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Safeguarding and support for pupils

 
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NAHT members are at the forefront of safeguarding children. School leaders are committed to keeping children safe, so they can learn well. NAHT believes that all pupils should receive the support they need to maintain their well-being and achieve their potential, both within school and from wider services including health and social care.

NAHT is campaigning to:

Enable schools to play their part in supporting pupils' well-being

  • Lobby for pupils and schools to get the support they need from wider services including health, social care, police and youth services
  • Influence the implementation of the proposals from the mental health green paper, including the senior lead for mental health and mental health support teams
  • Support schools to access relevant, high-quality training and resources to enable pupils to exercise their right to support for their mental well-being.

 

Support schools to safeguard and protect pupils

  • Engage with the DfE over proposed changes to the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead
  • Influence changes to Keeping Children Safe In Education, Working Together and Sexual Violence and harassment guidance
  • Campaign to improve online safety for children and young people
  • Press the government to ensure home educated children are adequately safeguarded
  • Promote guidance and resources to support schools to protect children at risk of harm including involvement with violence and other crime.

 

Enable schools to support vulnerable groups of pupils

  • Campaign to ensure pupils with SEND can receive the support they need from schools and wider services
  • Press for improved alternative provision and collaborative approaches across communities to support pupils excluded from school
  • Provide information to schools to help them to support disadvantaged children
  • Enable schools to make informed decisions regarding parental requests to home educate
  • Ensure reforms to behaviour guidance and networks is evidence-based and appropriate for all schools and a diverse pupil population. 
 

Research report from Just Like Us on the impact of school, home and coronavirus on LGBT+ young people

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Just Like Us has published a re​se​arch report, Growing Up LGBT+, into the impact of school, home and coronavirus on LGBT+ young people. The research shows that LGBT+ young people today are still disproportionately facing bullying, lack of safety in school, more frequent tension at home and alarmingly poor mental health and well-being.

Key findings:

  • 25% of LGBT+ young people are facing daily tension at home, compared to 15% of non-LGBT+ young people
  • 68% of LGBT+ young people say their mental health has 'got worse' since the pandemic, compared to 49% of their non-LGBT+ peers
  • LGBT+ young people are three times more likely to self harm and twice as likely to have depression, anxiety and panic attacks, as well as to be lonely and worry about their mental health on a daily basis
  • 84% of young people are pro-trans but are less likely to think their school's staff are (76% think so)
  • 43% of staff are unsure if colleagues would be comfortable coming out as LGBT+ at their school or college
  • Only 33% of LGBT+ pupils say there is a clear process for reporting anti- LGBT+ bullying in their school
  • LGBT+ pupils feel far less safe at school. Only 58% of LGBT+ pupils have felt safe at school on a daily basis in the past 12 months, compared to 73% of non-LGBT+ pupils
  • LGBT+ young people are twice as likely to have been bullied in the past year (43% compared to 21% of their non-LGBT+ peers.) 18% of LGBT+ young people haven't told anyone they've been bullies and just 21% told a teacher at school
  • 48% of pupils have had little to zero positive messaging about being LGBT+ at school in the last 12 months
  • 31% of LGBT+ primary, secondary and college staff say their colleagues and school board are a barrier to doing LGBT+ inclusion work with pupils.


Read the full report here.

 

 

First published 25 June 2021
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