Safeguarding for education settings
Contents
Online safety
Growing up in the current climate can be difficult for so many reasons. Technology is moving at such a fast pace and is now a growing safeguarding concern. The good news is there's lots of support out there to keep young people safe online and in the real world. One big area of concern for teachers and professionals which can affect a young person physically and mentally is bullying.
Bullying
The Anti-Bullying Alliance defines bullying as:
The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or through cyberspace.
How to make a positive change
If you are struggling for ideas, a good starting point is speaking to the young people in your school or setting about what they would like to change, add or create around bullying. There are also lots of practical school packs and tools from past Anti-bullying weeks by the Anti-Bullying Alliance.
Anti-bullying resources and training
We have put together some resources with the help of the Anti-Bullying Alliance to help you support young people, children, and parents to develop an anti-bullying approach and policies in your school or setting.
- Top tips for teachers and school staff
- A whole school approach
- Bullying, the law and hate crime
- Teaching resources
- Preventing and responding to bullying
- Cyberbullying – great advice from Childline
- Advice for parents and carers
- Advice for early years
If you would like more support, please email [email protected]
Training
If your school or setting would like training to potentially reduce bullying levels in your organisation, you can take part in training online via the Anti-Bullying Alliance. If you need support or advice in your setting around bullying you can ask us for guidance by emailing: [email protected]
Online Safety
Keeping young people safe online can be a real challenge particularly as technology is moving at such a fast pace. Several safeguarding concerns involve some form of the online world. The good news is we have lots of advice and support to help you keep young people and children safe online in your school or setting.
Online Safety – Where to start?
Embedding online safety into your curriculum in schools or organisations in a community is very important. We highly recommend you focus online safety around these 4 key areas:
- Keeping safe online - Where should we start and what should we be doing?
- Thinking critically - What questions should we be asking, and how can we better challenge what we see online?
- Digital resilience - How can we work through and best manage difficult situations online?
- Online wellbeing - How do we focus on our mental health, and at the same time protect our wellbeing when engaging with the online world?
Useful resources
A really good starting point for online safety resources is Project Evolve. The resource has guidance from early years to year 13. Also Childnet International has a great bank of resources for several age groups.
The SWGFL have some great guidance around online safety policies.
Online safety and wellbeing workshops
We run workshops for:
- Teachers and professionals
- Children and young people - Primary and secondary age
- Parents and carers
For more information about our workshops and costs, please email: [email protected]
If you need support or advice in your setting around bullying you can ask us for guidance by emailing: [email protected]
LGBTQ+ information for professionals
Whether you're just getting started or you already have things in place to tackle homophobic, biphobic or transphobic issues. It's important to remember the support we are providing children and young people needs to be a whole school approach and remember that small changes can make a big difference.
Where to start?
Stonewall offer some wonderful advice around embedding LGBTQ+ classes, resources and support into your curriculum for primary and secondary schools. They offer a great resource around an introduction to supporting LGBTQ+ children and young people.
This resource is suitable for all schools, colleges and settings and offers support in creating an LGBTQ+ inclusive environment, working with parents and carers, and supporting individual LGBTQ+ children and young people in both mainstream and specialist settings.
We also recommend the Stonewall LGBTQ+ inclusion resources.
Training and resources
Training
If you are interested in training around LGBTQ+, have a look at what Stonewall offer.
If you need support or advice in your setting around online or wellbeing you can ask us for guidance – email: [email protected]
Alternative resources
- Advice for cyberbullying
- Advice on changing privacy settings on social media accounts
- Advice for keeping safe when playing games online
- NSPCC - Grooming
- Childnet International for a range of online safety resources
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Last updated 14 August 2023