Summer term updates and team announcements
Firstly – an apology! This is our longest newsletter ever! There is such a great amount to share and despite our best efforts to edit and prioritise, we want you to have as much useful information as possible while also understanding and being mindful of your workload. So, with that in mind, you may need several goes at getting to the end, but please do persevere and please do as ever forward to others who you work with where aspects relate directly to them.
The second half of the summer term always feels different. Many of you will, by now, be well underway in supporting or planning transition as well as readiness for September including training days and staff induction for new joiners, while at the same time working with families and children who continue to need yours and others support. Please remember that our advice is that the actual transfer of safeguarding files should not take place until the child is formally on roll at their new setting, but that where appropriate, a summary of safeguarding needs and where relevant attendance at meetings such as ‘core groups’ with parental consent should take place before this time. Please also remember that sharing information such as where children are at risk of involvement in aspects such as serious violence that could be as a result of siblings should be made known to their next school or setting. KCSiE states that once on-roll, formal transfer should be within 5 working days. Where this is not the case, the school receiving the child should actively pursue these records.
As a team, we’re also getting ready for September and will again prioritise ensuring that an updated template safeguarding policy will be available for the end of July, alongside our template L2 slides in readiness for September INSET days on our website. For those who would like one of the team to offer a L2 training session as part of these training days, we have a couple of spaces so please do get in touch asap.
We’re also delighted to have now recruited to the post of Senior Safeguarding Practitioner. Lewis Webb will join from 1st September. Lewis is currently Head of School and DSL at a large and thriving coastal town school where he’s been for 8 years so will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge as well as ‘fresh-eyes’ to the team so that we continue to develop and grow in how we meet the needs of schools and Trusts we work with.
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I’m also in a new role from 1st April. I’m now Strategic Lead for Safeguarding and vulnerable groups. I will still have a direct role in the safeguarding team, but this will, once the team is back to full capacity, have a reduced presence in delivering training and reviews. I will however have oversight to ensure that the high standards we have set and the quality assurance from those we work with is still in place.
Lara and I are currently working to ensure the team is at full capacity for September. A key part of my new role will be working with our safeguarding partners through the Devon Safeguarding Children’s Partnership. Many of you will be aware that Working Together 2023 stresses the importance of Education’s role in this partnership. I therefore aim to ensure that school leaders and those in the DSL role have a greater level of involvement where possible in this partnership.
As ever, thank you for everything you do!
Jon Galling – Strategic Lead for Safeguarding and Vulnerable Groups
Many of you will have seen that the DfE uploaded KCSiE 2024 on Friday 24th June. While the document is still a draft, and won’t take effect until September, with the General Election taking place in early July, it’s unlikely that this will see significant changes ahead of the new school year. As in previous years, annex F details the substantive changes, many of which are linked to terminology or in some cases signposting to resources.
There are however some additions, particularly within parts 1 and 2 that we would advise DSLs and school leaders to have read and considered their implications. We will be revising and updating our template policy to reflect these changes and sharing on our website by mid-July along with our skeleton training slides, both of which many of you will be using within your September INSET days and preparing for working with governors and Trustees.
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In line with the statutory functions, we have within DCC, we would like to keep up to date with professionals within schools to allow ease of communication between schools and LA.
In order to do this, we're asking schools to complete the form half termly. The information provided will be held centrally in Education and Learning to aid our service users to support/ make contact with the correct personnel.
When completing the form, if the same staff member holds multiple roles, then please provide the same name and email in the appropriate role boxes.
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Children's Front Door is moving towards the universal implementation of the online Request for Support Form across all platforms for referrals into their service.
By adopting a single online form, they aim to enhance efficiency, intelligence, and safety in facilitating the timely progression of children and families. This move has received validation from Ofsted during the recent monitoring visit, and it aligns with their vision of ensuring the right support at the right time.
Here's what they are doing and why:
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Implementation of a universal form across all organisations to standardise and streamline the referral process into Devon's Children's Front Door.
