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A selection of key publications for anyone working in schools covering:
Safeguarding in schools: best practice (PDF).
Ofsted, 2011
Looks at safeguarding in schools and identifies schools judged to have "outstanding" safeguarding practices between September 2009 and July 2010. Features which were found to constitute good practice include high quality leadership, high priority training in safeguarding, and a curriculum that teaches students how to keep safe.
Preventing and tackling bullying: advice for headteachers, staff and governing bodies (PDF).
Department for Education (DfE), 2011
Outlines the Government's approach to bullying, legal obligations and the powers schools have to combat bullying. Looks at the principles underpinning effective anti-bullying strategies in schools. Aims to help schools prevent and respond to bullying as part of their overall behaviour policy, to understand their legal responsibilities in this area, and to understand the Department for Education's approach. May also be of use to FE colleges. Supersedes DCSF guidance 'Safe to learn'.
Dealing with allegations of abuse against teachers and other staff: guidance for local authorities, head teachers, school staff, governing bodies and proprietors of independent schools (PDF).
Department for Education (DfE), 2011
Statutory guidance for schools on dealing with allegations of abuse against teachers and other school staff. This guidance is aimed at all schools, local authorities, governing bodies and the FE sector. This guidance relates to all adults working with children and young people, whether in a paid or voluntary position, including those who work with children on a temporary, supply or locum basis.
Use of reasonable force: advice for head teachers, staff and governing bodies (PDF).
Department for Education, (DfE), 2011
Non-statutory advice for headteachers and governors on the use of reasonable force in schools, so that staff feel more confident about using this power when necessary.
Working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (PDF).
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), 2010
Statutory guidance for professionals on roles and responsibilities; local safeguarding children's boards; training, development and supervision for inter-agency working; managing individual cases where there are concerns about a child's safety and welfare; child death review process; and serious case reviews. pp.77-80 sets out the specific roles and responsibilities of schools and further education institutions. Part 2 is non-statutory practice guidance and includes lessons from research; implementing the principles on working with children and their families; safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who may be particularly vulnerable; and managing individuals who pose a risk of harm to children.
Cyberbullying: supporting school staff (PDF).
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), 2009
Looks at cyberbullying against school staff and how schools can protect their staff. Contents: what is cyberbullying?; cyberbullying and the law; whole-school community steps to effectively tackle cyberbullying; images and video; protecting personal information; responding to incidents and reporting; and, getting offensive content taken down.
Safeguarding children and safer recruitment in education (PDF).
Department for Education and Skills (DfES), 2006
DfES guidance document effective from 1st January 2007 which outlines the responsibilities of all local authorities, schools and Further Education (FE) colleges in England to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. It looks at the recruitment and selection process, including recruitment best practice, recruitment and vetting checks, and duties for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in education. It also looks at dealing with allegations of abuse against teachers and other staff. Includes 14 appendices to support this guidance, including flowcharts to assist schools and FE colleges with the recruitment and checking process.
Education Act 2002: chapter 32.
An Act to make provision about education, training and childcare. Includes a provision requiring school governing bodies, local education authorities and further education institutions to make arrangements to safeguard and promote to welfare of children (section 175)
The child protection and safeguarding handbook for schools: a comprehensive guide to policy and practice.
Raymond, Ann
Optimus Education, 2009
A comprehensive guide for the designated child protection person to ensure their school meets statutory requirements and to fulfil the responsibilities of their role. Covers: legislation and guidance, writing a child protection policy, reforming policy and practice, raising awareness of staying safe through the curriculum, how to deal with an emergency, recognising abuse, responding to disclosure, reporting welfare concerns, record keeping, confidentiality and information-sharing, referring to children's services, off the premises protection, setting up abuse prevention programmes, children with special needs (including sexually harmful behaviour), listening and talking to children, inspection and self-evaluation, training, allegations against staff, safer recruitment, inter-agency cooperation and working with parents and carers. Includes a CD-Rom with PDF and Word files of the complete book and two PowerPoint files for use in training.
Good practice in safeguarding children: working effectively in child protection.
Hughes, Liz ed., and Owen, Hilary ed.
Jessica Kingsley, 2009
Aimed at all front-line practitioners involved in safeguarding children, including social workers, healthcare professionals, police officers, and teachers, this book considers a broad range of issues including neglect, parents with learning difficulties, trafficked children and child protection supervision. Looks at how agencies are integrated and discusses how the delivery of services is changing. Models of good practice are proposed, including case scenarios and exercises. Explores how changes in the system offer an opportunity to enhance the quality of service provision, to achieve better outcomes for children and their families.
Safeguarding children and schools.
Baginsky, Mary ed.
Jessica Kingsley, 2008
Explains how schools are able to contribute to keeping children safe from harm and promoting their welfare, in line with Government Every Child Matters guidelines. Explains relevant policy and the latest research findings, and offers practical examples to help schools to be more proactive and meet their responsibilities successfully. Areas discussed include the roles of local education authority services and schools in child protection, working with particularly vulnerable or difficult children, the relationship between safeguarding and the curriculum, and training school staff to safeguard children.
