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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. 
 

NAHT statement on the safeguarding case report of Child Q

NAHT is shocked and deeply troubled by the case of Child Q. 
 
Clearly, the priority remains ensuring that the child at the centre of the case and her family continue to receive the support they need as they attempt to recover from this deeply traumatic event.
 
It is essential that lessons are learnt from this case so that no child has to go through such an experience ever again. The report makes a series of important recommendations that should help to strengthen the guidance and statutory requirements for schools and their staff in managing similar situations. NAHT urges the Department for Education to take these forward, with input from the profession.  
 
The report also underlines the enduring role that racism (whether deliberate or not) had in the decisions taken on the day. This is once again a stark reminder to us that the experience of Black children can be very different to that of their peers. NAHT is committed to re-doubling our work to acknowledging, challenging and effectively addressing all forms of racism and racial inequality wherever they occur and playing our part in tackling racism in all its forms. 
 
As we have seen from the response to the report, this event has also had a profound and significant impact on the wider Black community, and the impact will continue to be felt for many years to come. NAHT would like to extend our solidarity with the community in these difficult times.

 

First published 30 March 2022

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