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Working together to Safeguard Children 2023 - Statutory Guidance

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Introduction Every child deserves a secure, steady, and loving home. Achieving this necessitates individuals, agencies, and organisations to clarify their respective roles and responsibilities, and to coordinate their efforts effectively. The guidance defines a child as an individual below the age of 18.   This guidance is relevant to all organisations and agencies who have functions involving children. ‘Working Together’ encompasses individuals at all levels, from senior leaders to frontline practitioners working directly with families, and spans across all agencies and organisations interacting with children. Inspectorate bodies, such as Ofsted, CQC, The Constabulary, and Fire and Rescue, utilise this statutory guidance to shape their inspection frameworks.     The Law The Children Act 1989 outlines obligations to provide services to children in need and to investigate if there are concerns of significant harm. The Children Act 2004 extends this by requiring local authorities to coll

KCSIE - Part 5 - Child on Child Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Summary

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Introduction  A rapid review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges in England was conducted by Ofsted a while back. The report summarises the scale and nature of sexual abuse, the effectiveness of the current safeguarding system in considering children's voices, and schools' understanding and response to sexual abuse. This rapid review was conducted due to the prevalence of sexual harassment and online sexual abuse in schools and colleges. The NSPCC have reviewed this and their findings can be found here:  https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/2604/review-of-sexual-abuse-in-schools-and-colleges.pdf   With this in mind, let us all be aware of our duty of care and fully understand our role in safeguarding children in relation to sexual violence and sexual harassment as outlined in Keeping Children Safe in Education - Part 5.   Summary of Part 5   Part 5 of the statutory guidance outlines the procedures that schools and colleges should follow in responding to any indications, repo