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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. 
 

National Tutoring Programme (NTP) England

The DfE has recently shared some more information about the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) (England), that may be of interest to special schools, alternative provision, specialist settings and their respective networks.

The NTP is available to all state-maintained schools and provides access to high-quality tutoring (subsidised by 75%)- to support a wide range of pupils who need extra help at the current time, including those with a special educational need and/or disability (SEND).

Schools/SENCOs can search for approved NTP Tuition Partners and enquire directly with providers via the NTP website. Online tutoring can be provided to pupils at home or in school during lockdown, and tutoring can also be booked in for delivery when schools are fully reopened. 

The NTP wants to make sure that the SEND offer, through the NTP has something to work for every student who needs extra support. This can include small-group and/or one-to-one tuition. It can also be subject-specific where appropriate.

Tuition Partners are able to deliver tutoring in state-maintained mainstream and state-maintained specialist settings. Schools/SENCOs can explore which Tuition Partners are able to provide the most appropriate support by searching here.

The NTP is also running an information webinar for all state-maintained schools on Tuesday 2 March at 4pm, where participants can hear directly from Tuition Partner organisations and learn about the subsidy. Sign up here.

Examples of schools' experiences of using the NTP please can be found in the school stories section of the NTP website, which includes a recent story from St Mary's Church of England Primary school, Bridport.

More detailed information about the NTP and the offer to schools can be found on the NTP website here.

First published 17 February 2021

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