Wakefield Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) will be launching its Speak Up, Stand Up, Stop Exploitation addition to the Knowledge Hub. Featuring an array of resources, approaches, information, and guidance around the identification, prevention, assessment, and disruption of child exploitation, this will serve as a one-stop shop for everyone working or volunteering with children and their families.

Join us to delve deeper into the services that champion the well-being of children and families. Discover what they do and learn effective ways to stay connected with them. The event will feature valuable insights from prominent figures, including West Yorkshire Police, the Children Vulnerable to Exploitation (CVE) Service, Ivison Trust (formerly PACE), and more.

Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a community actively working towards creating a safer environment for our children. There are only a small number of spaces available so book now to secure your space at Child Exploitation Knowledge Hub - Launch Event - Wakefield Safeguarding Children (wakefieldscp.org.uk)

Back in November the WSCP Business Unit circulated a survey, seeking feedback on the partnerships safeguarding children e-bulletin. Thank you to all of you who completed this, the information you have provided has been very useful.

What's working?
We asked how useful you found the content of the e-bulletin and your responses are summarised in the pie chart below.

Therefore, its great to see that the majority of respondents (over 80%) continue to find the content of the e-bulletin either very useful or useful, and that whilst many readers don't look at all the articles in each edition, its good to see that you are finding things of interest that may help you in your practice. These findings are consistent with our survey results from 2022.

Your feedback and suggestions about how we can improve the e-bulletin
You said "the branding of the ebulletin is old fashioned and makes me want to delete it"

Our response: The branding of this e-bulletin is very important to us and is how you instantly recognise that it is from WSCP. A lot of different newsletters are circulated by different agencies, sometimes at the same time. We want our subscribers to know that this e-bulletin is from the WSCP and contains important/useful safeguarding information that they should be to be aware. We use the same style each month and predominately feature our logo at the top so you can easily identify who it is from.

You said: "It was previously easier to navigate when there were links to each item on the ebulletin"

Our response: In May 2023 we changed to a new platform to create our e-bulletin. This change was beneficial as the new platform had a lot of functionality we previously did not have. However, the downside is that the contents can no longer be hyperlinked to take you straight to the articles of your interest. We agree this was a useful feature but there is no workaround at present. We are monitoring this and if this feature does become available in the future (it may) we will communicate this to all subscribers. However, in the meantime we try to make our content lists as clear as possible so you can see what is featured in the latest edition.

You said: "Shorter, simpler and quicker to read"

Our response: All previous editions of the e-bulletin are published on the WSCP website and can be accessed 24 hours a day. Therefore, if you want to look back on something at a later date or find you don't have time to read it in full when it is circulated (we appreciate some editions are bigger than others) the archive is available to access whenever you have the time.

We welcome your suggestions for content for the partnership e-bulletin. Therefore, if there is something specific you would like to have included one month or have any suggestions for content that have a safeguarding children focus, please email wscp@wakefield.gov.uk. The e-bulletin is circulated on the last working day of each month, therefore any suggestions for content would need to be received at the latest the week before circulation.

If you know someone who is not yet signed up to the e-bulletin but would benefit from doing so, please ask them to visit the WSCP Website and complete the brief information requested. 

Our champions have been keeping Neglect on the agenda, making sure all their neglect resources are up to date and promoting the Multi Agency training.  

We have our second drop-in session on 20th February at 12 noon available to all champions and those who have attended any of the MA training sessions.  

This is a very informal hour where you will be able to meet other professionals from a variety of services to link in and share your knowledge or experience around neglect or to pick up some useful hints and tips from each other. Click here to receive your link. 
 
If you haven’t already done so, could you please fill in this short survey (approx. 3 minutes).  https://forms.office.com/r/C2mvRTMZby  feedback will immediately shape the training and resources, during 2024 for all practitioners who work with children and their families, and we have extended the deadline for completion to the 10th February. 

Team Around the School (TAS) Guidance for Parents and Carers
Wakefield Families Together have shared the revised version of the TAS Guidance document.  As you will see the main change is an updated Request for Early Help template which now captures more information to inform decisions in your TAS meeting.  This change will now enable more partner organisations to access the early help in partnership with Family & Youth Hubs alongside school colleagues working with their Early Intervention & Prevention Link Worker.

Find the new TAS Guidance on the Wakefield Traded Services website here.

