Thursday 23 December 2021
A review by Education officers of a recent Ofsted Report which looks into 'sexual abuse in schools and colleges' in England has demonstrated the strength of the work that currently goes on within Education locally to ensure young people are both properly educated about, and protected from, sexual abuse - both inside and outside of school.
Officers have looked at the report to see if any of its recommendations could be applied locally. Many of the wider themes in the report aligned with Guernsey's Education Strategy and officers have been able to use the document to ensure current practices are up to date.
Education already regularly reviews and strengthens the curriculum and support systems in place in this priority area as part of the Island Safeguarding Children Partnership ("ISCP").
As recently as September this year, all States-run schools adopted an updated Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. A key part of this policy was a focus on peer-on-peer abuse, and it requires schools to:
- Provide a developmentally appropriate curriculum, including Personal, Social, Health, and Citizenship Education (PSHCE), which develops learners' understanding of acceptable behaviour, healthy relationships and keeping themselves safe. (This is delivered by SHARE's dedicated team and secondary co-ordinators)
- Have relevant policies in place (e.g. behaviour policy, including anti-bullying)
- Have systems in place for any learner to raise concerns with staff, knowing that they will be listened to, believed, and valued
- Develop robust risk assessments where appropriate
- Challenge any form of derogatory or inappropriate language or behaviour
- Be accepting of all religions, cultures, social identities, and backgrounds.
The updates to this strategy are just some of Education's, and the ISCP's, wider efforts to tackle and prevent sexual abuse in schools. Other elements include, but are not limited to:
- Additional training provided to safeguarding leads in schools in October 2021.
- An audit of responses in place to tackle Harmful Sexual Behaviours - which found "an overall strong set of responses" while also identifying areas for improvements and opportunities for more multi-agency working.
- Adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Rights Respecting School awards, promoting children's rights and educating them on those rights.
- The introduction of the BE LADS lesson, which was designed by campaigner Poppy Murray and then implemented with the support of Education's PSHE service.
While this issue has always been a priority for Education, the wider issue of sexual violence has been put firmly into the spotlight this year. The Committee has therefore started to liaise with the Committee for Home Affairs to explore what could be achieved by further working together. While these discussions are still in their very initial stages, work is already ongoing at a Committee and an officer level to pursue some joint initiatives.
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:
"I must express my thanks to Deputy Gavin St Pier who approached me in the early autumn following the summer publication of the Ofsted report in the UK with questions about what we do in Guernsey to tackle sexual abuse in schools and how we educate young people on this very important issue. It is an issue that is prevalent in the minds of all of us on this Committee, and I'm sure much of the Assembly would agree with me that it is something that must have strong systems in place to both tackle and prevent, to support wider cultural changes. I was pleased that Deputy St Pier's questions gave us the opportunity to talk about the huge amount of work that goes on through Education, and more widely across the States of Guernsey, in this area.
"The Committee is confident that this is a priority area for staff across education, who are driven and passionate about both ensuring our policies and procedures are as robust and as up to date as they can be and importantly making sure our young people are educated about acceptable behaviours, whilst feeling supported. As with many areas of education, it is of course not the sole responsibility of staff to ensure these important messages land and are re-enforced. It takes a whole community effort to ensure appropriate cultures are in place, and especially important for parents to take a lead in speaking with their children about such important issues, especially now with the far-reaching and sometimes negative influence of social media.
"I am also encouraged by the work that our Committee is starting to undertake in conjunction with the Committee for Home Affairs. They have also been doing some very important work regarding sexual violence in the wider community, and both of our Committees agree that a key part of tackling this is to ensure our young people have access to a well-rounded and clear curriculum in school."
Deputy Rob Prow, President of the Committee forHome Affairs, said:
"My Committee has been looking at a range of initiatives we can undertake to raise awareness of sexual violence in our community. It was clear to us that educating young people about attitudes and behaviours linked to this issue would be key, and I was extremely encouraged by the work that already goes on in this area. We are looking to instigate a culture change across the community and have been speaking to our colleagues in Education about what more can be done. I am pleased to be working with them to develop a new event which will hopefully help highlight much of the hard work that already goes on and look forward to speaking more about this in the future."
