All schools, including independent schools, have statutory duties to operate in a way that takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The arrangements that schools have in place need to ensure that:
reasonable measures are taken to minimise risks of harm to children’s welfare
appropriate actions are taken to address concerns about the welfare of a child or children, working to agreed local policies and procedures in full partnership with other local agencies
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is concerned with:
This is to enable children to have optimum life chances.
In respect of safeguarding vulnerable adults, again, there is no statutory definition. Whilst ‘In Safe Hands: implementing Adult Protection Procedures in Wales’ contains no definition of safeguarding of vulnerable adults, it does separately define the concepts of a ‘vulnerable adult’ and ‘significant harm’.
The definition of a ‘Vulnerable Adult’ is set out in section 126 of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014.
An “adult at risk”, for the purposes of this Part, is an adult who -
Essentially, all vulnerable adults have the right to be protected from abuse and neglect, the right to receive proper care and be supported in seeking help in the event that they have been abused.
The Welsh Assembly Government (2007) document ‘Safeguarding children: working together under the Children Act 2004’ explains that a child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. ‘Children’ therefore means ‘children and young people’ throughout that document. The fact that a child has become sixteen years of age is living independently or is in Further Education, or is a member of the armed forces, or is in hospital, or in prison or a young offenders institution does not change their status or their entitlement to services or protection under the Children Act 1989.
Everyone who works in education shares an objective to help keep children and young people safe. When inspecting a provider’s safeguarding arrangements inspectors should consider how effective the school is in the following:
Achieving this objective requires systems designed to:
In all instances, the inspection framework looks beyond a tick list of compliance and instead evaluates a provider’s approach to safeguarding, and the degree to which this promotes and supports a culture of safety and wellbeing within the school community.
Child protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. This refers to the activity, which is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or are at risk of suffering significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect.
Safeguarding covers more than the contribution made to child protection in relation to individual children. It also encompasses issues such as:
The Welsh Government has issued specific statutory requirements about many of these issues. There may also be other safeguarding issues that are specific to the local area or population.
Where there are statutory requirements, schools should already have in place policies and procedures that satisfy those and comply with any guidance issued by the Welsh Government. Similarly, arrangements about matters on which the Welsh Government has issued guidance should be evidenced by policies and procedures that are in accordance with that guidance or achieve the same effect.
