Safeguarding – who should you turn to?

Schools have a vital role to play in keeping our children safe from harm, especially from the long-term impact of neglect and emotional abuse. Teachers see children day-in, day-out, they spot early signs of problems and concerns, but is everyone clear what should be done when worries emerge ,or who is responsible for providing advice and help? In a more diversified school system, this challenge may be more apparent.

The Council for Disabled Children and the Anti-Bullying Alliance have raised concerns about these issues and as a result we hosted a roundtable for school leaders, local authority welfare staff, academics and Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) chairs. Our aim was to explore how local and national systems can co-ordinate and improve safeguarding. We talked about schools’ role in safeguarding and how they link up with local authority processes and LSCBs.