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Centralisation of all support requests into one mailbox, optimising staff and managerial resources by eliminating the need to monitor multiple mailboxes.
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Revision of wording and questions based on feedback, resulting in a more concise and user-friendly form.
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Real-time processing ensures immediate triaging upon form submission, eliminating delays.
The go-live date for all organisations is set for Monday, June 3rd, 2024. That is, by this point all organisations should be making referrals using the Request for Support Form.
To familiarise yourself with their online form, they have created a test environment, meaning that you can go and follow this through as you would a real, live referral. However, please note that all information put into this test site must be fictional. You can refer to the helpful hints for professionals page on the Devon SCP website for more information and guidance. Should you have any questions or require clarification at any point, please contact Karis Williams, Service Manager for Front Door Services.
Devon’s Safe & Healthy Sexual Behaviour Forum
To recognise the fact Healthy and Safe sexual relationships and to be free from sexual harm are the right of all and to acknowledge we have a joint responsibility to prevent harmful sexual behaviour we are delighted to announce the launch of Devon’s Safe & Healthy Sexual Behaviour Forum a Multi-agency/service community initiative to address the concern of Reactive or Harmful Sexual Behaviour for children and young people.
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The forum is made up of service leads across Devon and will offer a consultation process for information, advice, and guidance. It will employ the use of AIM 3 mapping tools to support and inform next steps, along with the wealth of experience and intelligence sharing within the forum.
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The S&H SB Forum will also be the ONE intake route to agree any AIM3 assessments and intervention plans. Should any service be considering commissioning outside of the Forum, a referral to and discussion in the forum should still take place, to ensure quality and sustainability of the approach being sought.
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We will offer from our community team a pair of trained practitioners (or a practitioner to support your own worker in some situations), together with a dedicated trained supervisor for AIM3 Mapping, Assessment and Intervention work.
The forum will meet on the third Tuesday of each month commencing June 18th, 2024.
We have the following services represented on the Forum: Forensic CAMHs, Police, the Youth Justice Service, Education Safeguarding, Public Health, Early Help services, Childrens Social Care, and SPACE (Youth Service) and the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC)
To access the forum:
Please note: Consent and participation by the young person and their parent or carer/s is always desirable and will be sought by the referring agency in line with their own protocols and procedures. However, this may not always be achievable in practice. Consent by the individual may be overridden, namely for public interest and/or safeguarding reasons.
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Ensure your request for consultation is submitted the Friday before the third Tuesday of each month (if you required it to be discussed in that month)
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Please complete the attached consultation form and send to the forum email address: childsc.earlyhelpreactiveharmfulsexualbehaviour-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
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Please where possible refer to the AIM checklist tools using the following link Online Resources – The AIM Project
- Attend the forum for an allocated time slot to discuss your child or young person and any requests you may have.
The forum will support with next actions: if more information is required, we will support you with a trained supervisor so that you can confidently use the AIM 3 mapping processes to gather the missing information, which will then be brought back to forum for joint decision making.
If the forum decides that the immediately clear next step is an AIM 3 Assessment and Intervention , we will assign you practitioners from a multi-agency pool of trained assessors, they in turn will be supported by one of our trained Aim 3 Supervisors.
If a low-level piece of work is required (for example healthy relationship or a session on consent laws) we may provide you with resources and tips to help you feel confident to deliver this yourself. You can request a H and S SB Forum trained supervisor to help and oversee the work if you think this would add value. The forum may also suggest this in some situation.
You will be able to return the same case to the forum for ongoing case discussions up to three times. The forum may ask you to return at a future date for a review of how the advised actions are working, and to see if any ‘course correction’ may be necessary.
Please familiarise yourself with the above process.
We look forward to your referrals for discussion and TOGETHER we can make our children safe from sexual harm. Please share this with your services and teams, and through your communication networks, to ensure the widest reach.
 For Devon Children and Families we use the level of need tool to help us identify which service is best to work in supporting children and families.
