Month: October 2018

Road Safety Week is the UK’s biggest road safety event, coordinated annually by Brake, the road safety charity.

Road Safety Week aims to inspire thousands of schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the Week and beyond.

This year’s theme is Bike smart. Cyclists and motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable road users in the UK, with more than 100 riders injured every day in needless, preventable crashes.

You can sign up online to receive a free action pack, including ideas, resources and activity sheets that can be completed with the children of your after school club.

A date for your diary: Safer Internet Day will be celebrated on February 5^th 2019.

Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the celebration sees hundreds of organisations get involved to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.

The day offers the opportunity to highlight the positive uses of technology and to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community. It calls upon young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies and policymakers to join together in helping to create a better internet.

If you would like to take part, you can obtain your campaign toolkit, which contains:

• Banners and header images in a range of colours that you can upload onto your social media accounts
• Example Tweets and Facebook posts that you can share to show your support of the day
• Sample text that you can include in newsletters, send to your local press, and share on your websites

For further details, visit the Safer Internet Centre page here.

• Keeping children safe in Education has now been revised and re-issued.
• Disqualification by association

The Department for Education has now withdrawn the rule about ‘disqualification by association’ in respect of staff who work in schools and in childcare on non-domestic settings, as of 1 September this year. (Note that the ‘disqualification by association’ rule will continue to apply to childminders.)

This means that you no longer need to check whether staff at your club are living in the same household as someone who has been disqualified from working with children. However you do still need to get your staff members to confirm on an annual basis that they have not become disqualified themselves

• Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings

September saw Ofsted update its guidance document Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings. The guidance is aimed at inspectors not childcare practitioners, but it is useful for providers on the Early Years register to be aware of what areas Ofsted will be looking at. The main changes or clarifications that could affect out of school clubs are:

• The club’s designated safeguarding lead needs to be aware of local plans for new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements when Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards are replaced in 2019.
• The rule about ‘disqualification by association’ has been removed for settings such as out of school clubs (but still applies for childminders).
• After staff or volunteers have been appointed, consideration must be given to their ongoing suitability to work with children.
• Staff need to be aware of the role of the club’s designated safeguarding lead.
• Staff must be alert to circumstances when a child may need early help.
• Staff know what to do if a child reports they have been sexually abused by another child.
• The club’s safeguarding policy includes procedures for dealing with peer on peer abuse.
• Staff understand the importance of considering wider environmental factors that may be present in a child’s life that may be a threat to their safety or welfare.