KCSIE 2022 - What Are the Proposed Changes?

Schools will be aware that substantial changes were made to the statutory guidance in 2021 and the related non-statutory guidance Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment in Schools and Colleges in response to Ofsted's recommendations in its Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges (June 2021)

The proposed changes this year build upon those made in 2021 and are intended to support schools to take a whole-school approach to safeguarding including peer-on-peer abuse (now renamed child-on-child abuse to reflect the language in the non-statutory guidance).

Key Changes Include:

• withdrawing the separate non-statutory Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment in Schools and Colleges and moving it into parts 2 and 5 of KCSIE
• reminding all staff that they should be aware that children may not feel ready or know how to tell someone they are being abused, exploited, or neglected - or they may not recognise their experiences as harmful
• explicitly setting out that all governors and trustees should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety) at induction, and this should be regularly updated.
• greater prescription regarding governing body and proprietor responsibilities - these also now include:
  • checking online safety is a running and interrelated theme when implementing their whole school approach to safeguarding
  • ensuring appropriate safeguarding arrangements are in place when premises are hired out to external organisations for services for children not on the school roll  - this is more closely aligned with the charity safeguarding duty which requires charitable schools to take reasonable steps to protect all people coming into contact with the charity from harm
  • recognising the key role the DSL plays in day-to-day leadership of safeguarding and provide the role with the necessary authority
  • recognising that while all children should be protected, some groups are potentially more at risk of harm eg those who are LGBT (or perceived to be LGBT)
• a reminder about the legal duties schools have with regard to the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty (although the latter is not directly relevant to the independent sector)

It has also asked for feedback on the revisions made in 2021 to parts 3 (safer recruitment) and parts 4 (allegations of abuse/concerns raised about teachers and other staff). Consequently only minor changes are proposed this year:

Part 3 Changes Include:

• suggesting schools consider, as part of their due diligence, consider carrying out online searches (including social media) on shortlisted candidates and exploring anything that is publicly available online which may be worth testing at interview  
• only accepting CVs alongside a full application to ensure full information is available to support safer recruitment

Part 4 Changes Include:

• clarification that learning lessons applies to all cases, not just those that have concluded and found to be substantiated
• giving schools the freedom to decide how reports of low level concerns and who they are made to - the cross reference to reporting in line with the requirements in part 1 of KCSIE 2021 has been removed

While not included in the proposed changes, the DfE continues to highlight the importance of online safety and has asked, in order to expand its evidence base, whether schools and DSLs are aware of separate UKCIS Nudes and Semi Nudes guidance and whether they are able to make informed decisions on which filtering and monitoring systems should be used in schools. Schools should be aware that feedback the DfE receives may prompt further amendments when the draft is published before September 2022.

If you have any queries on this, please contact Tabitha Cave on 07747 075825, or complete the form below.