Agenda item

Joint report of the Town Clerk and the Headmaster of the City of London School (copy attached).

The Board considered a joint report of the Town Clerk, the Headmaster of the City of London School and the Headmistress of the City of London School for Girls relative to the School’s Child Protection Policy.

The Town Clerk reported that the Board of Governors of the City of London School for Girls had approved the amended policy at their meeting last week. The Chairman highlighted that the policy was reviewed by the Board annually.

The Second Master reported that he had recently suggested several amendments to the printed and circulated policy which the Town Clerk went on to highlight. The Town Clerk stated that the Policy had now been updated to include 2013 guidance from the Department for Education. He highlighted that the policy made clear that criminal records checks, now carried out by the DBS, were also carried out for all contracted staff in accordance with the views of this Board when the policy was last reviewed.

The Board were informed that the Town Clerk had recently commissioned a review of safeguarding arrangements at the City schools by a consultant called Keith Fossey. The Town Clerk reported that, in accordance with Mr Fossey’s recommendations, the name of the Deputy Child Protection Liaison Officer would also now be included at the end of the document for both the City of London School and the City of London School for Girls. It was also highlighted that Mr Fossey had recommended that each City school should have its own Child Protection Policy. However, the City Corporation had expressed a preference to retain a ‘core policy’ for the City of London School and the City of London School for Girls with each School then able to produce additional annexes to this to reflect their particular needs/practices.

The Town Clerk went on to report that relevant training on ‘safeguarding’ was currently being progressed with the City’s Community & Children’s Services Committee.

A Governor questioned the advice on the School’s proprietor within the policy and stated that she had been led to believe by the DfE that this was the Chairman of the Board of Governors. The Town Clerk stated that he had previously sought advice on this matter and had been assured that the City of London was the proprietor but that he would be happy to follow up on this once more.

With regard to the necessary checks required for sub-contractors, a Governor warned that sub-contractors could often engage additional staff at relatively short notice in order to meet deadlines. She therefore suggested that the School should look to address this point in their contracts to overcome this potential ‘loophole’.

A Governor questioned the use of the phrase ‘reasonable force’ under the heading ‘Physical Intervention’ and suggested that this could be open to interpretation. The Town Clerk reported that examples of what constituted ‘reasonable force’ were provided within the Department for Education’s guidance.

RESOLVED -  That, the Board delegate authority to the Chairman to sign off the final version of the Child Protection Policy subject to the inclusion of the additional amendments made by the Second Master as Child Protection Liaison Officer.