Schools information

Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance is s​​​​​tatutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment.

Identifying children who are missing education and helping them get back into it. 

Model Child Protection/Safeguarding Policy for Schools - updated July 2022

Please see below for a draft safeguarding children policy which you can download and adapt to your school - the updates are in red so that schools can easily identify them - remember to save your policy.

Safeguarding children training

Safeguarding Bedfordshire is the multi-agency training provider for the Safeguarding Children Partnerships in Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton

It offers training for those working or volunteering with children, young people and/or adults across Bedfordshire. 

What to do if you're worried a child is being abused

To report a safeguarding concern about a child or young person please go to the reporting a safeguarding concern page. 

Information sharing 

Advice for safeguarding professionals on information sharing. The advice explains relevant legislation and includes key principles and practicalities of sharing personal information. 

Working together to safeguard children - July 2018

The Department for Education has published a revised version of the Working together to safeguard children guidance (PDF). Changes include: guidance on notifiable incidents and a definition of serious harm.

Keeping children safe in education: key changes

The NSPCC has published a briefing On Keeping Children Safe in Education (2021), which will come into force for schools in England on 1 September 2021.

Ofsted - Safeguarding Children and young people and and young vulnerable adults policy.

Local guidance 

Annual Report Template

Head Teachers Annual report template to the Governing Body on Safeguarding Children 2013/14 (Word, 183KB)

NSPCC guidance

Safer Recruitment

The Safer Recruitment Consortium (NSPCC, Lucy Faithfull Foundation, CAPE and NASS) has published updated guidance to assist schools in developing their staff code of conduct / staff behaviour policy.

Safer Working

Website to support school and college staff to keep children and young people safe

The Centre for Research on Children and Families at the University of East Anglia (UEA), has launched a website to support school and college staff in understanding abuse and neglect from the child or young person’s point of view.

The iCAN website includes free training materials and resources for schools and colleges, and a framework to help teachers and other school and college staff to be alert to children and young people who may be experiencing abuse or neglect, and to better understand: to what extent children and young people recognise maltreatment and how they decide whether to tell someone about it; how they may show their distress, even when they can’t talk about it; and what children and young people think about the help they receive. 

More information is available on the iCAN website.