ESAS Safeguarding weekly newsletter
Posted on: 14 May 2026
From: Lucy Wheeldon ESAS – Education Safeguarding Advisor
Action: For information
Each Tuesday the ESAS team sends an email to DSL/DDSLs, to share information and important updates.
12 05 2026 ** Extraordinary DSL Briefing for the new ‘Right Time, Right Help’ document (The New Threshold Document)**
As the threshold document is being relaunched, we are holding an additional DSL Briefing to show you the document ‘Right Time Right Help’. This briefing will be held at 9am-10am on Thursday 18th June 2026 and will also cover some IFD updates and the Multi-Agency Referral Form (MARF). Please use the below link to access the briefing:-
Link to DSL Briefing Right Time Right Help
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12 05 2026 Training
Education settings have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Children spend a significant proportion of their time in education, placing schools and colleges in a unique position to identify concerns early, respond appropriately, and work effectively with other agencies. Safeguarding training ensures that this responsibility is fulfilled safely, lawfully and consistently across the setting. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
National guidance makes clear that all staff must have the knowledge and confidence to recognise indicators of abuse, neglect and exploitation, understand their safeguarding responsibilities, and know how to act on concerns without delay. Training underpins safe professional practice and supports the creation of a strong safeguarding culture.
Concerns are often identified through everyday contact, meaning non‑teaching staff, temporary staff and volunteers play a crucial safeguarding role. Trained staff are more likely to act early, reducing the risk of harm escalating.
Keeping Children Safe in Education requires all staff to receive safeguarding and child protection training at induction and regular updates thereafter, and to have read and understood Part 1 of the guidance. Failure to ensure appropriate training places children at risk and exposes the organisation to regulatory, professional and reputational consequences. Safeguarding risks evolve rapidly, including exploitation, online harm, child on child abuse, radicalisation and domestic abuse impacts.
Regular safeguarding training and updates ensure staff remain aware of:
- Local safeguarding priorities identified by SSCP
- Learning from child safeguarding practice reviews
- Updates to national guidance such as KCSIE and Working Together
- The role of early help and prevention
Regular training reinforces that safeguarding is a core professional responsibility, not an isolated role. It promotes a culture of vigilance, curiosity and professional challenge, where safeguarding concerns are taken seriously and acted upon promptly.
Designated and Deputy Safeguarding Leads have a strategic and operational responsibility for safeguarding and child protection within education settings. As such, they are required to undertake enhanced, specific safeguarding training in addition to whole staff safeguarding learning. This ensures they have the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage concerns, lead safeguarding systems, and work effectively with partner agencies.
The Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) training framework supports this duty by setting out clear expectations for safeguarding learning at different staff levels. This ensures education settings meet statutory requirements and apply safeguarding practice that reflects local risks, multi‑agency learning and national developments. If you have moved from another local authority we recommend you undertake Staffordshire specific training. Please see the SSCP training expectations:
Level 1 Safeguarding Training (All Staff)
- DSLs and DDSLs must complete the same core safeguarding training as all staff, ensuring a shared foundation of safeguarding knowledge.
- Level 1 safeguarding training, delivered face‑to‑face using SSCP Safeguarding Level 1 Core Slides
- Completion within 3 months of starting work
- Refreshed at least every 3 years, with safeguarding updates provided annually.
- Includes understanding Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) and safeguarding responsibilities. This might be via e-bulletins, meeting other designated safeguarding leads, or simply taking time to read and digest safeguarding developments
- Prevent training – as soon as possible Prevent duty training: Learn how to support people susceptible to radicalisation | Prevent duty training.
Level 2 Working Together to Safeguard Children (Multi‑Agency)
- This training supports DSLs/DDSLs in their leadership role and multi‑agency responsibilities.
- Level 2 multi‑agency safeguarding training
- Must be completed within 6 months of taking up the DSL/DDSL role
- Focuses on:
- Thresholds for intervention
- Information sharing
- Working with children’s social care and partner agencies
- Application of Working Together guidance
Prevent Duty Training
As safeguarding leads, DSLs and DDSLs have specific responsibility for Prevent awareness and referrals.
- Prevent awareness training (Home Office approved)
- Required within 6 months of appointment
- Supports understanding of radicalisation, extremism and referral pathways
To also complete
Level 3 Multi‑Agency Safeguarding Training (and Refresher)
- To ensure safeguarding leads remain current with national learning and local practice expectations:
- Appropriate Level 3 multi‑agency training, aligned to the DSL/DDSL role
- Must be completed at least every 2 years
- SSCP recommends:
- Learning from Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (multi‑agency), or
- Designated Safeguarding Lead Multi‑Agency Training
Recommended for the Role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead / Deputy.
- Early Help Assessment training (FREE)
- GCP2 Masterclass (FREE)
Further suggested training
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) / Early Trauma training
- Intra-familial Child Sexual Abuse e-learning SSCP
Where DSLs/DDSLs participate in recruitment processes
- Safer Recruitment Training is required, you may wish to use the NSPCC, or a preferred equivalent
- At least one person on each recruitment panel must have completed training, in line with KCSIE expectations
Please use the following link to book onto training courses with the SSCP:
Learning Zone - Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership
I have also added the ESAS training grid created to help record your settings training:
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12 05 2026 Structure for Case Reviews
For those who attended this term’s DSL briefing, you may recall that a colleague shared their approach to structuring case reviews. As discussed, we said we would circulate this more widely, so please see link:
This is the framework the DSL uses when reviewing children and their safeguarding records.
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12 05 2026 New Guidance on Publishing Photographs of Children Online (UK Safer Internet Centre)
Schools rightly want to celebrate pupils’ achievements, and photography is often part of this. However, new guidance from the UK Safer Internet Centre highlights the importance of balancing this with emerging safeguarding risks.
