- NEW - Safeguarding Week Multi-Agency Training Offer
- WSCP Practitioner Essentials - Your Essential Introduction to Safeguarding in Wakefield
- Reminder: Children's Social Care Contact Details
- Phone, Float & Throw Water Safety Campaign
- One Child a Day Falls From a Window or Balcony
- Every Sleep a Safer Sleep - Feedback & Training Opportunities
- Welcome to the NEW WSCP Training Brochure
- NEW - Build Our Futures Summit - 9th May
- #LookCloser Programme of Learning Events - May - September 2026
- WSCP Website Updates
- Spotlight On...Relationship Based Safeguarding Practice
- Education Updates
- Resources for Starting Reception
- Screen Time Guidance for Under 5's
- Growing Up in the Online World: A National Consultation
- The Children's Society - Prevention Officer Vacancy
- Worried About the News - Simple Ways to Support Children
- When A Child Dies: A Guide for Parents & Carers - New Translations Available
- The Lullaby Trust Updates
- Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse Resources
- Child Safety Week 2026 - FREE Resources
- NSPCC Updates
- What Would You Like to Hear About?
- Useful Links
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1. NEW - Safeguarding Week Multi-Agency Training Offer
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Wakefield will be hosting a Learning Exchange webinar on Modern Slavery & Child Trafficking: Vulnerabilities & Windows of Opportunities on Wednesday 24th June at 9.30 -12pm.
A multi‑agency virtual learning session exploring how modern slavery affects children and young people, with a focus on vulnerabilities, risk indicators and early intervention.
Police and Youth Justice colleagues will share learning from recent case studies, including responses to CCE, CSE, county lines and cuckooing, and the Youth Justice approach to working with exploited children.
The session will also highlight emerging exploitation trends, SEND and neurodiversity‑related vulnerabilities, and practical safeguarding tools such as information sharing, professional curiosity and PiP.
Our colleagues across West Yorkshire are opening their safeguarding training up to all practitioners who work in or around the Wakefield, Leeds, Kirklees, Bradford and Calderdale areas. See here for more details on what is on offer and how to book
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2. WSCP Practitioner Essentials - Your Essential Introduction to Safeguarding in Wakefield
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Whether you’re brand new to the Wakefield workforce or stepping into a role that supports children and families or aren’t sure how the Wakefield Safeguarding Children’s Partnership can support you our new Practitioner Essentials is your go‑to guide for understanding how safeguarding works across our partnership.This toolkit has been created to boost awareness of the Wakefield Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) and to strengthen multi‑agency engagement across all our partner organisations. We know multi-agency work is essential in our practice of safeguarding children and yet there are still practitioners who are unaware of the WSCP! Connecting to the WSCP will ensure you never miss crucial updates, resources and training designed to strengthen and inform your practice The resource has been designed for all practitioners, volunteers, or team members who work or volunteer with children and their families and wants a clear, accessible introduction to local safeguarding arrangements.Explore the Toolkit TodayHelp us strengthen safeguarding across Wakefield by making this resource part of every new starter’s journey. Visit the New Starter Information page on the Wakefield Safeguarding Knowledge Hub to get started. |
3. Reminder: Children's Social Care Contact Details
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Important Reminder for PractitionersThe WSCP Business Unit is separate from Children’s Social Care. We do not undertake direct work with children and families and do not have access to case records. Safeguarding concerns about a child should be directed to Children’s Social Care (Integrated Front Door):
Contact the WSCP Business Unit for matters such as policies, procedures, training, and development:
Please cascade this information across your networks.
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4. Phone, Float & Throw Water Safety Campaign
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If we see someone in trouble in the water, our instinct can often be to jump in to try and save them. But entering the water yourselves is dangerous and can put you at risk of drowning too. Instead, if you see someone in trouble, remember Phone Float Throw.
