-
Academy schools
-
Schools established under section 1 of the Academies Act
2010. These are state-funded schools which are governed by a
contract signed between the school and the Department for
Education. Supervision and oversight of such schools lies
directly with the Department for Education, and they are
regulated against the Independent School Standards.
-
Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings
-
Guidance issued by the Ministry of Justice on interviewing
vulnerable witnesses and victims and on using special
measures in criminal court proceedings. Children are
automatically entitled to provide evidence by way of a
video-recorded interview with a trained police officer, as
are complainants in allegations of sexual offences.
-
Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) interview
-
Video-recorded interviews with witnesses or complainants are
often referred to as ABE interviews.
-
Additional learning needs (ALN)
-
A person has additional learning needs if he or she has a
learning difficulty or disability which calls for additional
learning provision (section 2 of the Additional Learning
Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018).
-
Advocacy services
-
The provision of representation or advice to assist people
to make their wishes and feelings known. Frequently
appointed or available when young or vulnerable people
interact with statutory agencies involved in their care or
the courts.
-
Allegation management strategy discussion (AMSD), also known
as strategy meeting
-
A meeting organised by the local authority designated
officer (LADO) with relevant persons (such as the designated
safeguarding lead (DSL) or the police) to discuss and share
information relevant to an allegation made to the LADO and
to plan any investigations which are necessary.
-
Approved school
-
A residential institution for young people either convicted
of criminal offences or deemed beyond parental control,
known for strict discipline and corporal punishment.
Approved schools operated in the UK between 1933 and 1969,
and then became Community Homes with Education, under the
Children and Young Persons Act 1969.
-
'Association' independent schools
-
Schools which are a member of an association that is
affiliated to the Independent Schools Council (the Girls'
Schools Association, Headmasters' and Headmistresses'
Conference, Independent Association of Prep Schools,
Independent Schools Association, and the Society of Heads).
Association schools are inspected by the Independent Schools
Inspectorate rather than Ofsted.
-
Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools
(AGBIS)
-
Membership body affiliated to the Independent Schools
Council, which supports and provides advice to governing
bodies in the independent sector on all aspects of school
governance.
-
Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
-
A professional association and trade union for school,
college and academy trust leaders.
-
Autistic spectrum disorder (medical name)
Autistic spectrum condition (alternative name
often used by local authorities or schools)
Autism (in common usage)
-
A diverse group of conditions, characterised by some
degree of difficulty with social communication and
interaction with other people, atypical patterns of
activities and behaviours, including repetitive
behaviours, problems transitioning from one activity to
another, a focus on details, and unusual reactions to
sensations.
The broad range of the autistic spectrum means that each
person's needs can vary and evolve over time. The level
of intellectual functioning varies widely.
-
Barred list
-
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) maintains the
Children's Barred List and the Vulnerable Adults' Barred
List which are records of people prohibited from working
with children or from working with vulnerable adults.
-
Boarding school
-
A school which provides overnight accommodation for its
pupils.
-
Boarding Schools' Association (BSA)
-
Membership organisation representing boarding schools.
Provides training and advice to schools in the independent
and state sector in the UK and other countries.
-
Buggery
-
Prior to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which created the
offence of anal rape, offences of anal penetration were
referred to and charged as the offence of buggery.
-
Child
-
A person under the age of 18.
-
Child protection (see also 'Safeguarding')
-
Activity to protect a child or children who are
identified as suffering, having suffered or likely to
suffer significant harm.
Often used by practitioners interchangeably with
safeguarding, child protection refers to activity in
relation to a specific child who has been identified as
being at risk, whereas safeguarding is used to refer to
measures to keep all children safe.
-
Child sexual abuse
-
Sexual abuse of children involves forcing or enticing a
child or young person to take part in sexual activity. The
activity may involve physical contact or may be non-contact,
including via the internet, such as involving children in
looking at or in the production of sexual images and
watching sexual activity, or encouraging children to engage
in sexual activity with other children. Child sexual abuse
includes child sexual exploitation.
-
Child sexual exploitation
-
A form of child sexual abuse. It involves exploitative
situations, contexts and relationships where a child
receives something as a result of them engaging in sexual
acts. It can occur through the use of technology without the
child's immediate recognition; for example, being persuaded
to post sexual images on the internet/mobile phones without
immediate payment or gain.
-
Civil claim
-
A legal claim by an individual or group of individuals for
damages for the abuse they have suffered, undertaken through
the civil rather than the criminal justice system.
-
Common inspection framework
(CIF)
-
Document issued by Ofsted from 2015 to 2019 to provide
details as to how it will inspect schools and other
educational settings. Now replaced by the
Education inspection framework
(EIF).
-
Compliance notice
-
- (1) Notice issued by regional schools commissioners or the
local authority to indicate that the school is failing in a
significant way; also called a statutory warning notice.
- (2) Notice issued by the Department for Education if it
considers that steps need to be taken for the school to improve (also called a statutory
notice).
- (3) Notice issued by the Charity Commission where it
considers that steps need to be taken for trustees to improve the charity.
