"Whatever it is you think you want to do, and whatever it is that you think stands between you and that, stop making excuses. You can do anything"
Welcome to Issue 105 of Quest News. We have 15.5 hours of off-the-job training for our apprentices to complete.
Events this week:
October 1 - October 7 - Anaphylaxis Awareness Week 2023
October 1 - October 31 - Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2023
October 1 - October 31 - Black History Month 2023
October 2 - October 6 - Public Health Workforce Week 2023
October 2 - October 6 - National Work Life Week 2023
October 2 - October 8 - The Children’s Trust Pyjama Week 2023
October 4 - No Disposable Cup Day 2023
Policy of the Week
Equality, diversity & inclusion policy
An equality and diversity policy is simply a written agreement for your group about how you will avoid discriminating against people, and how you will create a safe and inclusive atmosphere for your members and service users.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 60 mins)
Please remember to review this in your policy/legislation review workbook)
Videos of the week
Black Nurses: The Women Who Saved the NHS
Documentary which tells the story of the thousands of Caribbean and African women who answered the call 70 years ago to come to the UK to save the then ailing health service. It's a tale of a struggle to overcome racism, their fight for career progression and their battle for national recognition
(Watching this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 60 mins)
Event of the week/month
October 1 - October 31 - Black History Month 2023
Black History Month is an annual observance dedicated to honouring the achievements, contributions, and rich history of African Americans. It provides an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of Black individuals, recognise their impact on society, and promote understanding and unity among all communities.
(This can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Completing activities Approx. 60 mins)
Safeguarding & ED & I
Online safety bill
The NSPCC has published an article on the passing of the Online Safety Bill through Parliament. The legislation will require technology companies to ensure their websites are safe for children and protect them from sexual abuse and harmful material. The story contains an outline of the Bill, a statement from Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC, and statements from campaigners.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 40 mins)
Child mental health
The Guardian has published an article discussing a recent poll by Girlguiding on happiness in girls and young women in the UK. This survey found that: 9 out of 10 7- to 21-year-olds were worried or anxious; 17% reported feeling very happy compared with 40% in 2009; the sharpest drop in happiness was reported in 7- to 10-year-olds, with 28% responding that they were happy compared with over 50% in 2009; and sources of concern reported by participants included online abuse and sexual harassment. Girlguiding UK is calling for government action with recommendations including: training on consent provided in all UK schools; and age verification controls to prevent children accessing harmful material online.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 40 mins)
Suicide and self-harm (Podcast)
The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) has published a podcast in which Dr Jocelyn Meza discusses her co-authored paper ‘Common elements in treatments for youth suicide attempts and self-harm.’ Discussions include: ways to talk about suicide and self-harm in a non-stigmatising way; suicide and self harm as a global issue and international differences; applying findings from the paper as a child and adolescent mental health professional or practitioner; and research implications.
(Listening to this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Message encryption and child safety
The Home Office has published a report highlighting concerns around end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and child safety online in the UK. Key issues discussed include: descriptions of E2EE; potential risks to child safety posed by E2EE; and protecting people’s right to privacy whilst safeguarding children online.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Child exploitation
Northamptonshire Police have created a short film for parents to raise awareness of child exploitation. It includes examples of what child exploitation can involve, including criminal and sexual exploitation; common signs of possible exploitation; and information on how to report concerns.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
New resources available from the Professionals Online Safety Helpline
The UK Safer Internet Centre's Professionals Online Safety Helpline has introduced new guidance to aid educators and professionals working with young people. The guidance aims to answer frequently asked queries on topics including reporting content of concern on social media, impersonation on social media platforms, and responding to incidents of young people sharing nude images online.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Understanding and identifying radicalisation risk in your education setting
To safeguard learners who are susceptible to radicalisation into terrorism, designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) will need to take a risk-based approach.
Each setting should perform a risk assessment which assesses how their learners or staff may be at risk of being radicalised into terrorism, including online. Where specific risks are identified, settings should develop an action plan to set out the steps they will take to mitigate this risk. This should be proportionate and based on an understanding of the threat and risk in the local area, the phase of education and the size and type of setting. This risk will vary greatly and can change quickly, but nowhere is risk free.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Increase in Suspensions
After analysing data from the DfE, the “Who’s Losing Learning? Coalition” reports a 30% increase in suspensions since the pandemic.
This article from Impetus (a coalition member) says:
• More than 3,000 children lose learning every day after being sent home.
• More than half of suspensions were of children living in poverty.
• Children with social workers are four times more likely to be sent home, increasing the risk to already vulnerable children
• Black and minority ethnic children continue to be excluded at higher rates than white British children.
The article also reveals how some setting leaders are trying to reverse these trends by taking a whole-setting, protective and preventative approach to learners’ mental health and safety, resulting in improved attendance, and reductions in suspensions and exclusions.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)
Two new videos by the Anna Freud Centre have been added to its resources about emotionally-based school avoidance. The term EBSA recognises that this avoidance is rooted in emotional, mental health or well-being concerns.
The first video explores EBSA and how settings can work with parents and carers to tackle the issue. The second provides a parent’s experience of EBSA.
(Reading this and watching the videos can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 40 mins)
Nitrous oxide: Laughing gas to be illegal by end of year
Laughing gas will be categorised as a class C drug and made illegal by the end of the year, the UK government has announced.
