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Safeguarding and support for pupils

 
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NAHT members are at the forefront of safeguarding children. School leaders are committed to keeping children safe, so they can learn well. NAHT believes that all pupils should receive the support they need to maintain their well-being and achieve their potential, both within school and from wider services including health and social care.

NAHT is campaigning to:

Enable schools to play their part in supporting pupils' well-being

  • Lobby for pupils and schools to get the support they need from wider services including health, social care, police and youth services
  • Influence the implementation of the proposals from the mental health green paper, including the senior lead for mental health and mental health support teams
  • Support schools to access relevant, high-quality training and resources to enable pupils to exercise their right to support for their mental well-being.

 

Support schools to safeguard and protect pupils

  • Engage with the DfE over proposed changes to the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead
  • Influence changes to Keeping Children Safe In Education, Working Together and Sexual Violence and harassment guidance
  • Campaign to improve online safety for children and young people
  • Press the government to ensure home educated children are adequately safeguarded
  • Promote guidance and resources to support schools to protect children at risk of harm including involvement with violence and other crime.

 

Enable schools to support vulnerable groups of pupils

  • Campaign to ensure pupils with SEND can receive the support they need from schools and wider services
  • Press for improved alternative provision and collaborative approaches across communities to support pupils excluded from school
  • Provide information to schools to help them to support disadvantaged children
  • Enable schools to make informed decisions regarding parental requests to home educate
  • Ensure reforms to behaviour guidance and networks is evidence-based and appropriate for all schools and a diverse pupil population. 
 

DfE issues careers guidance and access for education and training providers

Updated guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) for schools and colleges on careers education and guidance has been issued. 

For the first time, it is now a single document for all secondary schools and colleges. You can read the full document here: Careers guidance and access for education and training providers. 

The guidance is of relevance to:

  • governing bodies
  • school and college leaders
  • career leaders and staff in maintained schools
  • academies
  • free schools (including alternative provision academies and free schools)
  • colleges (that provide secondary education and post-16 education)
  • local authorities that maintain pupil referral units

Statutory guidance is issued by law, schools must follow it unless there is a good reason not to. 

It applies to:

  • all students in school from year 8 to year 13
  • all students in college up to and including the age of 18
  • students aged up to 25 with a current education, health and care plan in place

The guidance is part of the Skills for Jobs White Paper, which contains the government’s vision to transform skills and training.

The Careers and Enterprise Company will provide external support to schools and colleges.

School leaders should note that there has been no change to careers legislation. 

Within the guidance document it states:

"The associated duties and equivalent requirements in funding agreements continue to rest with schools and colleges. 

"The department asks all maintained schools and academies to pay particular attention to their legal requirements under the provider access duty, commonly known as the ‘Baker Clause’, and make sure they have put in place arrangements to comply fully with this law.

"Schools must provide opportunities for a range of education and training providers to access all year 8 to 13 pupils to inform them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. Ofsted’s School Inspection Handbook has been updated to highlight the importance of schools understanding and meeting the requirements of this legislation, as careers information, education, advice and guidance is one of the key areas that informs inspectors’ overall judgements on personal development."

First published 19 July 2021
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