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3 reasons to regularly update your staff on safeguarding

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Alongside your September INSET day, it’s important to factor in ‘little and often’ safeguarding training throughout the year to keep your staff up-to-date with the latest guidance and make sure your pupils are kept safe. In this blog, we cover 3 reasons you should be doing so.

1). Statutory guidance expects you to update staff training ‘regularly’

The statutory safeguarding guidance for schools, Keeping Children Safe in Education, says that staff safeguarding training should be updated ‘regularly’. It also says staff should receive ‘regular’ updates, for example through bulletins or staff meetings, at least annually.

We know from talking to our members too that many school leaders go beyond these expectations, and use regular INSET slots throughout the year and weekly staff meetings or newsletters to keep staff updated on important safeguarding information.

2). A refresher will help staff to genuinely learn it

But you shouldn’t just do regular updates because the guidance says so.

Research on adult learning tells us that adults need to be presented with the same information, in different ways, a few times before they properly form long-term memories. So, regular refreshers on critical safeguarding information mean they’re more likely to know what to do at the critical moment in time. 

Hopefully, not all staff will be dealing with safeguarding every day. Giving them regular updates on how to do things like respond to a disclosure means the information will be fresher in their minds if and when they need it.

Again, we know from talking to our members that school leaders like to give staff regular refreshers on safeguarding throughout the year, or “little and often”, for the same reasons.

3). It’ll help you build a culture of safeguarding in your school

Having a regular slot to update your staff on safeguarding will also help you create a culture of safeguarding in your school.

It’ll show staff the value placed on safeguarding at the school and help remind them of the important role they have to play in safeguarding children. 

These reasons are exactly why we produce termly safeguarding updates for Safeguarding Training Centre from The Key: to help school leaders meet the expectations in the statutory guidance, make sure staff have genuinely retained important safeguarding information, and to help leaders embed a culture of safeguarding in their schools.

Our termly updates are exclusively available to members of Safeguarding Training Centre. Head here to find out more about joining today.

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