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, who will be kept aware of each incident.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 (KCSIE)

This guidance, updated annually, informs policy and practice for all schools / academies / colleges. Governors need to read Part One (or Annex A if appropriate) at the very least. . 

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 the Secretary of State will:

• 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.

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.

The Diocese expects all Foundation (and other) governors to undertake safeguarding training within the first six months of their term of office. The relevant Local Authority provides signposts safeguarding in-person and/or online courses.

This year the Diocese is providing a course to complement other training: