Safeguarding Audits
Ensuring pupils are safe from harm is one area of school life that can cause worry or stress for school leaders. Have a look at how our auditing resources can help you find a starting point so you can plan to make positive changes for all.
Safeguarding Audit
Safeguarding is a crucial aspect of creating a safe and inclusive learning environment for pupils. This comprehensive audit pack supports you in reviewing your school's safeguarding policies, procedures and processes, which enables you to evaluate your approach and make changes to ensure your school is keeping children safe.
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Your key safeguarding audit questions answered
What is a safeguarding audit?
A school safeguarding audit is a process of evaluating the effectiveness of a school’s safeguarding arrangements. The audit involves a thorough review of policies, procedures and systems to identify strengths and weaknesses in safeguarding practice.
The aim of a safeguarding audit is to ensure that the school is fulfilling its legal and statutory responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The audit helps to identify any areas of concern or potential risks, which can then be addressed to improve the school’s safeguarding arrangements.
The audit may cover a range of safeguarding issues, such as child protection, online safety, bullying and radicalisation. It may involve a review of policies and procedures, staff training and awareness, safeguarding culture and leadership, partnership working, quality of risk assessments and pupil voice.
Why do school leaders conduct safeguarding audits?
A safeguarding audit is an important tool for schools to ensure that they’re providing a safe and secure environment for children to learn and develop. It demonstrates the school’s commitment to safeguarding and helps to identify any gaps or weaknesses in practice, allowing for a continuous improvement in safeguarding arrangements.
In addition, government policy and guidance can change frequently, as can local, national and global trends that may pose a risk to pupils. Conducting a regular safeguarding audit allows school leaders to ensure their practices and policies are in line with the latest guidance in order to keep pupils safe.
How will Ofsted inspect safeguarding?
Ofsted places a high priority on safeguarding in schools and expects schools to have effective policies, procedures and systems in place to protect children from harm. Inspectors won’t make a graded judgement on safeguarding. However, they’ll determine whether or not safeguarding is effective. A written judgement for safeguarding and its
effectiveness will be made under leadership and management.
Inspectors will look for evidence of a culture of safegaurding from a range of sources, including the school’s safeguarding policy, the training and awareness of safeguarding issues among school staff, the school’s culture and leadership, the quality of the school’s risk assessments for vulnerable children and other procedures for ensuring pupils are safe, such as checking the single central record (SCR) to ensure necessary checks have been carried out on staff.