For further information, visit the Wakefield Families Together website where you can view the Team around the School leaflets along with TAS and early help video clips to help you learn more about the support available from Family & Youth Hubs and from the early help partnership.

The revised TAEY Guidance is currently being reviewed and will be shared in the near future.  

The Department for Education (DfE) has launched a campaign to help improve school attendance in England. The campaign includes a communication toolkit to support schools in communicating with families.

Commencing in June, Sarah Henry Consultancy will be undertaking cohort 7 of their Senior Mental Health Lead training. This course is fully funded and quality assured by the Department for Education and is offered to schools and colleges in the Wakefield district. 

The course includes 3 full days of face-to-face training, and 6 peer support twilight sessions and personal coaching for one year. The training will be delivered in the stunning setting of the training suite in the grounds of Nostell Priory, Wakefield.  Lunch and refreshments are included on all days.   

Course places are £1,000, but funding can be applied for from the DfE. Places are limited to 12 schools per cohort.

For further information, including how to book a place, please click here

Multi-Agency Neglect: A Shared Responsibility Training
This course will explore how we identify neglect, what to consider, tools to use and how best to respond to Neglect through robust assessment and information sharing. This training encourages collaboration, professional curiosity, challenge and discussion. It is suitable for anyone who works or volunteers with children and their families.

*Please note: This is NOT Neglect Toolkit training.

Before attending this training, it may be useful to watch the new and updated recorded training, ‘How to’ guide for the WSCP Neglect Toolkit.

To access the Neglect Toolkit pages, please click here.

Available course dates & times: 
- Thursday 28th March, 9:30am - 12:00pm

This course is designed to increase the participants knowledge and understanding of Working Together to Safeguard Children and other key legislation, including the West Yorkshire inter-agency procedures and local guidance. It is delivered by the WSCP Business Unit. Please note: There is a pre-recorded video to watch prior to the training titled 'WSCP Safeguarding Children Basic Awareness'

For more information click here

- Wednesday 24th April 2024, 9.30am - 4.30pm
- Tuesday 14th May 2024, 9.30am - 4.30pm

This session aims to provide employers and mangers with an introduction to the systems and procedures that are in place for responding to allegations made against people who work with children. This course is delivered by the Wakefield Council Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and the WSCP Safeguarding Advisor for Education Vicki Maybin. If you are interested in this training please email wscpevents@wakefield.gov.uk

The Learning Academy, alongside Focus CAMHS, are proud to announce three multi-agency Sexual Behaviour courses for professionals in Wakefield. These courses are:

- Thursday 9th May 2024, 10:00am to 16:30pm

- Wednesday 10th July 2024, 09:30am to 12:30pm

- Friday 22nd March 2024

Available training on topics such as: Domestic Abuse Awareness, Coercive Control, Stalking, Harassment & Honour Based Violence, Sexual Abuse, FGM, Domestic Homicide, Male Victims of Domestic Abuse, Domestic Abuse Act, MARAC Awareness and CAPVA. 

For more information including dates and times, please click here

Ivison Trust (Formerley PACE) are holding a number of Parents Awareness sessions designed to help parents/carers:

- Learn how children are groomed online

- Develop their understanding of behaviours of exploited children

- Develop their understanding about what child exploitation is

- Understand the signs of child exploitation

Please click here to access a handy information leaflet outlining what will be learnt on these awareness sessions.

For more information about how to book a place please click here

- Wednesday 6th March 2024, 10:00am - 12:30pm (SEND)

CAMHS are delivering training on the following subjects, with dates available throughout the year:

- An Introduction to Child and Adolescent Mental Health

- Understanding and Working with Anxiety in Children and Young People

- An Introduction to Depression and Low Mood in Children and Young People

- Supporting Children and Young People who have experienced Bereavement or Loss

- The Impact of Sleep on Emotional Wellbeing

- An Introduction to Attachment in Children and Young People

- An introduction to Self Harm

- An Introduction to Suicide and Awareness and Prevention

These sessions will be hosted on Microsoft Teams. For further information including dates and times, and to download a booking form please click here

Relationships affect everyone; they are part of being human and are one of the hardest to navigate around as both a child and an adult.

This course is designed to increase the participants knowledge and understanding of what parental conflict is, how to recognise it as well as encouraging participants to develop a range of practical strategies in supporting families to address conflict with the help of Wakefield’s relationship toolkit.

