Management Information Sheet

'Keeping Children Safe in Education', DfE (2014) and the Ofsted guidance ‘Inspecting safeguarding: Briefing for section 5 inspection’ (see above link) (January 2015) outline the expectation that Senior Designated Professionals (SDP) should be aware of the guidance in respect of FGM and FM, and should be vigilant to the risk of it being practised.

Evidence from the Local Authority audit of school safeguarding practice indicates that some schools feel less confident about staff knowledge of honour-based abuse. In response to this finding, the guidance on this area has been updated and staff briefing materials have been devised in order to support schools to raise awareness of this issue. These can be accessed via the safeguarding pages of the Norfolk Schools’ website.

To complement the existing guidance for schools Norfolk Constabulary are offering free briefing events to schools as follows:

• 9th March 2015 – 09.30 to 13.00 West Norfolk Professional Development Centre
• 23rd March 2015 – 09.30 to 13.00 Professional Development Centre, Norwich
• 23rd March 2015 – 13.30 to 17.00 Professional Development Centre, Norwich

Learning Outcomes – by the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Recognise signs of HBA, FM and FGM and take appropriate and positive safeguarding action.
• Recognise this as abuse and know the referral pathways available when reporting concerns of those they identify as victims of HBA, FM and FGM such as
• Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
• National and Local Support Agencies
• Professionals will be equipped to talk to victims about the referral pathways available to help and support them

Speakers:

Georgina Sosa, Specialist Midwife. Gina has been a midwife in the UK for 18 years, training and working at the Whittington Hospital in London from 1995-2003, where she opened an African well women clinic for women with female genital mutilation (FGM) and completed research studying the perspectives of midwives regarding FGM as part of an Midwifery MSc and worked at the James Paget Hospital.

Nicola Burston, Domestic Abuse, Honour, Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation, Safeguarding Trainer and Consultant. Nicola has completed 30 years with Essex Police in the Public Protection Department and for the past 13 years Nicola has been intimately connected with national and local work around a series of key issues on Domestic Abuse, Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults, Missing People, Hate Crime, Mental Ill Health, and Honour Based Abuse (including Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation)

Target Staff:

This course is suitable for Headteachers, Senior Designated Professionals, pastoral workers and governors in primary and secondary schools. Cost - The course is free to attend, but please note there will be a £20 per person administration fee for non-attendance or if cancelled within 10 working days of the course date.

Application to attend – Course booking:

To book a place on either or both of these events, please apply via s4s.norfolk.gov.uk by searching for course references TLS -0315-T043, TLS-0315-T044, TLS-0315-T045. Spaces will be limited to no more than two per setting and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.(booking will be available from the 1st February 2015)