Safeguarding for Governors
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. Safeguarding and 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 have training, monitor, and receive regular reports on how the school is meeting their safeguarding responsibility. However, governors do not get involved in detail, except for the nominated Safeguarding Governor, who will be kept aware of each and any incidents.
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 (KCSIE)
Updated annually this guidance informs School policy and practice as well as training.
Governors need to read Part 1 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 2022 requires Governing Boards to ensure that all governors and trustees receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection (including online) training at induction level. 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 an online course.
The Diocese expects all Foundation (as well as other) governors to undertake safeguarding training within the first six months of their term of office.
Both the Diocese and the Local Authorities provide Safeguarding courses. The Diocesan course puts safeguarding in the context of the Church of England and being a Church School. It has been highly commended by those who have attended in the past and has been revised and updated for 2023-24. This course is available on:
Thursday 23rd April 2024 at 2pm online
Bookings are made on Eventbrite (click on the date you want to book your place).
Foundation Governors sign their nomination promising to attend Diocesan training in the first year of their appointment. Ideally this will be achieved as early as possible. The Diocesan Board of Education expectation is that this includes both Safeguarding and ‘Making Sense of Church School Governance’ as a minimum.