Safeguarding in Schools and Colleges

Safeguarding Issues for Staff in Schools and Colleges

• Staff in schools and colleges should have awareness of safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm.
• Behaviours linked to drug taking, alcohol misuse, missing education, serious violence, radicalisation, and sharing of nude and semi-nude images can be signs that children are at risk.
• Child-on-child abuse can happen both inside and outside of school or college and online.
• Staff should be clear about the school's or college's policy and procedures with regard to child-on-child abuse and their role in preventing and responding to it.
• Staff should speak to their designated safeguarding lead (or a deputy) if they have any concerns regarding child-on-child abuse.
• Inappropriate behaviours between children that are abusive in nature should be challenged, and downplaying certain behaviours can lead to a culture of unacceptable behaviours.
• Child-on-child abuse may include bullying, abuse in intimate personal relationships, physical abuse, sexual violence, sexual harassment, causing someone to engage in sexual activity without consent, consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images and/or videos, upskirting, and initiation/hazing type violence and rituals.
• Consensual image sharing between older children of the same age may require a different response, while non-consensual is illegal and abusive.
• Staff should understand that even if there are no reports of child-on-child abuse in their schools or colleges, it does not mean it is not happening.
• Teenage relationship abuse is a type of child-on-child abuse that can happen in schools or colleges.
• UKCIS provides detailed advice about sharing of nudes and semi-nude images and videos.
• Sexual harassment can be standalone or part of a broader pattern of abuse, and it can happen both inside and outside of school or college and online.