- Phone 999 to get help
- Tell the person in the water to stay calm and float on their back
- Throw rescue equipment to help them float until emergency services arrive
This message is important year-round, but especially now as warmer weather encourages more children and young people to play near open water. |
Calling all professionals: Please share this important message through your networks to help keep children and young people in our district safe in and around water.
Please click on the links below for additional water safety resources that can be shared with children and young people of all ages:
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5. One Child a Day Falls From a Window or Balcony
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As the weather starts to get warmer, it will be great to open windows and balcony doors and let the fresh air in. But toddlers and young children can and, too often, do fall out of windows or from balconies and suffer serious injuries.
In fact, one child under ten is admitted to hospital every day after falling from a building.
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6. Every Sleep a Safer Sleep - Feedback & Training Opportunities
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Keeping babies safe during sleep remains a shared priority across Wakefield, and we continue to deliver Every Sleep a Safer Sleep multi‑agency training to support practitioners to have effective, evidence‑based conversations with families.
If you have attended the Every Sleep a Safer Sleep training
We are currently undertaking a short impact evaluation to understand how the training is being used in practice. We’d really value your feedback on:
- How the training has supported your role.
- The impact on your confidence and practice.
- Use of the tools, messages and guidance with families
- Any gaps or further learning needs
This will help us demonstrate impact across the partnership and shape future training and resources.
Please complete the evaluation form here (approx. 5 minutes)
Responses will be considered in a themed and anonymised way.
If you have not yet attended the training
If you work with families where there is a baby aged 12 months or under, we strongly encourage you to book onto the free Every Sleep a Safer Sleep multi‑agency training.
The training provides:
- Up‑to‑date safer sleep guidance.
- Practical tools to support professional curiosity and risk‑informed conversations
- Opportunities to explore real‑life scenarios in a multi‑agency context
Training details and booking can be found here:
Thank you for your continued commitment to reducing the risk of unsafe sleep and protecting babies across Wakefield. |
7. Welcome to the NEW WSCP Training Brochure
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Take a look at all the latest training which features:
- SAFEGUARDING WEEK OFFER - Child Exploitation Learning Exchanges – bookings now open for the webinar on Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Vulnerabilities & Windows of Intervention.
- Working Together a Shared Responsibility
- Supporting & Safeguarding LGBTQIA+ Young People
- Relationship Matters: Reducing Parental Conflict Toolkit Training
- Perinatal Mental Health – and the impact on children
- Parental Mental Ill Health
- Ready to Relate / Infant Parents Relationship Cards Training Sessions
- Risk and Resilience Framework Training
- Access to recorded training sessions, podcasts, videos, one minute guides and more
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8. NEW - Build Our Futures Summit - 9th May
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The 2026 Build Our Futures Summit is taking place on Saturday 9 May, 12:00–16:00, at CAPA College, Mulberry Way, Wakefield WF1 2QN.
This event is open to young people aged 11–19 (up to 25 for those with SEND). The young people in attendance will be able to join in activities, workshops & performances shaping Wakefield’s future!
To find our more about this event, and to book a place please click on the link below:
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9. #LookCloser Programme of Learning Events - May - September 2026
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We are pleased to share details of the Children’s Society’s upcoming #LookCloser Programme of Learning events for April 2026 - September 2026.
#LookCloser is a campaign from The Children's Society, supported 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.
Click here to download a flyer detailing all the available sessions. You can book on to the sessions for free, by clicking on the session titles within the flyer. If you have any questions please contact Prevention@childrenssociety.org.uk |
The WSCP Business Unit have been busy updating the content on some of our published webpages. Please see the links below for the sections that have been updated this month:
Coming soon....updated substance use webpage - watch this space!
Please note: Following the recent update to the Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023) guidance, we are currently updating any documents and web pages that reference previous versions. Thank you for your patience while we make these changes. |
11. SPOTLIGHT ON...Relationship Based Safeguarding Practice
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Building Trusting Relationships and using skilled communication are fundamental to effective safeguarding practice. These are skills that sit with any level of experience, they are core practice requirements for anyone working with children, young people and families.
