Safeguarding

Advice about what to do if you are worried about the welfare of a child or the behaviour of an adult working in your setting

Safeguarding

Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE) identifies education settings as an important part of the wider safeguarding system for children. It recognises their staff as being in a position to identify concerns early, provide help for children, and prevent concerns from escalating. The Statutory Framework sets out the legal framework for safeguarding in Early Years settings and the information and resources on these safeguarding pages support that.

Education Safeguarding Team

In Essex, we have an Education Safeguarding Team which covers all education settings and all early years settings. The team members are:

Jo Barclay, Head of Education Safeguarding and Wellbeing
Matthew Lewis, Education Safeguarding Adviser
Alex Darvill, Education Safeguarding Adviser (South and West)
Derai Lewis-Jones, Education Safeguarding Adviser (Mid and NE)
Gemma Harris, Education Safeguarding Officer (MARAC)
Clare Wallis, Business Support Assistant

To contact the team, please email educationsafeguarding@essex.gov.uk

Key safeguarding information

There is government guidance set out in Working Together (DfE, 2023) on how agencies must work in partnership to keep children safe. This guidance places a shared and equal duty on three key Safeguarding Partners (the Local Authority, Police and Health) to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area under multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. In Essex, these arrangements sit under the Essex Safeguarding Children Board (ESCB) and the statutory partners are Essex County Council, Essex Police and the three NHS Integrated Care Boards covering the county.

Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE 2023) is statutory guidance and contains information on what schools must / should do to keep children safe. It sets out the legal duties with which all settings must comply and it should be read alongside the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (HMG, 2018) and departmental advice What To Do if You Are Worried a Child is Being Abused (DfE, 2015)

The Statutory Framework (DfE, 2023) sets out the legal framework for Early Years settings, and Section 3 contains the safeguarding and welfare requirements.

In Essex, the SET procedures (ESCB May 2022) set out how agencies and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. It contains very useful information about safeguarding in Essex and professionals must work in accordance with these procedures at all times.

Effective Support for Children and Families in Essex (ESCB, 2021) is local guidance for everyone who works with children and young people and their families in Essex. It sets out how agencies in Essex should work together, share information and support children and families to receive the right help at the right time.