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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. 
 

Order free period products for your school

The government's scheme (launched on 20 January 2020) makes free period products available for pupils in all state-funded schools and 16-19 education organisations in England. The scheme, now extended until July 2022, aims to break down the stigma around menstruation and ensure a young person's education is not disrupted by their period.

Following the initial announcement early in 2019, NAHT urged the government to extend the scheme to primary schools, and we are pleased that the government listened to us and other organisations, with the scheme now available to all phases.

The government has released data showing how this scheme was utilised by schools in 2021. The data shows that:

  • 94% of secondary schools and 61% of primary schools made an order using the scheme. In 2020, this was 76% secondary schools and 41% of primary schools.
  • 48% of all products ordered were eco-friendly/reusable, an increase from 30% in 2020.


Schools and colleges should have received an activation email in January 2020, enabling them to order a variety of products, including eco-friendly options, from PHS Group via its online portal MyPHS. If you activated your account in 2020 or 2021, you can continue to use these details to order products in 2022. If you did not, PHS will send a new activation email in January 2022.

The government has produced guidance on the following:

  • which pupils are eligible
  • choosing and ordering period products
  • distributing products within institutions
  • tackling the stigma around periods. 


You can continue to order products as before. You will receive a new spend cap announced in January 2022 which you can use to order products from 4 January up to and including 8 July 2022. Information on how the spend cap is calculated is available here.

You will be able to select from a wide range of period products, varying in type, size and brand. 

You may want to speak to learners about the types of products to keep in stock, and you must provide learners with safety information for each product in an accessible format before they use the product.

Further information is available in the 'your responsibilities' section of the guidance. 

First published 25 January 2021
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