Agenda item

Report of Safeguarding Lead, Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The Board considered a report of the Safeguarding Lead, Guildhall School of Music and Drama detailing the institution’s updated Safeguarding Policy.

The Chairman referred to the WRAP (Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent) session that had been attended by some Governors earlier today. He urged as many Governors as possible to attend future WRAP training sessions that were to be organised by the School’s Safeguarding Lead. It was also hoped that this training could be offered to all Common Councilmen in the near future. The Safeguarding Lead confirmed that WRAP training for both staff and Governors was a priority for her in this academic year. A Governor suggested that, as a starting point the WRAP summary handout circulated at this morning’s training session should be emailed to all Governors.

The Safeguarding Lead reported that the amendments made were intended to make the Policy document more user friendly. The main amendment throughout the document was the inclusion of reference to the Prevent Duty. The amended Policy now also included revised information on the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) checks for staff residing abroad stipulating that they would need to undergo checks both in their home country as well as in the UK. Governors were also informed that a section regarding arrangements for external hire of premises was now included in the revised Policy document.

The Principal informed the Board that the School were due to undergo a City of London Safeguarding inspection on 6 October 2016. He highlighted that some Governors might be requiring to meet with the panel as part of this review. With this forthcoming inspection in mind, it was suggested that approval of the updated Safeguarding Policy be delegated to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

Governors wished to place on record their thanks to the Safeguarding Lead for all of her hard work in this area.

RESOLVED – As a consequence of the meeting being inquorate, Governors suggested that the revised Safeguarding Policy be approved under Urgency by the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board.