WELCOME to the Child Protection Forum web page
The Child Protection Forums have been developed in each Local Area Partnership (LAP) for head teachers, designated teachers and other education staff to come together and discuss current issues, guidance and practice in child protection and the safeguarding of children and young people.
Co-ordinated by the Integrated Safeguarding Officer, the forums are run approximately 3 times per year in each LAP provide opportunity for members to meet and discuss new guidance and practices in the field and how these relate to and impact upon the school community.
Each LAP forum has developed it’s own identity and has influenced the content of the meetings which includes speakers from other agencies and services, updates on child protection matters, and discussion around new national guidance such as managing allegations, Vetting and Barring, private fostering etc.
CP Training – Designated teachers are required to be appropriately trained in child protection so as to carry out their cp duties effectively. The Introduction to Child Protection and Practice and Procedures courses provided by the LSCB, is the minimum requirement for designated teachers and there is no charge for attending these courses. For details of these and other CP courses please refer to the Training Brochure on the LSCB webpage.
Designated teachers are also required to have an ‘update’ every 2 years and the Forums are considered to provide an update on child protection issues in this context. Schools are required to undertake whole school training on child protection matters every 3 years. Training for this purpose can be undertaken by the Inter-agency Child Protection Training Coordinator via a request for sessional training (details can be found in the LSCB Inter-agency Safeguarding Children Training Programme). Or alternatively via a Designated CP lead from schools, who has completed the LSCB Train the Trainers course and been quality assured to undertake such training using the recommended training materials.
The minutes of each LAP forum are available on this page as is the specific guidance and papers mentioned in the meetings. You will also find links to useful website and specific national guidance relating to safeguarding and schools.
If you have a contribution to make to this webpage, or wish to find out more about the Forums, please contact Hester Edmonds Hester_Edmond@bathnes.gov.uk, Senior Human Resource Manager.
THE ROLE OF THE DESIGNATED SENIOR PERSON (web page)
Forum Minutes