Safeguarding in schools

The major reforms in children services in recent years have placed schools at the centre of strategies to improve outcomes for all children, an emphasis of particular importance for vulnerable children and for those who are in need of protection.
The most recent government guidance in this area, Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfES, 2006) and additional responsibilities under section 175 of the Education Act 2002, all reinforce the crucial role schools play in keeping children safe. Schools usually have more contact with children than any other individual agency and, when children face adversity in their home lives, can be an important source of resilience and support. Historically, however, relations between teachers and their colleagues in social care have not always been as co-ordinated or productive as they might be. Both inspections and serious case reviews have highlighted the need to improve practice between education and social care in relation to child protection. This study therefore looked at the respective roles and nature of collaboration between schools and local authorities in safeguarding children. The author sought to identify factors that both promoted and impeded effective communication. In order to do this she examined referrals from schools to social care, by examining, from the school's perspective, the two following questions:
● How are child protection concerns addressed and what judgements lead to a referral?
● What happens when a school makes a child protection referral?
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