Legislation and guidance from the Department for Education (DfE).
The Department for Education (DfE) updates the Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges annually in September. This guidance sets out the legal duties which schools and colleges should comply with. It should be read alongside the statutory guidance Working together to safeguard children, and departmental advice What to do if you are worried a child is being abused: Advice for practitioners.
Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges - This is the current guidance and framework for safeguarding in your school or college.
Keeping children safe in education: for school and college staff (part 1) – The DfE will update this guidance intermittently, and this has been available since 2016. It contains safeguarding information for all staff in schools and colleges and contains additional information on specific safeguarding issues (female genital mutilation, exploitation, county lines). This guidance is recommended for use as a training document and can support any training delivered out in the school or college. This guidance helps staff have a clearer understanding of contextual safeguarding.
Local authorities have overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people in their area. They have a number of statutory functions under the 1989 and 2004 Children Acts which make this clear, and the government's guidance to multi-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children sets these out in detail.
Information sharing is vital to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. A key factor identified in many serious case reviews (SCRs) has been a failure by practitioners to record information, to share it, to understand its significance and then take appropriate action. Derbyshire County Council has Information Sharing Agreements with all Derbyshire schools.
HM Government information sharing advice is non-statutory and has been produced to support practitioners in the decisions they take when sharing information to reduce the risk of harm to children and young people.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a legal duty on schools, academies, and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. Full guidance is available on Derbyshire Local Offer website.