- For most families, help early on in the identification of a need is provided at level 2. Our colleagues in the localities provide advice and support on accessing resources and signposting at Triage. With a wealth of community knowledge and experience of what helps, including for SEND, they are a great support to making the right plans with families.
Contact details for the localities and the Family Intervention Team can be found at their website.
- In addition, the developments of Devon Family Hubs is well underway. Action for Children are leading this partnership work on a community offer to support babies, children, young people, and their families. The offer focusses mostly on supporting Level 2 need. It is growing, and information on the 0-19 offer and how to access it, can be found at Devon Family Hubs website.
The Family Intervention Team (FIT) is part of the targeted help (level 3)
We are a specialist county-wide service which offers targeted support and interventions to children and young people from 0 up to 19 years and their families.
FIT works closely together with partners and communities to provide effective targeted support for the most vulnerable families, not open to social care and experiencing a number of complex issues, such as neglect.
The service objectives are to:
- Deliver a bespoke intervention package to children, young people, and their families with complex needs.
- Reduce the number of adolescents, babies, children and families requiring a statutory children’s social care service.
- Work with adolescents, babies, children and their families when stepping down from children’s social care through continuing a period of targeted intervention to prevent re-escalation.
- Work with families where young people are not in education, training or employment and improve school attendance, aspirations, and outcomes.
- Work with families to help their children and young people to stay safe.
- Reduce parental conflict, support families to reduce and eliminate abusive episodes.
Families we support may be experiencing the following challenges:
- Families with significant non-school attendance.
- Families with members involved in crime or anti-social behaviour.
- Families where an adult prisoner is due to be released and will reside in the family home.
- Families affected by domestic abuse or parental conflict.
- Families living with drug and alcohol misuse.
- Families where children have previously been open to Children’s Social Care or are at risk of becoming open to Children’s Social Care without intensive level support.
- Families where children exhibit significant behavioural difficulties where the origin is not only Autistic Spectrum Conditions.
- Families facing eviction or with significant rent arrears or neighbour disputes having a detrimental impact upon the family’s safety & wellbeing.
- Families with one or more member of the household with enduring and significant mental health needs.
- Families where children are experiencing abusive or neglectful parenting that are impacting on their outcomes and wellbeing.
- Families where there is evidence of the child/young person being at risk of exploitation.
Understanding families’ strengths and needs, happens by bringing together all the information which has been gathered in our assessment and working with individuals and the whole family to identify patterns, priorities and where change is needed. It is important to be led by the family and child/young person initially to consider their priorities first.
Using the framework of the Outcome Star or Graded Care Profile 2 helps the FIT worker and family to understand aspects of their life that are going well in addition to areas of difficulty. Regular review shows distance travelled, and in a continuous way document the time we are working together with families. The tools can also help understand how each priority area may be impacting on another, for example how a parent’s mental health is affecting the ability to provide boundaries for their child.
If you are considering FIT for a family, contact the one Front Door by a Request for Support Form. Providing information on what you have tried so far and being clear about the level of need you see, is really helpful to us in starting to think about how we can best help.
Four new Let’s Talk Sessions are coming soon and FREE tickets are now available! These sessions aim to address the community safety risks our young people face with tips and techniques designed to help parents of young people with special educational needs or who are neurodivergent. The sessions will cover topics including mental health and emotional wellbeing, anger and challenging behaviour, healthy relationships and online safety.
To sign up to these sessions please select from the options provided below:
We are supporting the NCA in distributing the below financially motivated sexual extortion alert for education settings.
"There has been an increase in reporting of children and young people, particularly teenage males, being forced into paying money or meeting another financial demand after an adult offender has threatened to release nudes or semi-nudes of them. This is financially motivated sexual extortion, sometimes referred to as ‘sextortion’, and is a form of child sexual abuse.