WSCP have developed two new webpages on the Wakefield SCP Hub to focus on Building Trusting Relationships and Motivational Interviewing, highlighting why relational, strengths‑based approaches underpin good assessment, purposeful intervention and sustained positive outcomes. They reinforce the expectation that all practitioners continue to develop, reflect on and refresh how they engage with families whether in their first weeks of practice or have many years of experience. The pages provide practical guidance, learning insights and clear reminders of what high‑quality safeguarding looks like in everyday interactions, making them a valuable resource for ongoing professional development as well as induction material for new starters.
Explore the resources:
Strong relationships and effective communication remain central to achieving meaningful change for families and they are skills that benefit from continual attention and reinforcement. |
NEW PANTS Resources
NSPCC Learning has published a new series of Talk PANTS videos. Talk PANTS is an NSPCC campaign to keep children safe from sexual abuse and includes a range of resources to help teachers, schools and early years settings deliver age-appropriate sessions with children. The new videos are funded by The Executive Office in Northern Ireland and include an introduction to what Talk PANTS is. They also feature videos for use with children aged between 3- to five-years-old, 5- to 7-years-old, and 7- to 11-years-old, as well as children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and additional support needs (ASN) aged 4- to 11-years-old to help them understand Talk PANTS. Access the resources: PANTS resources for schools and teachers |
Empowering Children through Transition Season with Lumi Nova
The transition to a new school or year group can bring worries for children. Whether it's nerves about making new friends, fears about "fitting in" or maybe a lack of confidence, it's important we understand and address the range of emotions children may experience and help them navigate this change smoothly.
Lumi Nova can be used flexibly at home or in school to support children to better understand and overcome their fears and worries.
Lumi Nova helps to tackle common worries associated with transition, such as:
- Being okay with making a mistake on school work or a test.
- Managing worries about going to school.
- Feeling comfortable speaking in front of a group
- Trying to make a new friend
What can you do in school?
- Transition Day Activity (Summer Term): Normalise feelings of worry and introduce Lumi Nova with their ready-to-use assembly or interactive workshop resources.
- Pre-Summer Reminder (Late Summer Term): The summer break is the perfect time to use Lumi Nova at home. Send out a final reminder & share a social media post.
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September Welcome (Autumn Term): Create a Lumi Nova display board to normalise feelings of worry and remind children Lumi Nova is available. Our assembly & workshop resources are also a fantastic way to kick off the new school year!
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NEW - Whole School Approach to Child Sexual Abuse
The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA Centre) have published a new, step-by-step guide for early years provisions, schools, colleges and other education settings to help improve their response to child sexual abuse. Education professionals are in a unique position to identify and respond to child sexual abuse, and evidence shows that when education settings are well equipped to respond, the effect can be transformative. To help them, the CSA Centre have developed a free, accessible Whole School Approach framework. It provides education settings with useful prompts and templates to assess their response to child sexual abuse, identify where policies, recording practices, information sharing, and culture are working well, and where gaps may exist. Read the framework in a new, mobile-friendly web format on the CSA Centre website, share with other education settings or colleagues you know, and start to transform your response to child sexual abuse today. Click here to read and share the new resource. |
Reminder: DSL Opinion Form
WSCP are interested in general themes, repeated issues or areas of good safeguarding practice which DSL's experience within Wakefield. This may then be raised at multi agency strategic level meetings. NB this is not the forum for individual case specifics - please raise these individual case details with the appropriate managers in accordance with the professional disagreement procedure. 2.7 Resolving Multi Agency Professional Disagreements and Escalation (proceduresonline.com) These opinion forms are your voice as education settings at the WSCP so if you have anything to share please do complete and submit these forms which are sent out 6 times a year.
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Reminder: DSL Forums & Network Meetings Open to All!
