Safer working practices

Information and guidance on best practice for a safer working environment within schools and educational settings.

Information in this section will help schools and educational settings with the information that is required and will help you think about how you adopt, review and revise policies, procedures and guidance to ensure the best practice.

It's vital that a culture of safe recruitment involves creating and sustaining a safer working environment. This has become a critical issue in all schools and settings where staff are in contact with children and vulnerable young adults. Processes should exist to protect children and vulnerable young adults and must include all those professionals working in those settings. You must demonstrate how you are working safely, openly and with transparency. All those when in contact with children should be seen to be acting as outstanding role models.

Schools in Derbyshire must have:

• A staff code of conduct
• A policy around staff use of electronic communication, social media and the internet
• A whistle blowing policy
• An online safety policy for pupils/students
• Additional guidance (school based) on practices in the school, eg, personal and intimate care, medicines, use of physical intervention etc.

Please also see the Human Resources pages for further information on what policies are offered, including Single Central Record and latest updates.

Training on Safer Recruitment can be found at NSPCC online training, and Safer Recruitment Consortium.

There are also a number of useful additional links you can refer to regarding:

• safer recruitment
• guidance for safer working practice for those working with children and young people in education settings
• teacher and teaching assistant status checks
• overseas criminal records checks
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
• DBS update service
• DBS filtering guidance
• overview of DBS checked and barred lists which includes how to track a DBS
• guidance on controlling access to school premises
• School and college security
• guidance When to Call the Police for schools and colleges

Searching, screening and confiscation guidance is intended to explain schools' powers of screening and searching pupils so that school staff have the confidence to use them. In particular it explains the use of the power to search pupils without consent. It also explains the powers schools have to seize and then confiscate items found during a search. It includes statutory guidance which schools must have regard to.

School bus guidance is available on Derbyshire County Council website for schools, parents and pupils, and also operators and drivers.