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The National Crime Agency has issued an alert to education settings that provides advice on how to:
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recognise the signs of financially motivated sexual extortion
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raise awareness and support children to seek help
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support victims
Visit the CEOP Education’s website to download the alert and a template letter for parents and carers with advice on how to talk to their child about financially motivated sexual extortion, and how to support them if they become a victim."
We are very grateful to colleagues from Public Health Devon for the following summary including links to resources and support. Many schools will have utilised Mental Heath week to promote positive messages around this area, so a summary of support will, we hope, be of use, in continuing this area of support for children, staff and families.
Good mental health is important for helping children & young people to develop and thrive. Having good mental health and wellbeing doesn’t mean always being happy or unaffected by our experiences, but poor mental wellbeing can make it more difficult to cope with daily life. Our mental health and wellbeing can be affected by many things. We can all struggle sometimes, and it is important to seek support when you need it.
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There are local and national organisations that can help children and young people with their mental health and wellbeing. Some are listed here:
Kooth - a free, anonymous and safe online mental wellbeing community for young people within the local area.
Letter of Hope – Devon Partnership NHS Trust resources to provide hope and encouragement to people who are facing difficult times, including a version for young people.
Devon Schools Wellbeing Partnership is a universal health and wellbeing resource for all schools in Devon, with an emotional health section including resources on anxiety, self-harm, suicide and bereavement. Hosted by Devon County Council’s Public Health team, it aims to support schools in creating an environment where pupils, staff, and the wider school community can thrive through taking a holistic whole school approach. The site will continue to develop so keep an eye out for new information.
Samaritans – 24/7 confidential support by phone (call 116123), email, online chat, and self-help guides.
Papyrus – 24/7 suicide prevention advice and support by phone (call 0800 0684141), email or text 88247 - for young people or those supporting young people.
SHOUT – free confidential text service open 24/7 text SHOUT to 85258
Don't forget you can refer and also request support, training and gather resources from Normal Magic and through the Schools Nursing Team.
Devon Schools Wellbeing Partnership has a dedicated staff wellbeing section, including information and signposting to 5 Ways to Wellbeing, available support, and supervision & services.
Search Every Mind Matters for free, NHS approved advice and simple tips to help you look after your mental wellbeing.
First Response Service – Devon Partnership NHS Trust First Response Service (FRS) for adults is available 24/7 – call 111
Having a trained senior mental health lead in a setting plays an important role in the whole school/college approach benefitting the mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people. This is a great opportunity for schools and colleges to access funded training which offers full flexibility to meet the needs of the individual setting.
Suicide prevention is everyone’s business – find out more about suicide prevention in Devon, including details of training.
The popular and well used 'It’s OK to Talk About Suicide' leaflet has had a refresh. Developed in collaboration with Devon Partnership NHS Trust, The University of Exeter, Parental Minds and people with lived experience, the leaflet includes advice on how to have a conversation with a friend, colleague or loved one who you are worried may be feeling suicidal, as well as signposting information, and information and support for looking after your own Mental Health and Wellbeing. It is now in a handy 'Z-card' format to fold down and be kept in a wallet or purse in case it is needed.
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Pete’s Dragons – Devon wide suicide bereavement support service for anyone (children and adults) impacted by suicide, and support for organisations including schools.
Samaritans – 24/7 confidential support by phone (call 116123), email, online chat, and self-help guides.
Papyrus – 24/7 suicide prevention advice and support by phone (call 0800 0684141), email or text 88247 - for young people or those supporting young people.
SHOUT – free confidential text service open 24/7 text SHOUT to 85258
CAMHS – Devon Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHS) call 0808 196 8708. Available 24/7
First Response Service – Devon Partnership NHS Trust First Response Service (FRS) for adults is available 24/7 – call 111
Letter of Hope – Devon Partnership NHS Trust resources to provide hope and encouragement to people who are facing difficult times.
First Hand – resource booklet for anyone affected by the suicide of someone they didn’t know (for example, bystander, first responders).
