All posts tagged: Safeguarding

schools are key to safeguarding, but their job is getting harder

schools are key to safeguarding, but their job is getting harder

Published by Sam Flores

Sir Adrian Fulford’s report into the July 2024 attack in Southport that killed three young girls does not pull any punches. He concluded that the UK’s safeguarding model had completely failed, with no agency taking lead responsibility. He referred to “an inappropriate merry-go-round” of state agencies, none of which took responsibility for the risks posed by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana. There were red flags about Rudakubana for several years before the attack. This included him carrying knives to school with the stated intention to use them, attacking fellow pupils, telling police that he had considered poisoning people, and a browsing history obsessed by violence and death. The Southport inquiry reveals the pivotal role of schools in these situations – they have deep knowledge and understanding of their pupils and families. But of course, they cannot do it alone. Their powers and duties are rightly rooted in education. The weakness in the system is not what schools are doing in relation to safeguarding – it is that when they attempt to escalate concerns (in this case via …

Everything schools need to know

Everything schools need to know

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Schools should report concerns about a child carrying a weapon and make sure they review internet filtering system effectiveness at least once a year, draft new safeguarding guidance states. The Department for Education is consulting on the draft ‘keeping children safe in education’ guidance until April. It would become legally binding if approved. While the draft guidance includes a new section on children questioning their gender which says schools should take a “very careful approach” to social transition, it also includes other important new proposals for schools. Here’s everything schools need to know… 1. ‘Very careful’ approach to social transition The draft guidance contains a new section on supporting children questioning their gender following the landmark Cass review. The guidance states schools should not initiate any action and take a “very careful approach in relation to social transition, with parents involved in the “vast majority” of cases. Particular caution should be taken in primary schools. Draft guidance also makes it clear that there should be “no exceptions” for single …

Sex offenders could return to prison over failure to report pregnancy, safeguarding review recommends | UK News

Sex offenders could return to prison over failure to report pregnancy, safeguarding review recommends | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Sex offenders could be recalled to prison if they fail to report a pregnancy in their relationship, under changes recommended by a national safeguarding review. The review followed the high-profile case of baby Victoria, who died at the hands of her mother Constance Marten and her father Mark Gordon. Marten, 38, and her convicted rapist partner Gordon, 51, went on the run with their daughter to get away from social services after their four other children were taken into care. Victoria’s body was later found inside a shopping bag. Marten and Gordon have been jailed for a total of 28 years after they were convicted of killing their baby. Image: Constance Marten and Mark Gordon. Pic: Met Police/PA Read more:How runaway couple killed their babyMarten tells court ‘we did everything we could’ The review, published by the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, said the baby girl’s birth “was the last within her family of a rapid series of pregnancies, births, and removals into care that by the time she was conceived had become a repeating …

Tribunal: Sarah Mullally “plainly wrong” in safeguarding decision

Tribunal: Sarah Mullally “plainly wrong” in safeguarding decision

Published by Sam Flores

A tribunal has rebuked the newly installed archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally (pictured, right), for her role in a safeguarding complaint against the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell (pictured, left). The complaint against Cottrell was brought by a victim of sexual abuse perpetrated by David Tudor, then a vicar in Reigate. The victim was 15 when the abuse started in the early 1980s. The victim alleged that Cottrell, as bishop of Chelmsford between 2010 and 2020, twice inappropriately reappointed Tudor as an area dean in the diocese, and wrongly praised him as a ‘Rolls Royce’ priest. Cottrell was briefed about Tudor’s offences when he was first appointed bishop of Chelmsford. Tudor had been banned from ministry for five years in 1988 after he was convicted of sexual offences against other girls. The convictions were later quashed on technical grounds. Former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey advocated for Tudor to be allowed to return to ministry. In 2024, Carey resigned the priesthood after Tudor was finally permanently banned from the priesthood following furthers allegations of abuse, …

Charity regulator censures CofE dioceses for safeguarding failures

Charity regulator censures CofE dioceses for safeguarding failures

Published by Sam Flores

Two Church of England dioceses have been rebuked by the Charity Commission for failing to properly handle safeguarding allegations. The regulator issued an official warning to the dioceses of Liverpool and Chelmsford over their handling of allegations of sexual assault against the former bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath (pictured). Perumbalath resigned last year after he was accused of sexual assault by two women, including Bev Mason, the bishop of Warrington. Perumbalath claimed “I have not done anything wrong and continue to do so”. A Charity Commission investigation found there was “a failure to properly handle safeguarding allegations” because trustees “who knew of the allegations failed to take action”. The dioceses did not report the accusations to the commission as a ‘serious incident’ when they were first made in 2023, and only belatedly did so when they were reported on by the media in 2025. The investigation concluded the failings “amount to mismanagement in the administration of the two charities.” A spokesman for the diocese of Chelmsford claimed “the matter was handled appropriately” and said the …

Archbishop of Canterbury elect accused of safeguarding breach

Archbishop of Canterbury elect accused of safeguarding breach

Published by Sam Flores

The archbishop of Canterbury elect, Sarah Mullally (pictured), has been accused of contravening the Clergy Discipline Measure code of practice during her time as bishop of London. One member of clergy has now called for an independent investigation to be launched. According to Premier Christian News, ‘Survivor N’ first reported allegations of abuse against a priest in the diocese of London over a decade ago. Premier Christian News has now “seen evidence” that Mullally “contravened the Clergy Discipline Measure [CDM] code of practice” by “sending a confidential email about the allegations directly to the priest concerned, outside of the CDM process”. According to the Church of England, CDM “provides a procedure for handling such allegations of serious misconduct”. Mullally allegedly told Survivor N his claims were “unsubstantiated”. Survivor N says he was then subjected to a “systematic campaign of harassment and retribution”. The decision of the diocese and Mullally not to investigate Survivor N’s claim left him “in such a severe mental health crisis that he attempted to take his own life twice”. A former …

Safeguarding risk data missing from records

Safeguarding risk data missing from records

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Dozens of councils do not hold data on how many home-educated children are subject to child protection enquiries – after a damning review into the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif warned of a lack of information sharing between services Our findings suggest many councils are underprepared for tough new duties to protect the most vulnerable children. Sara Sharif “These findings are alarming, but not surprising,” said children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza, who said the review had “showed that all the information needed to save [Sara] was available but never shared across services”. Ten-year-old Sara was murdered by her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool in 2023 after two years of abuse. A safeguarding review published last week found information about Sara “would have been available to practitioners”. But it was “not always easily accessible, as Sara’s family life was complicated and information sat within different agencies and systems”. ‘We can’t afford to overlook this’ Local authorities will soon have to sign off on home education for children …

School raises safeguarding concerns over covert evangelism

School raises safeguarding concerns over covert evangelism

Published by Sam Flores

A non-religious primary school has raised safeguarding concerns after the National Secular Society alerted it to covert evangelism of its pupils. In a now removed episode of Chester diocese’s podcast ‘Everyday Faith’, a school playworker described leading students in prayer, singing religious songs, and reading bible stories “everyday” at a breakfast club. The activities took place without parental knowledge or consent, and involved children as young as seven years old. After learning of the podcast, the National Secular Society wrote to the school raising concerns. The headteacher replied that school leaders “were not previously aware of the activities described in the podcast”, and he was “personally surprised and concerned to learn of them”. The school has now taken “appropriate steps”, including raising “concerns with the [diocesan] safeguarding lead”, who is “taking this matter seriously”. ‘Building faith when children don’t even realise it’s happening. I love that’ The playworker described how some children took bibles home from the breakfast club. When parents asked why their children had brought home a bible, she said: “I just keep …