Diocese of Chichester Education

The Diocese takes Safeguarding seriously. Safeguarding is at the heart of a Christian expression of community and family with the call to: 

“Defend the weak, the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and oppressed...”  
Psalm 83.4

Safeguarding is a key priority for all schools. Promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families and is involved in any way with a school has a part to play.

Governors need to be trained, monitor and receive regular reports on how the school is meeting its safeguarding responsibility. However, governors do not get involved in detail except for the nominated Safeguarding Governor.

The governing board has a strategic leadership responsibility for its school’s safeguarding arrangements. They must:

• comply with their duties under legislation
• have regard to the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance
• ensure that policies, procedures and training in their schools are effective and comply with the law at all times

Governors need to be trained, monitor and receive regular reports on how the school is meeting its safeguarding responsibility. However, governors do not get involved in detail except for the nominated Safeguarding Governor.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 (KCSIE)

This guidance, updated annually, informs policy and practice for all schools / academies / colleges.
In particular, governors and associate members should ensure they have read and follow ‘Part 2: The management of safeguarding’ in Keeping Children Safe in Education.
It should be noted that the governing board is only going to be aware of all their safeguarding duties if at least one governor reads the whole of KCSIE.

Safeguarding Training

KCSIE requires that Governing Boards should ensure that all governors and trustees receive appropriate (governor-specific) safeguarding and child protection training (which can be online) at induction. Their training should be updated regularly (usually interpreted as annually).

It is no longer ‘best practice’ to simply attend the Staff training in September but to access training specifically for governors either in person, virtually or during an online course.

All governors should undertake specific governor Safeguarding training during their induction (Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025). The Diocese expects that you attend the course provided by the Local Authority or as advised by your school, within the first three to six months of your appointment and reappointment.

DBS Checks for all Governors

KCSIE requires:
All governors in maintained schools are required to have the relevant and up to date Enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks, including Section 128 (Secretary of State prohibition or restriction on an individual) in line with statutory requirements. It is the Governing Boards’ responsibility to ensure that these are carried out by the school.

DBS Checks for Academy Trusts

Before an individual becomes the Chair of a Trust they must complete an Academy Trust Chair Suitability Check, the Secretary of State will then:

• carry out an enhanced DBS check;
• confirm the individual's identity, and
• if the individual lives or has lived outside of the UK, where applying for an enhanced check is insufficient, undertake such other checks as the Secretary of State considers appropriate. 

Where an Academy Trust delegates responsibilities to any delegate or committee including a Local Governing Body, the trust must require an enhanced DBS check on all delegates and all members of such committees.