January 2019 – Bulletin 1
Happy new year and a warm welcome to the first Chalktalk Education newsletter of 2019 which is aimed at schools, settings and colleges to inform them of relevant news, guidance and publications and to share feedback and learning.
This month there is an interesting article on the impact on children and young people of regular screen use and some statistics demonstrating the negative effects on their health, welfare and attainment and some ways in which schools can help.
We also focus on the importance of Early Help and our duty to ensure vulnerable children and families receive the support they need as early as possible, to prevent problems increasing.
In our series examining learning from serious case reviews, we take a look at the case of William Vahey, a teacher who sexually abused children from Southbank School, an international school in London from 2009 until 2013. He then went to work in a school in Nicaragua. In Nicaragua a USB stick owned by Vahey was found to have multiple images of the abuse of school aged children from Southbank School. Vahey admitted the abuse but before further enquiries could take place, he committed suicide in 2014. These reviews highlight pertinent messages for practice improvement and multi-agency working; the detail can be emotionally draining and so can the emotional impact of the work of designated safeguarding leads in general; it is important that you have access to support your emotional well-being.
Good practice safeguards staff as well as children and it is vital for staff who deal with safeguarding and child protection issues to receive supervision and support – please do get some emotional support for yourselves – this is something that we can provide, please ask.
Help to share the information by circulating this newsletter to your colleagues and by making it available either electronically and/or on notice boards in your school/college/setting.
Soola Georgiou
Safeguarding in Education Consultant
Chalktalk Education
M: 07904 197780
Chalktalk Education 