Possession of nitrous oxide, also known as NOS, will carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.
Laughing gas is one of the most commonly used recreational drugs by 16 to 24-year-olds.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Safer Recruitment Advice: Online Searches
According to legal firm, Farrer & Co, many organisations are using social media searches as part of their recruitment processes. While searches on social media may enable employers to act with due diligence to prevent risk, Farrer & Co advises that there are also legal risks connected to online searches.
This article looks at the legal risks of online searches regarding candidates—including discrimination, and breach of data protection and privacy—and provides tips to help reduce those risks.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
#WakeUpWednesday: What Parents & Carers Need to Know about The Dangers of Vaping
In the UK, the proportion of 11 to 18-year-olds who vape doubled between 2020 and 2022. That figure has continued to rise – a worrying trend that’s not exactly been countered by frequent portrayals of vaping as cool and fashionable on social media platforms.
Many young vapers simply aren’t aware of the habit’s potential pitfalls – but with risks including unregulated products, toxic ingredients and future nicotine addiction, there’s plenty for trusted adults to help children understand. This week's #WakeUpWednesday guide brings you the essential info.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
How we’re safeguarding students and learners from radicalisation
The Education Hub is a site for parents, pupils, education professionals and the media that captures all you need to know about the education system. You’ll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Domestic abuse between older couples: key tips at a glance
Community Care Inform understands practitioners are busy so we have produced a series of infographics to help you access learning in bite-sized chunks. This one provides guidance on domestic abuse and older couples.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Looked after children
The ADR UK Research Fellowship project have published a study on looked after children and rates of youth justice caution or conviction in England. The study used Ministry of Justice & Department for Education data from 2.3 million children born in England between 1996 and 1999. Results found: children who have lived in care were eight times more likely to have received a youth justice caution or conviction; 33% of care-experienced children received a youth justice caution or conviction, compared with 4% of those without care experience; and this figure was higher for some care-experienced minority ethnic groups including Black Caribbean (39%) and Gypsy/Roma (50%).
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 40 mins)
Poster - Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 Key Points
It is important to remind people of the key points set out in the statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education. You can download this poster by following the link below:
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 10 mins)
Sharing Information - Information Commissioner's Office
The world of child protection is a complex one. There exists a multitude of rules and conventions that governs every action. Consequences of incorrectly executing a decision with good intentions, can be unforeseen and drastic. Yet this legally enforced network of regulation is in place to provide the maximum level of safeguarding competence possible. For seasoned professionals and newcomers alike, the system can seem difficult to navigate. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published guidance to how to share safeguarding information correctly. The page aims to provide a concise guide on how to do this safely and securely. If interested, please follow the link below:
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Health & Safety
HSE inspectors to assess the management of asbestos in schools (KENT)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will be carrying out a programme of inspections to primary and secondary schools in England, Scotland, and Wales from October 2023 onwards.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
Warning over 'grossly inadequate' mental health support for schools that could make high absence levels 'the new norm'.
Latest figures show that in 2021/2022 more than 1.7 million children were persistently absent, meaning they missed 10% or more of school.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
Wider Curriculum
The Big Ambition - Have your say!
Hi, my name is Rachel and I’m the Children’s Commissioner for England.
I have launched this survey, The Big Ambition, to hear from all children and young people in England aged between 6 and 18 years old. Adults can answer on behalf of a child or young person aged up to 18.
I will use this survey to take children and young people’s views to the Government.
(Completing this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
School absences: The school picking kids up from home to boost attendance
The number of children missing school in England is a crisis that needs to be tackled with bigger, bolder national measures, MPs say.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
Double discrimination – Barnardo’s calls for change as report highlights young Black people who have been in care experience racism, exclusion and isolation
A new report by children’s charity Barnardo’s has highlighted the discrimination faced by many young Black people who have been in the care system, the negative impact this has on their lives and is calling for urgent change.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
AI-generated naked child images shock Spanish town of Almendralejo
A sleepy town in southern Spain is in shock after it emerged that AI-generated naked images of young local girls had been circulating on social media without their knowledge.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
Teaching Remembrance
We support the teaching of Remembrance across the UK and have designed a range of free teaching resources for use by schools and families.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 15 mins)
School absences: The school picking kids up from home to boost attendance
The number of children missing school in England is a crisis that needs to be tackled with bigger, bolder national measures, MPs say.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
‘Depraved’ care worker who raped dementia patients and made them eat soil is jailed
Care worker Teo-Valentin Todorovits sentenced to 24 years in prison over rape and sexual abuse of elderly patients
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 15 mins)
Cafcass starts prioritising London private law cases to ‘maintain safe workloads for social workers’
Decision to delay allocating 'less urgent' private law cases to family court advisers in capital follows 27% rise in application numbers year on year
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
Deprivation of liberty: ‘We’re managing risk – not helping these children recover’
Children on deprivation of liberty orders are being failed because services are not intervening sufficiently early to tackle the root causes of their distress, says social worker and research lead Beverley Barnett-Jones.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
£4m to help councils prepare for CQC adults’ services checks
Each authority will receive £27,000 one-off payment to help prepare for their first assessment by inspectors under system due to start later this year.
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 20 mins)