The Department for Education launched a 12-week call for evidence to take in the views of schools, colleges and other professionals on safeguarding practice development and direction, in advance of keeping children safe in education (KCSiE) 2025.
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They are seeking views on:
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the role of designated safeguarding leads
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child safeguarding information
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safer staff recruitment
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filtering and monitoring
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supporting children following reports of sexual violence and harassment
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protecting children in boarding and residential special schools
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quality assuring safeguarding
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children bringing their own devices to schools
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artificial intelligence
The call for evidence was launched on the 28th March 2024 and will close on the 20th June 2024
Views are welcome from the following:
The Philomena Protocol is a scheme that asks carers to identify children and young people who are at risk of going missing, and to record vital information about them that can be used to help find them quickly and safely.
The carer adds details about the young person to the Philomena Protocol form (which you can download below), including:
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a physical description;
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who their friends are;
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a recent photograph;
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whether they've gone missing before.
The National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) have launched ACT in a BOX, a digital interactive tool that enables businesses and voluntary organisations to rehearse and explore their response to a terrorist incident as a group in a safe-to-fail environment. The first iteration of the product contains two scenarios reflective of real incidents: Marauding Attacker and Improvised Explosive Device (IED). This product was developed using funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) LRF Innovation Fund and a number of Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) from across England. It provides the opportunity for businesses to increase their preparedness and staff awareness, thereby supporting wider community resilience.
On 20th June we are hosting our annual conference, an event that many of you are attending. Having been delighted with last year's event, we’ve used the feedback from those attending to both consider the topics and the format. There are still a limited number of spaces available and therefore do hope that for those still wishing to attend, you can do so. It really does feel like a safeguarding community event – one that I look forward to every year.
We have also published our training dates for L3 initial and refresher sessions for the autumn term. These sessions will also be updated to reflect changes to KCSiE, Working Together 2023 and any aspects within Ofsted’s inspection schedule for safeguarding. We now have 58 (!) One Minute Guides, a number that I’m sure will grow that are available to you as well as many other resources on our website. Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss your training needs or visit the shop to see when sessions are planned for the autumn term.
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“I just wanted to say that I thought the training you delivered over the past two days for our team was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed the activity we completed this afternoon. It was really thought provoking and a fantastic practical way of learning”
“Thank you so much for the refresher course on Wednesday. I have attended many of these sessions and can honestly say, I found yours the most beneficial. I understand it is mainly based around education, and for someone that works in the social care sector, it was refreshing that you kept it relevant for all attendees.”
“I thought that was the best refresher I had ever been on.”
“The 'Filtering and Monitoring' session was really useful in enabling us to reflect on the current challenges facing our young people. We have to appreciate the reality of the digital world and open our eyes and minds to what they are all exposed to. Our pupils are accessing a range of media platforms and it is our job to know as much about them as we can - so we can do the best we can to support them and keep them safe.”
The Healthy Relationships Workshops in Devon and Torbay is a programme written by Barnardo’s, commissioned by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) to deliver the Healthy Relationships Workshops as part of the Exceed Service.
The Exceed Service offers support and information for young people aged 10 to 25 across Devon and Cornwall around sexual exploitation. All aspects of the service are fully funded and so are offered free for schools.
Healthy Relationships Workshops - Workshops can be delivered over two mornings by a Barnardo’s facilitator, alongside a classroom teacher for year 9s and up. The workshops have been co-designed by a young people’s Steering Group and can focus on more depth around the following topics:
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Power, coercion and control within relationships
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Understanding child sexual exploitation, grooming and sexual violence
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Online safety, sexting and the law
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Understanding consent, capacity and the law
- Gender stereotypes
- Different relationship types – LGBTQ+
- Managing conflict and respecting boundaries
- Online safety, sexting, and the law
- Pornography and the law
- How to access help and to identify safe adults and services.
To support delivery, Q and A sessions are offered for parents and guardians, as well as a session for staff to introduce the programme and what is entailed.
