Section 175 2024/25: Topic 1 - Policies, Procedures & Thresholds

What is Section 11?

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places duties on a range of organisations and individuals to ensure their functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

What Does Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children Mean?

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children means:

Protecting children from maltreatment
Preventing impairment of children’s health and/or development
Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe effective care, and
taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

What is the Responsibility of Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership?

All organisations have a general duty to promote and safeguard children. Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) is a statutory body that oversees these arrangements and in order to measure the effectiveness of these duties the Partnership has developed standards with indicators which can support a judgement.

What is the responsibility of schools/education settings?

Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 places a duty on local authorities (in relation to their education functions and governing bodies of maintained schools and further education institutions, which include sixth-form colleges) to exercise their functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who are pupils at a school, or who are students under 18 years of age attending further education institutions. The same duty applies to independent schools (which include Academies and free schools) by virtue of regulations made under Section 157 of the same Act.

In order to fulfil their duty under sections 157 and 175 of the Education Act 2002, all educational settings to whom the duty applies should have in place the arrangements set out in paragraph 4, chapter 2 (included below). In addition schools should have regard to specific guidance given by the Secretary of State under sections 157 and 175 of the Education Act 2002 namely, Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education and Dealing with allegations of abuse against teachers and other staff.

Completing and Scoring the Self-assessment

The audits consist of a series of questions which relate to specific arrangements, including policies, procedures, managing allegations and training which help safeguard children and young people.

When agencies have completed their audit, a blank Action Plan template can be downloaded from the WSCP website and populated with any areas requiring further improvement. . The WSCP will dip sample audits after each topic, and action plans on an annual basis.

PRINTING YOUR AUDIT
To keep a copy of your audit, fill in the questions and press print before you click 'done'. The WSCP keep copies of every audit, you can request a copy of your audit by contacting Kat Ryan.

To find out more about Section 11, follow the link to our website.

Question Title

* 1. Please select your agency from the options below

Education (Primary)

Education (Secondary)

Education (AEP)

Education (College)

Question Title

* 2. Please provide details of the professional completing this audit

Name:

Job Role:

School/Setting:

E-mail Address:

Question Title

* 3. Is there a named lead for safeguarding in your school/setting?

No named lead for safeguarding

There is a named lead but not known/identified to staff in the role

There is a named lead who is known to staff

Question Title

* 4. Has the named lead for safeguarding completed senior designated person training within the last two years?

No named lead for safeguarding

The named lead has not attended designated person training in the last two years

The named lead has attended senior designated person training within the last two years

Question Title

* 5. Does the school have a named deputy lead for safeguarding who is known to staff?

No named deputy lead for safeguarding

There is a named deputy lead but they are not known/identified to staff in the role

Named deputy lead is known to all staff

Question Title

* 6. Does the school have a named governor for safeguarding who is known to staff?

No named governor for safeguarding

There is a named governor but they are not known/identified to staff in the role

There is a named governor who is known to all staff

Question Title

* 7. Who has responsibility as the point of contact for Child Exploitation?

Nobody has responsibility for CE

There are plans in place to identify responsibility for CE

The responsibility for CE lies with the designated safeguarding lead or deputy

Question Title

* 8. Who has responsibility as the point of contact for Operation Encompass?

Nobody has responsibility for OE

There are plans in place to identify responsibility for OE

The responsibility for OE lies with the designated safeguarding lead or deputy

Question Title

* 9. Do you publish information about Operation Encompass on your website to ensure parents/carers/community are aware of reporting procedures?

Yes

If not, why not?

Question Title

* 10. Do you have a ‘Safeguarding@’ email address for your setting in line with recent Operation Encompass procedural changes?

Yes

If no, why not?

Question Title

* 11. Does your organisation publish a clear statement of the commitment to safeguard children and young people?

No published statement

There is a clear published statement which is visible to all staff and service users

Question Title

* 12. Does your school/setting have a published Child Protection – Safeguarding Policy which is reviewed annually?

No published Child Protection – Safeguarding policy

Child Protection – Safeguarding policy is published but not reviewed within the last 12 months

Child Protection – Safeguarding policy is published and reviewed

Child Protection – Safeguarding policy is published, reviewed and published on website

Question Title

* 13. Please upload your current Child Protection – Safeguarding Policy

PDF, DOC, DOCX, PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF file types only.

