guidance

2. What does guidance require?

What does guidance require?
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016
• Policy generally - Para 47 – GBs and proprietors should ensure
there are appropriate policies and procedures in place in order for
appropriate action to be taken in a timely manner to safeguard
and promote children’s welfare.

Policy generally - Para 48 - This should include:
• an effective child protection policy; and
• a staff behaviour policy (sometimes called the code of conduct)
which should amongst other things include - acceptable use of
technologies, staff/pupil relationships and communications
including the use of social media.

• Policy generally: Para 50 - HTs and principals should ensure that
the policies and procedures, adopted by governing bodies and
proprietors, particularly concerning referrals of cases of suspected
abuse and neglect, are followed by all staff
• Missing from education: Para 51- GBs and proprietors should put
in place appropriate safeguarding responses to children who go
missing from education, particularly on repeat occasions, to help
identify the risk of their going missing in the future

• Vetting: Para 71 – In line with Part three of this guidance, GBs and
proprietors should prevent people who pose a risk of harm from
working with children by adhering to statutory responsibilities to
check staff who work with children, taking proportionate decisions
on whether to ask for any checks beyond what is required; and
ensuring volunteers are appropriately supervised. The school or
college should have written recruitment and selection policies and
procedures in place

• Allegations: Para 73 - GBs and proprietors should ensure there are
procedures in place to handle allegations against teachers,
headteachers, principals, volunteers, and other staff. Such
allegations should be referred to the designated officer(s) at the
local authority by the appropriate person as set out in Part four of
this guidance
• Allegations: Para 74 - There must be procedures in place to make
a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) if a person in
regulated activity has been dismissed or removed due to
safeguarding concerns, or would have been had they not resigned.

• Work placements: Para 140 - Schools and colleges organising work
experience placements should ensure that policies and procedures
are in place to protect children from harm

DSL role: Annex B - DSL should ensure policies are known and used
appropriately:
• The designated safeguarding lead should ensure the school or
college’s CP policies are known, understood and used
appropriately
• Ensure CP policy is reviewed annually and the procedures and
implementation are updated and reviewed regularly, and work
with governing bodies or proprietors regarding this.

DSL role: Annex B - DSL should ensure policies are known and used
appropriately:
• Ensure CP policy is available publicly and parents are aware of the
fact that referrals about suspected abuse or neglect may be made
and the role of the school or college in this.

Summary:
• KCS mentions the importance of policy and procedure frequently
• At times is prescriptive about what must be mentioned
• Mainly leaves it for you to decide what to include and how to do it

What do Ofsted want?
Ofsted Inspecting Safeguarding, August 2016
• The signs of successful safeguarding arrangements:
• Leaders and managers have put in place effective child
protection and staff behaviour policies that are well
understood by everyone in the setting

• Inspectors should look for evidence of five main aspects of the
setting’s safeguarding arrangements:
• the application and effectiveness of safeguarding policies and
safe recruitment and vetting processes
• all staff and other adults working within the setting are clear
about procedures where they are concerned about the safety of
a child or learner

• Inspectors should consider evidence that:
• child protection and staff behaviour policies are in place and
regularly reviewed to keep all children and learners safe
• the setting has clear policies and procedures for dealing with
children and learners who go missing from education,
particularly those who go missing on repeat occasions. Leaders,
managers and staff are alert to signs that children and learners
who are missing might be at risk of abuse or neglect

• Safeguarding requirements for leaders and managers:
• GBs etc. must ensure that they comply with their safeguarding
duties under legislation. They must ensure that the policies,
procedures and training in their…schools…are effective and
comply with the law at all times.
• …ensuring that an effective child protection policy is in place…

Summary:
• Successful safeguarding includes having well understood policies in
place
• Inspectors will consider:
• their “application and effectiveness”
• whether they are regularly reviewed
• whether they are clear on children missing education
• The role of GBs etc in safeguarding