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13. Resources for Starting Reception
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As you may know, reception places across the district were announced recently. Please click here to download a starting reception booklet. This resource will help parents to understand what they can do at home with their children to help build their confidence and independence to help them feel emotionally and practically prepared to start school. Please share this with parents who have children starting reception this year. |
14. Screen Time Guidance for Under 5's
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New government guidance on screentime for under 5s has recently been published. This includes guidance on how much screentime children should have daily, suggests which content is best and explains how parents screen usage could affect their child. It also provides safe screen swaps which are small tips suggesting what screentime could be swapped for instead. If you are a practitioner who works with families who have children under 5 we encourage you all to be familiar with this guidance and to share it with parents. Please click on the button below to read the guidance. |
15. Growing Up in the Online World: A National Consultation
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The government are consulting on further measures to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change. This includes potential age restrictions on social media and other services such as gaming sites and AI chatbots, restrictions on addictive design features and risky functionalities, and better support for parents and families.
This consultation closes on 26 May 2026
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16. The Children's Society - Prevention Officer Vacancy
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The Children's Society has an exciting opportunity for someone to join their team as their new Prevention Officer for the Northwest, Yorkshire and Humber.
To find out more about this vacancy, including how to apply, please click on the link below:
Closing date:4 May 2026
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17. Worried About the News - Simple Ways to Support Children
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When big world events are in the news, children often notice more than we realise. They might overhear conversations, catch headlines, or see things online. It’s completely natural for them to feel confused, curious, or even worried. Because it’s not always easy to know what to say in those moments, the Place2Be organisation have pulled together a few practical resources to help you approach these conversations with confidence. Hopefully these resources will be helpful in supporting children through whatever questions or feelings they may be carrying.
- Coping with uncertainty - Read the personal reflection from the Place2Be Family Programme lead on how to support children when things feel unpredictable
- Calm: Soothing Worries - A creative wellbeing activity from Place2Be's Art Room to express worries and manage anxious thoughts.
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18. When A Child Dies: A Guide for Parents & Carers - New Translations Available
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The NHS England guidance booklet "When A Child Dies" has been put together by a group of bereaved parents, support organisations and professionals; it is for parents and carers of a child under 18 to help them understand some of the things that will now happen and the support that is available, following the death of their child. To download a copy in English please click here. The guidance is also now available in the following range of translations:
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19. The Lullaby Trust Updates
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Brand New Bereavement Support Services
The Lullaby Trust understand that supporting families through the sudden and unexpected loss of a baby or young child can be incredibly challenging. Their bereavement support services are available to professionals too. Sometimes, reaching out for support can feel overwhelming. To make this process a little easier the Lullaby Trust are pleased to introduce their new webchat and WhatsApp services available to you, and to families you might support.
These two new services provide a confidential messaging space where anyone affected by the sudden death of a baby or young child can connect with a member of their Bereavement Support Team.
These services are really helpful for when typing feels easier than talking. These services run Monday to Friday, 10:00am – 12:00pm, and are available to professionals too. Click here to learn more.
Baby Safety Spotlight - Baby Sleep Products
The Lullaby Trust receive many enquiries from both families and professionals about the safety of sleep products available on the market.
Unfortunately, clever marketing doesn’t make it easy for new parents who are choosing which sleep products to buy for their baby. Therefore they want to remind you that just because a product has made it to the shelves, doesn’t mean it’s suitable for sleep.
If families are asking you if a certain product is safe, remember that the safest place for a baby to sleep is in their own clear, flat, separate sleep space, such as a cot or Moses basket.
Consider:
- Is it firm? The baby’s head should not sink in by more than a few millimetres.
- Is it entirely flat with no raised or cushioned areas?
- Does it have a waterproof layer?
- Does it meet current British Safety Standards?
Some products available for babies to sleep in might not provide the safest position for their breathing (airway). We advise against letting babies sleep in anything that keeps them in a seated or inclined position as this can restrict their breathing. Click here to learn more. |
20. Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse Resources
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NEW: Hub of Helpful Resources for Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
The CSA Centre have launched a new hub of helpful resources for adult survivors of child sexual abuse, which brings together vetted and reliable resources in one freely accessible place. Their new hub of helpful resources acts as a directory to help users find a variety of externally hosted resources by trusted sources in a range of formats. This hub of helpful resources aims to make it easier for adult survivors to find information that meets their specific needs.