You can also access the ‘Exploitation & Sexual Violence’ Staff training session, which lasts approximately 90 minutes and can be run on a training day or a twilight session after school. We are encouraging schools/colleges, as much as possible, to run these on a face-to-face basis. The training is interactive and covers:
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The Scope of Exploitation and Sexual Violence including Domestic Abuse
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The impact that abuse has on victims and to be able to recognise the signs and indicators
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The impact it has on children.
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The support available for them/you
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Healthy language to use.
There is also the DICE Programme – DICE is a 4-week parenting programme aimed at supporting parents to develop skills, the programme can be offered to parents and carers.
If you would like to receive further information, please contact – exceed@barnardos.org.uk
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The Assertive Outreach project has an extended period of extra capacity, beginning the May Half Term (Mon 27th May), and running for 13 weeks. This means Assertive Outreach can help tackle ASB and support young people over the busiest summer period.
Assertive Outreach is a project designed to encourage young people away from Antisocial behaviour through engagement in Street Based Youth Work (SBYW). The Assertive Outreach team will work with groups of young people who are engaging in, or at risk of engaging in, antisocial behaviour. The work will happen in the places where these groups usually socialise, local parks, skate parks, outside the local shops or any other space where the young people in the group gather. Assertive Outreach seeks to engage young people in positive, developmental and sometimes deliberately risky opportunities in order to promote learning. Young people will then be better able to identify risk and their effect on others.
Assertive Outreach will work with groups from high school age and above. These will be groups who are currently engaged in antisocial behaviour or groups who you have identified as being at risk of antisocial behaviour.
Please do refer to AO asap as from referrals already received, they anticipate high demand this summer (see form & guidance link). To request a referral to the AO team schools ill need to contact their local policing team or Community Safety Partnership who have access to the referral forms.
“Great news! There is no ‘big’ news, no ’changes’ or new initiatives to report this half term, we have journeyed into a time of stability with previous changes becoming embedded in partner practice. This is down to a lot of hard work, dedication and communication from all partners of which you are one! The numbers of Requests for Support (RfS) being submitted have stabilised and it feels as though the responses to these are measured and consistent.
Our CSC partners have advised us of some trends they are noticing with Safeguarding Requests coming into the Front Door so we have, below, created a quick check list from the trends identified for you:
- CONSENT – over 75% of all Requests for Additional Support coming into the Front Door have consent. This is fantastic news. It is difficult for CSC to action Requests without consent so please whenever possible and safe to do so (where there is not a serious/immediate safeguarding concern) seek consent from parents/carers before. A difficult conversation at times it is more likely to be well received from ourselves than from a Social Worker calling out of the blue.
- SHORT, SHARP and FACTUAL – summarise your concerns on the Request form and include the impact on the child of your concerns and also of the support you are already providing. Don’t forget to include the child’s voice. You can attach files to the Request but avoid copying lengthy chronologies to the main body of the Request.
- STRATEGY MEETINGS – please send in your Requests as soon as you can so that our CSC partners, if required, can organise strategy meetings in a timely way.
- DEADLINES – The Front Door teams have an 8 hour window to complete their enquiries, and you are all incredibly busy, so please add details/contact numbers of your safeguarding team so should you be unavailable the Front Door can ask to speak to another member of your team.
If you are new to post, or need a refresher on making a RfS, our One Minute Guide No.4 is a useful tool and covers the above points
As the end of year approaches, many of you will wonder how has it whizzed by so quickly (we know we are), but we hope that you take a moment to reflect on your achievements including the smaller details, the personal stories, which can often get lost in the bigger picture. All of us as a team would like to remind you that you’re doing an incredible job of safeguarding individual children, making a difference to them. Those children will probably never know the work that has gone on behind the scenes as you put together chronologies, make Requests for Support, challenge decisions and turn up for numerous meetings, whilst also making sure that the child is being looked after in school and that there is support in place for them – but we know, and we think you’re amazing.
On behalf of your vulnerable children, we thank you!
Kathrin, Hannah and Sue“
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