Choose File

Question Title

* 14. Are your safeguarding policies/procedures accessible to children, young people and their families?

No, safeguarding procedures are not accessible to children, young people and their families.

Yes, Safeguarding procedures are accessible (ie don't have to be requested) to children, young people and their families.

Question Title

* 15. Does your school/setting have an anti-bullying policy?

Yes

Question Title

* 16. Are the schools/settings safeguarding policies and procedures visible and accessible by all staff and are they regularly reviewed and ratified by the governing body?

No published safeguarding policies and procedures

There are published safeguarding policies in place but they have not been updated or reviewed in the last 12 months

There are published safeguarding policies and procedures in place which are visible to and understood by all staff (good practice is to have policies on school/setting website), and are reviewed annually

Question Title

* 17. If your premises are used or shared by other organisations, has your school/setting implemented robust arrangements (in line with KCSIE 2023 Safeguarding guidance for providers) to ensure that children and young people are safeguarded at all times

No assurance that arrangements are in place

A Review of arrangements being undertaken to ensure robust arrangements willbe in place within 6 months

The school/setting has robust arrangements in place to ensure services have appropriate safeguarding arrangements

Not Applicable

Question Title

* 18. Do all staff know what to do within the school/setting if they have safeguarding concerns about a child/young person?

School/setting is not confident staff know what to do if they have concerns

School/setting is confident staff know what to do if they have concerns but they cannot evidence why they are confident

School/ setting is confident staff know what to do if they have concerns and they can evidence why they are confident

Question Title

* 19. Do all staff know what to do within the school/setting if they have safeguarding concerns about an adult in a position of trust?

Yes

Question Title

* 20. Are all staff familiar with the updated thresholds of need?

Staff are not familiar with thresholds

Some staff are familiar with thresholds

All staff are familiar with thresholds

Question Title

* 21. Has the school published procedures on recording, retaining and sharing safeguarding/child protection concerns within the school and with other agencies?

No procedure in place

School/setting is developing a procedure or limited procedure in place

School/setting has a clear procedure which details the policy on recording, retaining and sharing safeguarding/child protection concerns

Question Title

* 22. Are staff aware of the multi-agency Information Sharing protocol and guidance updated in 2022?

Yes

Question Title

* 23. Are staff members confident about how to obtain consent to share information and when information can be shared without consent?

Yes

Question Title

* 24. Do you have a separate school/setting drug policy?

Yes

Don't Know

Question Title

* 25. If yes, has your school/setting adapted the recommended ‘Wirral School Drug Policy Framework’?

Yes

Don't Know

N/A

Question Title

* 26. Does your school/setting have a policy/procedure including referral pathway for cases where radicalisation/extremism is suspected in line with duties under the governments Prevent agenda? This includes appropriate training for staff.

No policy in place and/or no appropriate training received by staff

School has a clear policy in place and arrangements in place to ensure staff will be appropriately trained during the current academic year

School has a clear policy in place and staff are appropriately trained

Question Title

* 27. Has the Designated Safeguarding Lead undertaken Prevent awareness update training in the last year?

Yes

Question Title

* 28. If yes, how was the training delivered?

Access Online

WSCP

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 29. Has the DSL updated all staff on Education Prevent duty in the last 12 months?

Yes

Question Title

* 30. If yes, how?

In house

Accessed online sessions

Use of WSCP’s 7 minute Briefings

N/A

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 31. Does the school have a published behaviour policy which is shared with staff, parents and pupils? Does the policy include a statement about the use of reasonable force?

A policy is not in place or policy does not include reference to the use of reasonable force

A Policy in place but it is not shared with parents or pupils

A Policy in place and is shared with staff, parents and pupils

Question Title

* 32. How does your organisation ensure the use and awareness of policies and procedures amongst staff in your agency?

Question Title

* 33. If you have a good practice example or case study in this area, please upload it here. If there is more than one document to attach, please send to Kat Ryan

PDF, DOC, DOCX, PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF file types only.

Choose File