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Help us keep children in Lambeth safe
The Department for Education has published a safeguarding code of practice to help providers of clubs, tuition centres and activities for children understand their safeguarding obligations.
Out-of-school settings such as extra-curricular clubs, tuition centres and supplementary schools, play an important role in providing enriching activities for children that improve their wellbeing. We want all children to have the opportunity to attend these settings safely.
If you provide out-of-school care for children, please review the safeguarding code to check you meet the standards outlined in each of the four sections:
- Health and safety
- Child protection and safeguarding
- Suitability of staff and volunteers
- Governance
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Four steps to embedding the code of practice
1 – Read the guidance
Understand best practice for creating a safe environment for children in your care. Familiarise yourself with the new guidance for out-of-school-settings.
2 – Attend a workshop
Come to our free workshop on 14 July 2021 where we’ll cover key aspects of the guidance. Get a certificate for attendance, which you can show to parents interested in your setting, and access to further safeguarding training and resources.
3 – Review procedures
Check your processes to make sure you have everything in place. You may find leaflets summarising the guidance for certain activities useful.
4 – Show guidance is being followed
Display posters at your setting to show parents you have all the safety checks and procedures in place.
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How does the guidance apply to my setting?
You may find the following example scenarios useful for understanding how the guidance works in practice.
A self-employed tutor
Jerome is a self-employed tutor and has three students aged 11 to 13 who he teaches French to three times a week. He has read that new guidance has been released on how to reduce the risk of harm to children when they attend out-of-school settings.
He finds the guidance document on GOV.UK and sees that the beginning of each section includes basic requirements that should be fulfilled depending on the type of out-of-school provider.
Jerome is not employed by a tuition centre and does not have any employees or volunteers, so he identifies himself as self-employed based on the definition in the guidance.
Reading through the relevant subheadings for self-employed providers in sections 1 to 4 of the guidance, Jerome realises that he already has many of the basic requirements in place but he is missing a written child protection policy.
Following the guidelines in the relevant section in the guidance, Jerome writes a two-page child protection policy and distributes it to the parents of his students. One of the parents is particularly impressed by Jerome’s commitment to safeguarding and recommends his services to some of her friends who have recently been looking for a reliable tutor for their children.
A volunteer at a religious school
Ibrar volunteers to teach children at a madrassah one day a week. He has read that new guidance has been released on how to reduce the risk of harm to children when they attend out-of-school settings.
He finds the guidance document on GOV.UK and sees that the beginning of each section includes basic requirements that should be fulfilled depending on the type of provider. Ibrar sees that there are specific checklists for volunteers that he can use to easily find the information within the guidance that is relevant to him.
Reading through the relevant subheadings for volunteers in sections 1 to 4 of the guidance, Ibrar realises that his madrassah already has many of the basic requirements in place but he can’t remember receiving written instructions on what to do if he has a concern about a child.
He brings this up with one of the leaders and they agree it would be a good idea to circulate a written document to all staff members to ensure they are aware of what to do if a child makes an allegation of abuse, for example, and who to contact. The leader also decides to display the document clearly in the setting so all staff members and parents can view it.
A dance teacher with an assistant
Ellen is a dance teacher who runs evening and weekend ballet classes for children. She has read that new guidance has been released on how to reduce the risk of harm to children when they attend out-of-school settings.
She finds the guidance document on GOV.UK and sees that the beginning of each section includes basic requirements that should be fulfilled depending on the type of provider. Ellen employs an assistant to help her supervise the children during the class, so she identifies herself as a small provider based on the definition in the guidance (she has 4 or fewer members of staff).
Reading through the relevant subheadings for small providers in sections 1 to 4 of the guidance, Ellen realises that she already has many of the basic requirements in place but takes the opportunity to do a risk assessment of her setting, train her assistant in health and safety and ensure she has up-to-date contact details for safeguarding referral routes into her local authority.