4. 10 tips for effective policies

10 tips for effective policies
1. Content – cover what needs to be covered (guidance and Ofsted)
2. Clarity and brevity are your friends (be accurate and succinct)
3. Size is not important
4. Get the flow right (the right topics in the right order)

5. Review means review, not “bolt on” new elements
6. Spin-out separate policies if needed, but only if needed
7. Disseminate to all staff
8. Train staff

9. Critically assess - if you don’t find it an easy read, your staff
won’t either…
10. Carry out a procedural review after a safeguarding issue:
• Did they work?
• Could they have worked better?
• What changes should you make
• Do you need to engage the LSCB or other agencies?
• Record that you carried out a review

Child protection policy
Policy headings one can use
Headings need to make sense, but content is more important

1. Policy statement and principals (inc. child protection statement)
2. Safeguarding legislation and guidance
3. Related safeguarding policies
4. Roles and responsibilities (DSL, Head, Governor)

5. Good practice guidance
6. Vulnerable children
7. Children missing education
8. Staff/pupil relationships (inc social media)

9. Allegations against staff
10. Staff training
11. Safer recruitment, vetting and barring (RA, Volunteers,
Contractors, DBS Referrals)
12. Visitors

13. Child Protection procedures (Recognising abuse, categories of
abuse, taking action)
14. Pupil disclosing to you
15. Notifying parents (inc. not notifying them)
16. Referring to Children’s Social Care

17. Peer on peer abuse and sexually harmful behaviour
18. Child Sexual Exploitation
19. Honour-Based Violence
20. Female Genital Mutilation

21. Radicalisation and extremism
22. Confidentiality and information sharing
23. Special circumstances (Private Fostering arrangements, Looked
After Children, Work experience, Host families)

Remember the top tips for constructing the policy
effectively and efficiently…

Separate policies
• No right or wrong answer
• The key is doing what is right for your children, in your setting, in
your community
• What is right for one school will not be right for another, e.g.
Prevent and extremism
• If you do have separate policies, make sure they fit neatly with
your overarching CP policy and with each other

Separate policies
Separate polices could include:
• Prevent, Child Sexual Exploitation, FGM, managing allegations,
children missing education, e-safety, work placements, host
families
• If you use separate policies, note them in the opening to your CP
policy

Separate policies
Remember:
• If it is right for your school; and
• The staff understand your policies; and
• You remain complaint with guidance; and
• You can comfortably explain to Ofsted why it works
…then having some separate policies is right for you

Dissemination
• How accessible is your safeguarding policy?
• Website
• Internally
• If you asked your staff, from where would they say they accessed
it?
• Would the answers be consistent?

Dissemination
• How do you disseminate your policy once it has been
approved?
• Email to staff
• Staff meetings
• Training update
• Short training video on the key changes
• No right or wrong answer, it’s about outcomes – do staff
know your policy and where to find it?

Dissemination
How do you evidence your effective dissemination?

Training needs
• Horses for courses – different staff need a different level of
training and for it to be delivered in different ways:
• DSL
• Governors
• Cleaners
• Office staff
• Front line staff
• What do they need to know and what approach is required to help
them know it?

Training needs
• Extension of dissemination
• How do you train your staff on your policy and guidance
requirements?
• Inset days
• Staff meetings
• Online training
• How do you measure and record the success of the training?

Training needs
• Record of attendance
• Post session quiz
• Refresher training
• What evidence can you then present to Ofsted?

Find out more
www.brownejacobson.com/education

Talk to us
Victoria Hatton| 01392 458744 | victoria.hatton@brownejacobson.com
Please note
All information correct at time of production.
The information and opinions expressed within this document are no
substitute for full legal advice. It is for guidance only and illustrates the law
as at the published date. If in doubt, please telephone us on 0370 270 6000.
© Browne Jacobson LLP 2017 – The information contained within this
document is and shall remain the property of Browne Jacobson. This
document may not be reproduced without the prior consent of Browne
Jacobson.

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