Click here for more information including how to book a place.

Available course dates and times:
- Thursday 29th February, 13:30 – 15:30 – Platform 1, Hemsworth.
- Tuesday 26th March, 13:30 – 15:30 – Online via MS Teams
- Thursday 25th April, 09:30 – 11:30 – Platform 1, Hemsworth
- Tuesday 28th May, 13:30 – 15:30 – Online via Ms Teams
- Thursday 25th June, 09:30 – 11:30 – Crofton Youth Centre

Risk and Resilience Framework Training
The training is delivered by Wakefield Public Health and colleagues from across the Wakefield District.

The aim of the training session is to:

- Increase confidence in navigating the Risk and Resilience website

- Explore the support tools, interventions and resources on the website

- Understand how it can support your work

- Share best practice

Click here to find out more information.

Available course dates and times:
- Friday 16th February, 9:15am – 15:30pm
- Thursday 7th March, 9:15am – 12:30pm
- Tuesday 16th April, 13:00pm – 16:00pm

Ygam’s mission is to ensure that every young person is resilient to, and safeguarded against, gaming and gambling harms. They do this through awareness raising, education and research.

This training equips you with the knowledge and confidence to deliver the programme directly to young people. The workshops are 100% fully funded and on completion all trained staff will gain access to resources to use with the young people you support and City and Guilds certification.

The training is aimed at a range of youth-facing professionals, including teachers, youth workers, practitioners, universities, faith leaders and health professionals.

Please click here for more information

Available course dates and times:
These are virtual workshops with various dates available in February and March. Please click on the link above for more details.

Know what to do if someone is thinking about suicide by following the easy to remember TALK steps- Tell, Ask, Listen and Keep-safe.

Places are free for those that live, work or learn in the Wakefield District.

These practical steps offer immediate help to someone having thoughts of suicide and help you both move forward to connect with more specialised support.

- Identify people thinking of suicide.

- Overcome barriers in talking about suicide.

- Identify reasons we may miss, dismiss or avoid suicide.

- Practice using the 4-step model of suicide alertness.

- Connect people at risk of suicide with further appropriate help.

- Tuesday 6th February 2024, Pontefract 09:30am – 13:30pm

- Tuesday 5th March 2024, Castleford 09:30am – 13:30pm

Click here for more information.

For all our training and 'on demand' briefings visit our website

The Children's Society are pleased to share details of their upcoming #LookCloser Programme of Learning events for February and March 2024, all of which are free of charge. Please click here to take a look at the flyer with all the details.

Learning sessions taking place April onwards will be confirmed soon and you can expect to see topics such as Financial Exploitation, Anti-Racist Practice to Tackle Child Exploitation, Gendered Assumptions in Tackling Exploitation, plus many more. 

#LookCloser is a partnership campaign between The Children's Society, the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre and the British Transport Police aiming to raise awareness of child exploitation and abuse and to encourage the public and businesses to better identify and report concerns. The campaign also seeks to challenge assumptions and victim stereotypes, highlighting that child exploitation can happen anywhere, and any young person can be a victim.

They are also pleased to announce their next #LookCloser campaign week of action starts Monday 4th March 2024 where they will be spotlighting Financial Exploitation and what this means for young people. 

To publicly support the campaign, please visit the #Look Closer website where you can download posters, leaflets, videos and much more. To access these, you simply need to scroll to the bottom of the page and provide your Job Title, Organisation and Region. Once completed you will be provided with a link to access and download everything. 

If you do use any of these resources, please provide feedback on the numbers used and any engagement from the public. 

If you have any questions, please contact Prevention@childrenssociety.org.uk.

FREE - NWG Practice Forum re: Assessments 
On Thursday 29th February the NWG are hosting a Practice Learning Forum focusing on the assessment of risk and harm concerning child exploitation.

Nigel Jones (Warwickshire), Jayne Horan (Greater Manchester – Complex Safeguarding hub) and Lawrence Jordan (Marie Collins Foundation) will be presenting at the forum and will share their local/organisational developments. The NWG will then facilitate discussions to share practices to enhance current assessment responses to exploitation and focus on developing further support for the sector including young people’s online context.

Join the NWG for an insightful online event designed specifically for people working in the sports sector.