Self-help resources are not a substitute for specialist support, but they can help people to understand what they are going through, feel less alone, and build skills that support healing and recovery. Click here to visit the hub of helpful resources
To learn more and sign up to the latest CSA Centre webinars, training and workshops, visit the CSA Centre website. |
21. Child Safety Week 2026 - FREE Resources
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Child Safety Week 2026 - Making Prevention PossibleThis years Child Safety Week takes place from Monday 1st to Sunday 7th June. The theme for 2026 is making prevention possible, empowering families to make simple changes without feeling overwhelmed. Available Resources:
- Parent Pack - Get the latest version of CAPT's parent pack with top tips to share with your communities. Includes all of their fact sheets on the most serious accident risks.
- Display pack - Bring your Child Safety Week displays to life with CAPT's colourful posters. Includes their brand new Child Safety Week poster for 2026.
- Information Pack - Your guide to the theme, what’s available and why your involvement is so important.
- Logo - Add the We support Child Safety Week logo to your website and emails.
- Social media pack - Sharing CAPT's posts throughout the week is an easy win. If you want to get your social sorted in advance, this is the pack for you.
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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
Eight new case reviews have been added to the collection this month featuring issues including head injuries, substance misuse, serious youth violence, and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Please click here to read the reviews.
Childline Posters
NSPCC Learning has published a new series of Childline posters to encourage children to use Childline if they need support. There are posters for primary and secondary schools, available in English and Welsh. There are also new posters which highlight support available to young people, such as the Calm Zone and Report Remove service. The posters can be downloaded and shared digitally or printed for display.
Access the posters: Childline Posters
Multi-Agency Working
NSPCC Learning has published a CASPAR briefing summarising the changes to the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance for England, Working together to safeguard children 2026. Key additions to the guidance include: understanding and challenging racism and discrimination; recognising the specific needs and experiences of babies; understanding the impact of domestic abuse; awareness of children experiencing simultaneous harms or multiple harms; strengthened inclusion of children in care; and the link between online harm and harm experienced in person.
Read the briefing: Key changes introduced in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026
See also on NSPCC Learning: Multi-Agency Working
Safe Adults
NSPCC Learning has published the latest blog in its Why language matters series. The blog explores why children might struggle to understand and identify who the “trusted adults” in their life are; and why the term “safe adult” provides a clearer alternative.
Read the blog: Why language matters: why we talk about "safe" rather than "trusted" adults
Online Safety
NSPCC Learning has published a news story about the launch of Childline’s ‘Where We Stand’ videos. ‘Where We Stand’ is a four-part YouTube series showing how Childline can help young people navigate the online world. Influencers predict what teenagers really think about online life, covering issues such as AI, screen time and online safety. Professionals are encouraged to share the resources and start a conversation with young people about their views and experiences of online life.
Read the news story: Start a conversation about online life with new Childline videos
See also on NSPCC Learning: Protecting children from sexual abuse
Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy
NSPCC Learning has published a series of expert insight videos on domestic abuse in pregnancy. The four videos include practitioner insights on the risk of domestic abuse in pregnancy, the impact on unborn children and families, and how professionals can spot the signs and respond effectively.
Watch the videos: Domestic abuse in pregnancy: expert insight videos |
23. What Would You Like to Hear About?
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What areas regarding child safeguarding do you want to hear about? WSCP welcome your suggestions for content for the partnership e-bulletin. Therefore, if there are any items you would like to be featured in the next edition or to provide feedback which will help us improve the newsletter going forward please email wscp@wakefield.gov.ukThe e-bulletin is circulated on or around the last working day of each month, therefore any suggestions for content would need to be received at the latest the week prior to circulation. |
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