You will have read in last month's email bulletin about the Learning & Development Gateway changing to the Learning Pool. If you are a WSCC employee or work in another organisation AND have a booking to attend a training course in the future, this means your account will have automatically been transferred to the new platform. However, if you do not work for WSCC and do not have training booked in, this means your account has not been moved over and you will need to request a new one. Please take 5 minutes to request a new account. You can do this by simply clicking on the link below - 

Request a new user account for the Learning Pool

Once you have an account you will be able to access all of the WSSCP training.

There are new courses including - 

Working with Children and Young People in the Gypsy and Traveller Communities     

Supporting LGBT+ Children & Young People (in a safeguarding context)

Positive Contributions to Safeguarding Reviews

A Basic Awareness to Trauma Informed Practice

Trauma Informed Approaches in a Multi-Agency Context

.....and many more!

To view all of the courses on offer click on the link below - 

WSSCP Training Calendar

We are delighted to share with you a 15-minute voice-recorded presentation created jointly by the West Sussex Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (WSSCP), West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board (WSSAB) and West Sussex County Council’s Community Safety & Wellbeing. This presentation is a learning aid for all staff across our partnerships and provides:

An overview of what Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs), Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) and Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) are

Details of the four common themes across our Reviews

Questions staff can ask themselves related to the themes, to review and reflect on their practice

Information on resources available

Important contact details

By using this presentation, staff will be able to understand similarities across our Review findings and reflect on how their practice can be adjusted to minimise future risk for children and adults in West Sussex.

Please share this with all staff in your agencies and promote in your staff newsletters and updates.

To access the presentation, please click on this link:

Learning from reviews

A new study suggests psychological and physical violence experienced by women from their partners during pregnancy can shape baby brain development. 

Domestic abuse against women during pregnancy can potentially have a significant impact on how the unborn baby’s brain develops, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Bath, working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cape Town, analysed brain scans of 143 South African infants whose mothers had been subject to intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy. Intimate partner violence includes emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse or assault. Brain MRI scans were taken when infants were just 3 weeks old on average so any changes that were observed are likely to have developed inside the womb.

To read the full report click on the link below - 

Domestic abuse in pregnancy linked to structural brain changes in babies (bath.ac.uk)

Recently published on the NSPCC website, the large number of case reviews published since 2018 where children aged two and under were seriously harmed or died reflects the fact that this age group is particularly vulnerable. The majority of the children in the case reviews used for this briefing were aged under one, with many being pre-mobile and pre-verbal. Children under two and children under one face many of the same risks and are highly dependent on their caregivers. The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (the Panel) have published reports on safeguarding children under one year old from non-accidental injury and bruising in non-mobile infants that highlight this vulnerability.

To read this review in full click on the link below - 

NSPCC learning from case reviews - infants