Sexual abuse toolkit: advice and resources for governors

Safeguarding is a key aspect of every governor’s role, regardless of the category they are appointed/elected to. Everyone in governance, whether serving in a maintained school, academy, independent school or pupil referral unit should have an understanding of roles and responsibilities to keep children safe from harm, including an understanding of what sexual abuse is and how schools should deal with it.

Statutory guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education 2021’ (KCSiE), provides a comprehensive level of detail of the roles and responsibilities within the governor board. It also sets out definitions of sexual abuse (see Indicators of abuse and neglect (sexual abuse) – para 29), making it clear that technology can facilitate this type of abuse online. The updated KCSiE guidance can be found on the following link:

Gov.UK: Keeping children safe in education

Furthermore, KCSiE makes reference to abuse through Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) – see para 36/37, and children at risk because they are missing from education – see para 164.

Schools should assume that sexual harassment, online sexual abuse and sexual violence are happening in and around schools, even when there are no specific reports. Governors should familiarise themselves with the updated 2021 version of KCSiE, and read this alongside the DfE document ‘Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment between Children in Schools and Colleges’.

DfE: Sexual violence and sexual harrassment between children in schools and colleges

This will empower and enable governors to provide the right support and challenge to leaders.

It is also an obligation of schools to retain records of information about allegations of sexual abuse. All governors should know how this information is recorded and stored in their school/setting.

At the end of KCSiE, a detailed list of resources can be found (see Annex D ‘Toolkits’ (p 140-142), to support schools with advice, guidance and useful websites to access.

Governor monitoring of safeguarding should be ongoing and a standing item on every FGB meeting agenda.  Hertfordshire County Council provides a termly and annual* safeguarding template to be completed by school leaders (with input from the Safeguarding governor). This provides a platform for governing board discussion at meetings, an opportunity for challenge, and keeps the profile of safeguarding high.  The templates are accessible on the Grid at:

Child protection: policies, procedures and forms

Actions for Governors in the new 2021/22 academic year:

• read the whole KCSiE document, taking particular note of ‘Part Two’ ‘The responsibility of governing bodies, proprietors and management committees’, and summary of changes (found at the end of the document)
• check that school leaders have provided appropriate training for staff, particularly relating to the changes made in September 2021.

To support governors’ knowledge, training is essential. It is strongly recommend that all new governors complete the HfL Safeguarding Children training in the first 6 months of being appointed. It is also part of the Governance Ready, Education and Training (GREAT) development pathway (emerging), and all governors should undergo refresher training every four years. The HfL Governance Service provides a number of safeguarding/child protection courses for subscribers (delivered remotely or accessed through Modern Governor).

Ask yourself (and other governors):

• have sufficient governors undertaken safer recruitment training? (within GREAT this is required at Expert level)
• how up-to-date is the governor training record in terms of completing Safeguarding/Child Protection training?
• how do governors reassure themselves that children at safe whilst they are at school?
• do governors know how low level sexualised comments are dealt with at school?
• are pupils supported to understand that this is not acceptable?
• how does the curriculum support your pupils to understand sexual abuse and how to keep themselves safe?
• how are the vulnerable supported to understand these personal and difficult subjects?

Ensuring policies are in place and up-to-date provides a level of security, but they need to be regularly reviewed and not just rubber stamped. The level of detail in terms of procedure is essential too.

Ask yourself (and other governors):

• if you know the names of your designated senior lead/deputy?
• if staff are aware of the procedure to report an allegation….how do you know?
• was the recent approval of the Whistleblowing policy shared with staff…..When? Was there any feedback?
• is the ‘safeguarding’ policy being presented for approval fit for purpose – have any ‘lessons learnt’ been incorporated?

Many safeguarding policy templates are available on the HfL HR portals (subscription required).

Some useful resources governors may want to access

HfL Governance blog: An extraordinary year in education (July 2021)

The 2021 version of Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges is now in force (replaces both the 2018 version, and the document published in July for information):  

DfE: Sexual violence and sexual harrassment between children in schools and colleges

Scottish Government: Harmful sexual behaviour by children and young people. Expert report.