Keeping myself safe: personal safety for teenagers: teacher's support pack.
Learning Curve Education, 2007
A support pack for teachers, exploring personal safety issues that affect the lives of young people. The program is based around 10 scenarios which address key aspects of personal safety issues such as parties and nights out; knife crime; peer pressure and drug use; grooming; technology and internet safety; domestic violence, depression and suicide; sexual abuse and sexual assault. The pack includes a DVD of the 10 scenarios, and a Teacher's Guide.
Child protection. 3rd ed.
Smith, Fergus, and Carmi, Edina, and Lyon, Tina
Children Act Enterprises Ltd, 2006
Provides a summary of source documents for those in England and Wales who provide or support child protection/safeguarding services. Contains definitions; a guide to agency responsibilities; a guide to the law; key factors supporting effective child protection; supplementary guidance; information about vulnerable groups; details of child protection processes; and, appendices looking at issues around consent and refusal of medical assessment or treatment; and, confidentiality and contraception.
Promoting personal safety in PSHE.
Jane Harries
Paul Chapman, 2006.
Based on work done in secondary schools by the NSPCC, this PSHE curriculum resource gives young people the information and skills necessary to keep themselves safe in their personal relationships, and to develop positive emotional health and wellbeing.
Jenny's story: an internet safety resource.
Childnet International; Lancashire Constabulary
Childnet International, 2005
This DVD (8 minutes) is a short film based on a true story about a young teenager who reveals personal information whilst chatting to a stranger online which results in her being contacted in real life and hurt. Designed as a teaching resource for use with secondary school pupils from KS3 and upwards, it aims to challenge young people about the dangers of chatting to strangers online. Includes a teacher guide which provides a lesson plan, a questions and answers sheet, a discussion guide and links to further resources.
Safe children sound learning: guidance for Madressahs.
Kirklees Metropolitan Council, 2005
Provides information, guidance and practical support for management committees of Madressah (Islamic schools) and ustaads (teachers) to enable them to fulfil their legal responsibilities towards the young people they teach. It promotes effective behaviour management of Madressah pupils; provides guidance for the protection of the children and young people who attend Madressahs; discusses methods of ensuring the health and safety of Madressah staff and pupils. Looks at: behaviour management; child protection; roles and responsibilities; recruitment and training and health and safety. Also available in Urdu (2005).
Travel safe: advice for schools.
Gould, Chris, and Jones, Kaye
Child-Safe International Ltd, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, 2004
Police approved guidelines for head teachers, educational visits coordinators, governors and anyone involved in planning a school trip abroad. Provides information about the practices and procedures that should be in place before cultural, educational or language home-stay visits abroad are embarked upon. Sets out issues to be considered before pupils travel and what standards and processes should be expected from the tour operator and/or host establishment. Deals with preparing young people for their travels and the type of information which should be made available for parents. Covers what to do in an emergency and looks at issues around duty of care of pupils whilst they are away.
Protecting children: a handbook for teachers and school managers. 2nd ed.
Whitney, Ben
Routledge Falmer, 2004
Brings together legislation, guidance and standards relating to the legal obligations of educational establishments in respect to child protection.
Findings of the comprehensive review of the literature: responding to bullying: from despair to recovery.
Hayes, Rosemary and Herbert, Carrie
Jessica Kingsley, 2011
ISBN: 9781849051231
Presents the stories of eight children supported by the Red Balloon Learner Centre, demonstrating the effects of bullying and how children can be helped. Provides guidance on what teachers and parents can do to help a child who is being bullied and how to deal with young people who use bullying behaviour.
The use and effectiveness of anti-bullying strategies in schools.
Goldsmith College. Unit for School and Family Studies
Department for Education (DfE), 2011
Examines and evaluates proactive and reactive anti-bullying strategies used by schools in England including the former Department for Children Schools and Families peer mentoring pilot. The research, supported by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, involved a national survey of 1378 schools and 47 local authorities in England followed by individual case studies of 36 schools. Recommendations include: anti-bullying policies should include procedures to cover a range of bullying including homophobic, race-related, gender-based, faith-based, disability-based, and cyberbullying; a curriculum to embed anti-bullying work; and peer support strategies to involve students. Research brief is also available.
Best practice in safeguarding in colleges (PDF).
OFSTED, 2011
Survey of best practice in safeguarding in colleges based on visits to those which received an 'outstanding' grade for the leadership and management of their safeguarding arrangements. All the colleges had developed a culture of putting learners' safety first and developing responsibility in learners. Makes recommendations around identifying responsibility for safeguarding arrangements at a senior level, and training staff in how to promote safeguarding.
The characteristics of bullying victims in schools (PDF).
