ÌÇÐÄVlog

Safeguarding is a cornerstone of a successful school. Ensuring children are safe, secure and protected while inside school is the foundation to both student and whole school success. 

Getting this foundational element right can support student confidence and wellbeing, ultimately leading to better outcomes. 

Naturally, this places huge responsibility and ownership on the shoulders of school leaders, teachers and all staff. It is vital for international school staff to have a solid understanding of good safeguarding practices, procedures and policies. 

It’s also necessary to have a firm understanding of key safeguarding terminology. In this blog, we look at the definitions of safeguarding and child protection, individually as well as the difference between the two. 

What is safeguarding?   

Safeguarding is the steps that people take to protect children and vulnerable people from harm. 

In schools, this is typically led by a safeguarding lead, but safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility – and therefore every member of staff should know what they need to do to keep children safe.

Every child has a right to equal protection from harm. Good practice ensures that every student is kept safe, regardless of their age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. 

Safeguarding includes protecting young people from physical or emotional harm, such as parents responding to their child using inappropriate language or inflicting sexual harm, abuse or neglect. 

Neglect is most often thought of as a child being hungry, unwashed or wearing the same clothes for multiple days. However, affluent neglect is also a common problem for international schools.

What is child protection?   

Child protection is similar to safeguarding – however, it refers more to the actions we take to protect children who have already experienced abuse or harm. 

In schools, this means providing all the necessary structures to enable any child in need of protection to come to school confidently and feel safe and secure. 

Children in these situations may need more support and monitoring to check if the measures in place are working, or if more actions are required. 

Even if measures currently in place appear to be working, a child protection plan should be prepared in case further actions need to be taken. These plans may be created in coordination with external agencies depending on local laws, the severity of the child protection issue and the risk of harm to the child. 

What is the difference between safeguarding and child protection?

Safeguarding refers to the actions we take to prevent harm to children and young people and to promote overall wellbeing. Child protection focuses on protecting the individuals identified (often via the same processes) to be suffering from harm - or those who are assessed to be likely to suffer significant harm. 

Although the terms are sometimes used synonymously, safeguarding is a larger, more holistic process that aims to prevent harm and identify issues early, so intervention happens before more serious concerns develop. 

Concerns could include mental health, bullying or other pastoral issues, as well as child abuse or neglect. Some describe safeguarding as a set of preventative measures, whereas child protection is the way in which we respond to harm and is less proactive in nature. 

How can ÌÇÐÄVlog help with safeguarding and child protection efforts?   

It's every staff member’s responsibility to ensure children are safe and protected from harm. 

Therefore, it’s vital to ensure that all staff are aware of your school’s safeguarding policy and best practice – and feel confidently able to keep students safe. 

We support this with more than 40 expert-designed online safeguarding training courses tailored for international schools. All courses are available online and cover safeguarding, health and safety, and wellbeing.

Both safeguarding and child protection demand rigorous and detailed policies and processes. 

Properly and thoroughly managing cases within the school is vital, and our award-winning reporting and monitoring tool MyConcern supports you in this. MyConcern provides: 

• Central and secure record-keeping of reported concerns  

• Comprehensive trust-wide reporting and analysis tools   

• Discrete reporting routes for students 

• Quick risk identification that enables early intervention and drives positive outcomes 

Simplify safeguarding processes with MyConcern 

MyConcern streamlines safeguarding management and record-keeping with a complete suite of safeguarding tools. Created by child protection experts, the platform gives you a complete view of student safety at a school and school group level, so you can always see the bigger picture. 

Our free guide explores how MyConcern can help you keep students safe and ensure compliance while making safeguarding more streamlined than ever. 

Download the guide