How do Ofsted inspectors safeguard schools?

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00:00Hello, my name is Amber Allitt, and I'm a journalist specializing in education.

00:05Ofsted inspectors look at a range of different things when they're evaluating a school,

00:09but perhaps one of the most important is safeguarding.

00:12Now this may sound like a pretty tricky thing to inspect, especially if the school hasn't

00:16had any actual issues come up.

00:19Here are three of the things that inspectors actually do to check for strong safeguarding

00:23policies to protect vulnerable young people.

00:27First is the school's single central record.

00:30This is a very important document that contains all of the pre-employment checks that have

00:34been done on school staff to make sure that they can work with children.

00:38Ofsted says that unfortunately some predatory people do try to join the staff of schools,

00:43and this is one of the mechanisms that helps to stop them.

00:47Inspectors will also meet with the school's designated safeguarding lead.

00:51They'll talk about any incidents that have come up, how the school handled them, and

00:55what the outcome was, to make sure that proper procedures are being followed.

01:00They'll also check how staff are being trained to recognize signs of neglect or abuse so

01:04that kids can get the help that they need as soon as possible.

01:08Finally, inspectors will actually speak to some pupils.

01:12They will ask if they feel that there are people at the school that they can talk to

01:15if they're worried about something, who that they believe will help them.

01:19Ofsted says this is done in an age-appropriate way, and they are careful not to jump to any

01:24conclusions based on what they've been told.