Assessing Sexual Behaviour
Brook is the country's largest young people's sexual health charity, providing sexual health services, support and advice to young people under the age of 25.
The charity has devised a sexual behaviours traffic light tool which helps professionals who work with children and young people to identify, assess and respond appropriately to sexual behaviours.
It uses a 'traffic light tool' to categorise sexual behaviours, to increase understanding of healthy sexual development and distinguish this from harmful behaviour.
By identifying sexual behaviours as GREEN, AMBER or RED, professionals across different agencies can work to the same criteria when making decisions and protect children and young people with a unified approach.
This resource has been designed to help professionals think through their decisions and does not replace organisational procedures or assessment frameworks.
The tool is available to use free of charge on the Brook website:
Serious Case Reviews
Local Safeguarding Children Boards are responsible for undertaking serious case reviews when a child dies or sustains significant harm, and abuse or neglect are known or suspected to be a factor in the incident, to establish any learning, and improve inter-agency working to better safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Hertfordshire SCR executive summaries and overview reports are available on the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board website:
SCR executive summaries and overview reports from other local authorities which are felt to have particular relevance to schools are available at:
Rochdale SCB Review New
In May 2012, nine men who ran a child sexual exploitation ring in Rochdale were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court after being found guilty of offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with girls under the age of 16. Rochdale's safeguarding board has published a Review of Multi-agency Responses to the Sexual Exploitation of Children. The review looks at how agencies including the Council, Police, NHS, Crown Prosecution Service and other support services worked between 2007 and 2012 to safeguard children and young people who were at risk of sexual exploitation.
A summary of the findings and recommendations for schools:
New Learning from Serious Case Reviews: A Summary of Biennial Analysis of Serious Case Reviews 2009-2011 New
Learning from serious case reviews (SCRs) is acknowledged to be important for both understanding and learning. This briefing outlines the main points of the sixth biennial national analysis of SCRs and is relevant for all staff working with children or vulnerable adults who are parents.
Children's Society Report on Running Away
Every year 100,000 children run away from home or care. And every year around 200,000 children miss a month of schooling. Many children fall under both of these shocking categories. This recent Children's Society research shows that children who are absent from school are three times more likely to have run away.
Children run from serious problems at home such as abuse or neglect or problems at school such as bullying or unmet special educational needs. Some may run away under the influence of controlling individuals as recent well publicised child sexual exploitation investigations have shown.
Yet schools are not picking up on the early warning signs that there may be some serious problems in a child’s life which are causing them to run away. It is crucial that school and education professionals are able to recognise the signs of running away and absence from school as a cry for help and take steps to intervene immediately. A failure to do so leaves vulnerable children at risk of further harm or exploitation.
The full report is available to read at this link:
Legal Perspective for Schools
The RECOVER Pack - Information for Professionals Working with Families affected by Substance Misuse
A new resource aimed at professionals who work with families affected by substance misuse
One of the main aims of the National Drugs Strategy (2008-2018) is to prevent harm to children, young people and families affected by drug misuse. At a local level the Hertfordshire Drugs Strategy (2008-2011) acknowledges the importance of addressing the needs of the whole family as a key to successfully reducing the risk of inter-generational offending and substance misuse.
In a recent service review, undertaken by the Hertfordshire Drug and Alcohol Partnership, it was identified that those services working with vulnerable adults were unfamiliar with local family services in the area.
The RECOVER pack has been developed in consultation with colleagues including Integrated Practice Teams, Adult Drug Services and Think Family leads. Its aim is to provide services working with families with a comprehensive guide to encourage a holistic approach. This approach can help to enhance the treatment given, enable providers to ‘think family’ more effectively and bridge gaps between adult and family services. It also responds to concerns regarding adolescent drug use, safeguarding children and caring responsibilities.
The pack has been designed to set out some of the services that are available for young people, adult service users and for wider families and carers of all ages and can be download below:
Recover Pack
Order Form
The Expect Respect Education Toolkit
Domestic abuse is a widespread social problem and living with domestic abuse is a painful and damaging experience. For the 750,000 children who witness domestic abuse each year, the damaging effects can be long lasting and impact on everyarea of their lives.
Schools are in a key position to raise the issue of domestic abuse in a safe, structured, learning environment.
The Expect Respect Education Toolkit published by Women’s Aid provides a comprehensive resource that enables domestic abuse to be addressed easily and regularly by schools throughout a child or young person’s school life.
Specifically designed to be easy to use and with additional online support, the Education Toolkit supports schools in their work with children and young people, to improve responses to those affected now and to prevent domestic abuse in the future.
Addressing Negative Sexual Experiences with Young People
These guidelines have been developed with the intention of helping to raise the profile of the issues of negative sexual experiences and ensure consistent and sustainable approaches across the county.
In line with national safeguarding responsibility for safeguarding children and young people, this document has equal regard and concern for safeguarding vulnerable adults who are not covered by child protection legislation
These guidelines can be downloaded from:
Family Support Resource for School Leadership Teams and Teachers
 This online guide helps school leadership teams to devise an effective strategy for working with pupils' families - particularly those that need the most help and support. This guide has clear advice on how to have conversations with parents about difficult issues, and a comprehensive guide to national support organisations that school staff can refer parents to free of charge.
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