This event aims to shed light on the issue of exploitation in sports and provides valuable information for volunteers.

A basic safeguarding awareness may be useful before attending this course but it is not essential.

During the event, the various aspects of exploitation in sport will be explored, including the challenges faced by volunteers.

By participating in this event, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the signs of exploitation which could indicate that a child is being exploited and learn how to respond effectively.

To find out more and book a place click on the links below:

The Department for Education (DfE) have published a handy safeguarding guidance leaflet, poster and document aimed at providers who run out of school settings such as After School Clubs, Sport Clubs, Community Activities and Tuition. Please click on the links below to access and download this information:

Please click on the link below to access “Buddle”, a website which has a range of documents and information for sports providers and clubs around safeguarding and safe practice. This website covers everything from the legislation and guidance that governs the policies you need to have in place, to how you determine which DBS check you need and how you can self-declare to make recruitment simpler.

Water safety is an important message all year round. Cold water can be a killer and it is important to raise awareness of water safety from a young age. That's why water safety education is really important to Yorkshire Water, who manage a lot of the open water sites, such as reservoirs, across the Wakefield district.

To help ensure children understand the dangers posed by swimming in open water Yorkshire Water are running a number of live events specifically tailored for primary and secondary school students. Their water safety live events offer an introduction to staying safe, both in and around water and in the wider landscape. 

The remaining live events for the 2023/24 term are: 

Drowning Prevention Week - 18th - 25th June 2024
Drowning Prevention Week (DPW) aims to equip everybody across the UK and Ireland with the skills and knowledge, to make the right decisions about water safety. 

To support this week long event run by The Royal Life Saving Society, Yorkshire Water are holding a series of water safety live events on Tuesday 18 June and Thursday 20 June 2024.

Yorkshire Water are offering sessions specifically tailored to different age groups, from Early Years to KS4, which will be delivered via Microsoft Teams Live by their Education Advisers. The session for KS3 & 4 will be delivered in partnership with the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the RNLI.

Aligning to Swim England’s water safety messaging, Yorkshire Water will explain how students can help keep themselves and their friends safe, endorse messaging about where to find safe places to swim, and explain in detail why there are hidden dangers in open water areas such as rivers, reservoirs, canals and seas, and that algae in the water can cause rashes and stomach upsets.

Messaging will be provided on the potential increased risk of being near water with their peers (for older students including elements of peer pressure, risk taking, alcohol & drugs) and they'll discuss how to look after their friends and help ensure that they stay safe.

They will explain how students should react in an emergency situation, who to contact and that they should not enter the water.  They’ll receive a reminder about ‘Float to Live’ messaging in case they ever get into difficulty. 

Not a school but need to access water safety resources specifically designed for children? Why not check out the water safety webpage on the WSCP website. Here you will find a whole host of information and resources about water safety which is consistent with national water safety messaging, and is suitable for children of different ages.

Parents Against Child Exploitation (PACE) have recently changed their name and are now known as the Ivison Trust. Please see the flyer below for details of who they are and the services they offer to children and families.

Place2Be are running their annual Children's Mental Health week from 5th - 11th February. Children's Mental Health Week is a mental health awareness week that empowers, equips and gives a voice to all children and young people in the UK. 

Everyone can take part in Children’s Mental Health Week! Visit the Place2be's website and download their free resources for schools and families and find out how you can take part to raise vital funds and awareness for children’s mental health.

Children's Mental Health Week was launched in 2015 and each year, hundreds of schools, children, parents and carers take part. Now in its 10th year, this year's theme is ‘My Voice Matters’.

Safer Internet Day 2024 will take place on the 6th of February 2024, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Inspiring change, making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.

Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. Each year an online issue or theme is covered that speaks to the things young people are seeing and experiencing online. Created in consultation with young people across the UK, this year's Safer Internet Day will be focusing on change online, this includes covering:

The UK Safer Internet Centre has created short films on online safety ahead of Safer Internet Day. The films are aimed at 3 to 18 year olds (key stages 1 - 5) and have been designed for professionals to use when running Safer Internet Day activities with children and young people. Click here to watch the films. 

The UK Safer Internet Centre has created a new advice page to support parents and carers ahead of Safer Internet Day. It addresses online safety concerns around: online games; new devices; and the content children engage with online. The page is designed to be shared by schools and other organisations, please click here to access it.

