Statement of Support for Education Settings - October 2021

We are committed to working with schools and educational settings to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Kent. We are a multi-agency partnership of the three safeguarding partners - Local Authority, Police and Health.

Between August and October 2021, KSCMP Business Team reviewed how we work as a multi-agency partnership with education in terms of what was on offer to schools and educational establishments generally and that linked to Everyone's Invited.

This review included:

  1. review of what is offered to schools / colleges directly affected by Everyone's Invited
  2. review of what is currently offered to schools / colleges by the KSCMP (both the Business Team and other partners, including Kent Police, Kent School Health Team, KCC and commissioned services)
  3. analysis of data to understand engagement with schools regarding consultations, training, and safeguarding reviews
  4. review of the Education Group (part of the KSCMP architecture review project)
  5. interviews with key people related to education to establish what they felt was working well / not so well with the current offer
  6. focus groups of Headteachers (HTs) to assess their views of the KSCMP
  7. discussions with KCC officers around good practice / case studies

We have listened to feedback from schools and as part of this project, the KSCMP also commissioned The Education People to produce a strengths-focused toolkit, to be made available to all schools in Kent for free to help them internally reflect, improve, and build on areas of good performance in response to presentations of harmful sexual behaviour and peer-on-peer abuse in educational settings. The audit toolkit is called the 'Peer-on-Peer Abuse Tool'.

Partnership offer

The following partners were reviewed by the KSCMP Business Team to see what is currently offered within schools and colleges:

  • The Education People (commissioned by KCC to deliver key services to education establishments within Kent)
  • Kent Police
  • Kent School Health Team
  • Prevent Education Officers
  • KSCMP Business Team

Links for schools to 'offers'

Visit gateway to the Kent Integrated Children's Services portal

Visit The Education People's website

Visit Kent School Health Team website

View information about Prevent within schools

View information about child protection and safeguarding within schools

View information on how the Kent Integrated Children's Service support schools

View KSCMP training offer

View KSCMP free 'Peer-on-Peer Abuse Tool'   (DOCX, 70.6 KB)

Ambitions

KSCMP strives to work more closely with schools and to build better and stronger relationships with education settings. KSCMP aim to do this by:

  • improving knowledge of KSCMP, so that all educational establishments understand who KSCMP are and what they do
  • engaging in two-way dialogue with education establishments through the Education Group
  • continuing to offer high quality resources and training
  • ensuring all single agencies within the Partnership are working with schools so that the welfare of children in Kent is paramount

Further information

KSCMP produces a newsletter which is available to schools, if you wish to be on the distribution list, please email us at kscmp@kent.gov.uk

We welcome feedback from schools so if you do have any views around what we offer please contact us and we will be in touch.