This guidance follows a confirmed incident, reported to the Internet Watch Foundation by UK police, where images taken from a secondary school’s website were misused. Criminals used AI tools to alter these photographs into child sexual abuse material and then attempted to extort the school by threatening wider distribution.
While incidents of this nature are not yet widespread, the guidance is clear that the risk is growing and schools should take proactive steps.
Recommended measures include:
- Avoiding clear, identifiable images of pupils (e.g. face-on photographs)
- Not linking pupil names to images
- Removing metadata (EXIF data) before uploading
- Using low-resolution images where possible
Schools are also encouraged to review existing website and social media content.
The aim is not to stop celebrating pupils, but to ensure this is done in a way that minimises risk and protects children’s safety.
Please click on this link for full guidance and a checklist of actions.
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12 05 2026 #DitchTheBlade Campaign
REMINDER: Do not share images of knives
As the #DitchTheBlade campaign approaches (start date 18th May), we would like to remind all partners and partner agencies to NOT share images of knives.
Research shows the impact of sharing images of knives is not universal and is more profound for young people affected by violence. Further research and guidance can be found in the VRA Communications and Engagement Framework here.
#DitchTheBlade | Staffordshire Police
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12 05 2026 NSPCC – NEW Childline Posters available & New Pants Resources
NSPCC Learning has published a new series of Childline posters to encourage children to use Childline if they need support. There are posters for primary and secondary schools, available in English and Welsh. There are also new posters which highlight support available to young people, such as the Calm Zone and Report Remove service. The posters can be downloaded and shared digitally or printed for display.
Access the posters: Childline posters
NSPCC Learning has published a new series of Talk PANTS videos. Talk PANTS is an NSPCC campaign to keep children safe from sexual abuse and includes a range of resources to help teachers, schools and early years settings deliver age-appropriate sessions with children. The new videos are funded by The Executive Office in Northern Ireland and include an introduction to what Talk PANTS is. They also feature videos for use with children aged between 3- to 5-years-old, 5- to 7-years-old, and 7- to 11-years-old, as well as children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and additional support needs (ASN) aged 4- to 11-years-old to help them understand Talk PANTS.
Access the resources: PANTS resources for schools and teachers | NSPCC Learning | NSPCC Learning
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12 05 2026 DSL/DDSL Details & Requests to be Added to ESAS Records
ESAS is able to hold contact details for the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and up to two Deputy DSLs for each Staffordshire setting. This is to ensure records remain accurate and manageable, particularly as we regularly receive bounce‑back emails when staff leave, which require follow-up with settings to update our information.
If there are any changes to your DSL or Deputy DSLs, or if you have introduced a generic safeguarding email address for your setting, please notify ESAS with the updated contact names, email addresses and roles.
Please send updates to: esas@staffordshire.gov.uk
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12 05 2026 Neglect - The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Website
ESAS have discovered a new website from The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel around neglect.
Child neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment in England and features in over 50% of safeguarding reviews. It is often under-recognised, inconsistently defined, and responded to too late, despite its long-term impact on children’s health, development, safety, and wellbeing. Safeguarding reviews show that neglect is common, complex and can be missed. Understanding these recurring issues can help improve practice:
Child neglect can affect babies, children and adolescents but can be missed, especially when concerns relate to poverty, parental challenges, or chronic low‑level issues that build gradually
Delays in identification are frequently linked to unclear definitions, inconsistent thresholds, and reliance on terms such as ‘persistence’ and ‘serious impairment’.
Many responses to neglect are episodic and fragmented, resulting in missed opportunities to understand cumulative harm
Children’s voices and lived experiences are not consistently captured, and home conditions are often not seen or explored in enough depth
Early help and coordinated support are frequently hindered by consent barriers, capacity pressures, and inconsistent multi‑agency working
A more proactive, child‑centred and trauma‑informed approach is needed – one that names neglect clearly and responds early
Strong practice requires shared chronologies, structured tools, multi‑agency information sharing, and a clear focus on the child’s daily life, safety, and wellbeing
The website has key information, video’s explaining the key theme’s found in thematic analysis, 7 minute briefings on 3 case studies, supporting information, a poster and much more.
Neglect | Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel
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12 05 2026 Wake up Wednesday
Neurodivergent children are often drawn to technology from an early age.
The latest #WakeUpWednesday guide shares practical advice on setting boundaries, supporting safe use and understanding AI interactions.
Download: https://vist.ly/536kr
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12 05 2026 ESAS – Advice Service Email Response to be added to our emails
When seeking advice from our service, please be aware that the following statement is now included in all email responses and applies equally to advice given over the telephone:
**Please note- ESAS is an advice service and the advice we provide should form part of your decision making.
It is the education settings responsibility to make referrals to children’s social care, or to share with a child’s allocated worker.
If you do not agree with the outcome of a referral to Staffordshire families integrated front door (SFIFD), please initially discuss this with the worker and follow the SSCP escalation policy if there is not a resolution.
All actions and rationale should be documented in the child’s safeguarding record.**
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12 05 2026 Keeping children Safer Online Open meeting 20.5.25 at 10am.
As schools, families and the government strive to find effective ways to keep young people safe online, despite the ban on social media in Australia, three children are taking their own lives every week as a result of cyberbullying.
The package of support that Cybernetic Shield provides different layers of ‘wraparound’ support.
We have been asked by PSHE to share the attached flyer with schools and colleagues who might be interested. This is an open meeting hosted by Dr Emily Setty from Surrey University. We believe the event is free, but please check with the provider if required.
