Management Information Sheet
Audit of School Safeguarding Practices 2019-2020: Analysis
As you will be aware, an audit of safeguarding practices in Norfolk Schools took place in Autumn Term 2019 and Spring Term 2020. Schools in Group 1 and Group 2 were requested to submit a completed safeguarding self-review tool via the My School website. Due to the impact of Covid-19 and the pressure on education settings, the decision was made not to formally request Group 3 to submit a completed self-evaluation during the Summer Term.
Whilst there has been a disruption to the audit activity, it does provide us with a sufficient dataset to be able to draw conclusions about practice across the sector and identify areas for development. The audit report captures data from 197 primary schools, 24 secondary, 9 special schools, 1 college, 1 nursery school and 4 independent schools. 118 were LA maintained schools and 112 were academies. Overall, this equates to 56% of all primary schools, 47% of all secondaries and 69% of all special schools. 56% of all schools in Norfolk.
The evidence demonstrates a positive view of schools' confidence in the safeguarding arrangements that they have in place. The evidence provided indicates that the vast majority of schools feel that they not only meet but exceed statutory requirements for safeguarding in line with Ofsted expectations and best practice guidance. The commentary supplied in the majority of the self-reviews tools demonstrates that schools have taken a robust approach to review of safeguarding procedures and have reached thoughtful conclusions in relation to their assessments.
As in previous years, the overall findings of the audit some gaps in knowledge across the wider school workforce; future training and guidance will be tailored to meet these needs accordingly. The findings will be shared with the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership Group on 22 February 2021. The full audit report for 2019-2020 can be accessed via this link.
Thank you for your co-operation with this process. The safeguarding self-evaluation tool remains accessible for settings to use as part of their on-going monitoring arrangements via the My School section of the Norfolk Schools website; we plan to resume the LA audit of practice in the Autumn Term 2021. If you have any questions or comments please contact us.