Green, Rosie, Ross, Andy, Collingwood, Aleks, National Centre for Social Research
Department for Education (DfE), 2010
Full report of an investigation to identify pupil and school characteristics that impact on the bullying of adolescents aged 14 to 16 years in secondary schools in England. Looks at bullying and: prevalence, gender, ethnicity and religion, special educational needs, disabilities, looked after children, social position, family structure, changing school, school characteristics and young people's outcomes at age 16. Concludes that: victims are likely to have characteristics that mark the young person out as being different; different characteristics are related to different types of bullying; and school characteristics are a relatively minor factor.
Different families: the experiences of children with lesbian and gay families (PDF).
Guasp, April
Stonewall, 2010
Explores the experiences of children with lesbian, gay or bisexual parents and provides some recommendations for schools. Researchers interviewed 82 children and young people between the ages of 4 and 27. Findings cover the feelings of children about their family, how other people feel about their family and their experiences at school. Presents quotes from the interviewees and 10 recommendations for schools to tackle homophobic bullying and provide better support.
The teachers' report: homophobic bullying in Britain's schools (PDF).
Guasp, April
Stonewall, 2009
Looks at homophobic bulling in both primary and secondary schools in Britain from the teachers' perspective. Outlines findings from a survey of over 2000 teachers including statistics relating to the extent and severity of the bullying of gay, lesbian and bisexual students. Looks at examples of occasions when homophobic bullying has been dealt with successfully by teachers. Sets out recommendations for addressing homophobic bullying in schools.
NI 69: children who have experienced bullying.
Moore, Sarah, Flood, Steve
Research in Practice, 2009
Looks at how to reduce bullying in schools and the wider community to meet the national indicator (NI) for children and young people, number 69. Uses research knowledge to inform work in children's services. Considers the effects of bullying, how NI 69 is defined and measured, definitions and types of bullying, risk and protective factors and provides examples of projects and practice which have shown promising improvements. Sections cover cyberbullying, homophobic bullying, approaches to tackle bullying and bullying in the community.
NSPCC Classroom resources
Curriculum-linked classroom resources to help address difficult topics with pupils such as Worried? Need to talk? an illustrated pocket guide for young people aged 11 to 18, that provides information about services that are there to help.
NSPCC Staff learning resources
Training packs and resources produced by the NSPCC to support the development of safeguarding knowledge and procedures in schools. Includes packs for child protection coordinators to deliver training to colleagues and a series of direct learning programmes.
Improving Safeguarding in Schools (ISIS)
A step-by-step online self-assessment guide to help schools in England audit how they are meeting safeguarding standards.
Keeping safe: the development of effective preventative education in primary schools in Northern Ireland
Phyllis Stephenson, Aisling McElearney et al
NSPCC, 2011
A series of reports outlining the research methodology and key conclusions; presenting the views of the children, school staff and parents involved in the consultation; and discussing the practice, policy and research implications.
School bullying.
James, Alana
NSPCC, 2010
Summarises what is known about the nature and extent of bullying in schools, looking at the factors that drive such behaviour, and what makes some young people more vulnerable to being bullied than others. It is based on a review of the literature, which includes large-scale surveys as well as smaller studies of bullying.
Schools, social services and safeguarding children: past practice and future challenges.
Baginsky, Mary
NSPCC, 2007
Examines the relationship between schools and local authorities in protecting and safeguarding children. Investigates the role of schools in the child protection process and examines the decision making processes that come into play when a child welfare concern prompts the decision to contact social services. Reports on the results of surveys carried out between 2002 and 2005, during which time, in the wake of the Victoria Climbie Inquiry, the government's Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda and the Children Act 2004 were introduced. Aims to contribute to understanding how schools are positioned to assume their role within the ECM programme, and to identify the support they need to carry out this role effectively.
Problems at home, problems at school: the effects of maltreatment in the home on children's functioning at school: an overview of recent research.
Mills, Chris
NSPCC, 2004
Reviews the research that examines the relationship between how children are treated at home and how they fare at school in terms of academic performance, special educational needs, behaviour problems, bullying, absence and exclusion.
Responsibility without power? Local education authorities and child protection.
Baginsky, Mary
NSPCC, 2003
Presents findings of a survey of all designated officers with responsibility for child protection in English local education authorities (LEAs), asking about their child protection procedures. Also includes findings of a study of Ofsted reports, establishing how they met their responsibilities in inspecting for child protection provision.
Responsibility without power? is available from NSPCC Publications.
Child protection and education.
Baginsky, Mary
NSPCC, 2000
Results of a survey aiming to identify how schools and local education authorities approach the area of child protection, and the evolving role of education in relation to child protection. Considers child protection training in initial teacher training, schools responses to child protection, the role of local education authorities, and, the implications of the Children Act 1989. Makes recommendations regarding policy.
Child protection and education is available from NSPCC Publications.
Search the NSPCC Library catalogue to find more resources on child protection in schools
Contact the NSPCC Information Service for specialist information on child protection for schools or any child protection topic
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Curtain Road, London EC2A 3NH. Incorporated by Royal Charter. Registered charity number 216401. NSPCC, charity registered in Scotland, charity number SC037717.