If you haven't yet  registered for Safer Internet Day, you can sign up for free with your school or organisation and tell the UK Safer Internet Centre how you’ll be celebrating on the day. You’ll just need to include your name, a sentence about your plans for the day, and logo. You will then receive a certificate to showcase your support in your school or setting. Click here to register your support.

A lot of the time New Year's resolutions can be too ambitious. And, when you're a busy parent they can be impossible to keep. However, The Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) are advising parents/carers of three super-simple New Year's resolutions that are easy to adopt and could save a child's life. These are:

The NSPCC have recently released the following updates which may be of interest to professionals working with children and families, and to share with parents/carers where applicable.

Case Reviews
Six new case reviews have been added to the collection this month featuring issues including non-accidental injuries, criminal exploitation, child neglect and domestic abuse. Click here to read the reviews.

Safeguarding Children Statutory Guidance
The Department for Education (DfE) has published updated ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance on multi-agency working to help keep children safe in England. The guidance applies to all organisations and agencies with functions relating to children and all education providers and childcare settings. A CASPAR briefing summarising changes to the guidance has been published on NSPCC Learning.

Read the guidance: Working together to safeguard children
Read the CASPAR briefing: Working together to safeguard children 2023: summary of changes

Child Mental Health
The Coram Group have produced a toolkit to help primary schools support children’s mental wellbeing. The toolkit contains resources and activities which aim to help children: connect with others; be active; take notice (mindfulness); learn and create; and give to others.

Access the toolkit: Coram launches free wellbeing toolkit for primary school children 

Why Language Matters
Explore why using the term "non-accidental head injury" instead of "shaken baby syndrome" can be useful for professionals and agencies. Click here to read the blog on this subject.

Parental Substance Use
NSPCC Learning has published a new learning from case review briefing on parental substance use. The briefing looks at case reviews published between 2022 and 2023 involving parental substance use problems. Key learning points include: professionals need to conduct child-centred assessments and continue to reassess the potential risks that children face in households experiencing problems with substance use.

Read the briefing: Parents with substance use problems: learning from case reviews

Online Safety
NSPCC Learning has published a new page bringing together online safety information for people working or volunteering with children. New and updated content includes: preventing online harm and abuse; responding to online abuse; and social media, online communities and safeguarding.

Visit the page: Online safety
See also on NSPCC Learning: Online safety resources for schools and organisations

Our Year is a year-long project which will bring events and activities to every resident in the Wakefield District.

It's time for 366 days of activities for everyone across the Wakefield District. Our Year will encourage more people to visit, putting Wakefield on the map. For residents it is a chance to explore all the amazing things happening on their own doorstep.

Click here to find out more about the full "Our Year" Programme.

Watch the short video below featuring Royal Navy Petty Officer and Wakefield-born poet Ben Taylor with an exclusive poem catching the spirt of the Wakefield District. Written under his pen name Yorkshire Prose, Ben performed the piece live for the first time in Wakefield Cathedral. 

The Youth Commission enables young people to inform and support, the work of the Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) for West Yorkshire. The Youth Commission will explore urgent issues affecting young people in West Yorkshire, such as the root causes of violence, exploitation and knife crime etc.  

They are looking for  a diverse group of young people from different backgrounds and life experiences to take part, including those who have direct experience of the issues or are part of traditionally underrepresented groups. Please see the flyer below for details.

This is a brilliant opportunity for young people to gain new knowledge, skills and experiences that focuses on listening to the views of young people in West Yorkshire. Members of the Youth Commission will play an important role in helping to run consultation events and gather the opinions of other young people. They will work directly with the Deputy Mayor for Crime and Policing and the director of the Violence Reduction Partnership. 

To find out more visit the West Yorkshire Youth Commission website, where you can also download consent and application forms as well as application guidance.

 Application deadline: Thursday 29th February 2024

Rates of respiratory infections, such as colds, flu, and COVID, are usually higher in the winter months. Like other parts of the country, the district’s health and care services remain under significant pressure. To help support NHS services and ensure you get the right care, if needed, please consider the range of support that is available by visiting the Together We Can website, where you can check out self care tips and local services information.

The NHS are reminding us that colds, flu and COVID can often be treated at home, with some self-care like rest and sleep, keeping warm, drinking plenty of fluids and taking paracetamol appropriately. You can find advice on keeping healthy this winter here.