AQW 9027/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 15/03/2024
Answered On Date: 27/03/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education how his Department can best promote contextual safeguarding amongst those working with children and young people.

Answer:

My Department publishes statutory guidance, Safeguarding and Child Protection in Schools – A Guide for Schools, to promote the best practices in safeguarding and child protection for those who work with children and young people in educational settings. Contextual safeguarding is compatible with the guidance, which highlights the many potential extra-familial harms that some our children and young people may experience, including exploitation, grooming and online harms. The guidance requires that Boards of Governors develop their school’s safeguarding and child protection policies to meet the specific needs of their pupils.

The safeguarding guidance is reviewed and updated annually working with key partners to reflect emerging issues and best practice in addressing these in the guidance.