-
Conditional discharge
-
A disposal available to a criminal court upon conviction of
a defendant. A conditional discharge means that the offender
is discharged from the court with no sentence imposed for
the offence unless they commit a further offence within a
time decided by the court (no more than three years).
-
Criminal justice system
-
The system which investigates, prosecutes, tries and
sentences individuals who are suspected of committing a
criminal offence. This also encompasses institutions
responsible for imprisonment, probation and sentences served
in the community.
-
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
-
Independent agency headed by the Director of Public
Prosecutions that is responsible for prosecuting criminal
cases that have been investigated by the police.
-
Dark web
-
Part of the world wide web that is only accessible by means
of specialist software and cannot be accessed through
well-known search engines.
-
Department for Education (DfE)
-
The Department for Education is a ministerial department of
the government, supported by 17 agencies and public bodies.
It is responsible for children's services and education in
England.
-
Designated safeguarding lead (DSL)
-
Each school in England should appoint a senior member of
staff as DSL, with lead responsibility for safeguarding and
child protection at the school, including the provision of
advice to other staff, supporting staff and attending
meetings with statutory agencies. The role is set out in
full at Annex C of
Keeping Children Safe in Education.
-
Designated safeguarding person (DSP) (Wales)
-
In Wales, the senior member of staff from the leadership
team of the school with lead responsibility for safeguarding
and child protection at the school. Full details and
responsibilities are set out in
Keeping Learners Safe.
-
Disability
-
A physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and
long-term negative effect on a person's ability to undertake
normal daily activities.
-
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
-
An executive non-departmental public body that processes and
issues criminal records checks for England, Wales, the
Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It also maintains the
adults' and children's barred lists and makes decisions as
to whether an individual should be included on one or both
of these lists. It replaced the Criminal Records Bureau (for
disclosure of criminal records) and the Independent
Safeguarding Authority (which previously operated the barred
lists).
-
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks (formerly CRB
checks)
-
A check carried out by the Disclosure and Barring Service of
an individual's criminal record, which may also include
police information. An employer must obtain a DBS check
before engaging a person to work with children, as part of
safer recruitment procedures.
-
Education, health and care plan (EHC plan)
-
A plan for children and young people aged up to 25 who need
more support than is available through special educational
needs support.
EHC plans identify educational, health and
social needs and set out the additional support to meet
those needs. With some minor exceptions, only children with
EHC plans can attend a special school.
-
Education Workforce Council (EWC)
-
Independent regulator in Wales for the education workforce,
covering teachers, learning support staff in schools and
further education, qualified youth workers and work-based
learning practitioners. Came into being in April 2015.
-
Educational guardian
-
A person appointed by a parent/carer, who lives outside the
UK, to look after a child being educated in the UK. This
includes the provision of support, guidance and
accommodation to the young person if required.
-
Ex gratia payment
-
A payment for damages, made voluntarily but without any
admission of liability or guilt.
-
Extradition
-
Extradition is the formal process for requesting the
surrender of a person from one country to another for the
following purposes: to be prosecuted; to be sentenced for an
offence for which the person has already been convicted; or
to carry out a sentence that has already been imposed.
-
First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and
Disability)
-
Specialist tribunal established to hear appeals by
parents/carers against decisions of local authorities
regarding a child's special educational needs. Also hears
cases of disability discrimination by schools under the
Equality Act 2010.
-
Flexi-boarding
-
- (1) The offer of accommodation
on fewer than four nights a week at a school.
- (2) In some schools, where
students stay after the end of the school day, eat dinner
and do their homework with others, and can stay until
bedtime.
-
General Teaching Council for England (GTCE)
-
Between 2000 and 2012, the regulatory body for registered
teachers which maintained the register of teachers with
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), heard professional
misconduct allegations regarding teachers with QTS, and gave
advice to government on a wide range of policy issues
affecting the teaching profession.
-
General Teaching Council of Wales (GTCW)
-
In Wales, the body which between 2004 and 2015 operated the
register of teachers and regulated their professional
conduct, as well as gave advice to the Welsh Government.
Replaced by the Education Workforce Council.
-
Governing body
-
A group of individuals appointed to provide oversight of a
maintained school. There can also be governing bodies of
academies and independent schools but this is not a
mandatory requirement. Governing bodies of schools have
strategic responsibility for safeguarding and child
protection.
-
Governors
-
Members of a governing body. Their appointment depends upon
the Instruments of Government upon which the school was
founded.
-
Grooming
-
Building a relationship with a child in order to gain their
trust for the purposes of sexual abuse or exploitation. The
process by which a perpetrator communicates with a child
with the intention of committing sexual abuse or
exploitation, and by which the perpetrator seeks to minimise
the likelihood of disclosure by the child. Includes
manipulating or enticing a child to engage in sexual
activity, or normalising sexual behaviour between adults and
children.
-
Gross misconduct
-
Misconduct by an employee which is so serious as to legally
permit dismissal by the employer.
-
Harmful sexual behaviour
-
Sexual abuse between children, whether children of different
ages or children of a similar age. It may also be referred
to as sexually harmful behaviour or sexualised behaviour.
-
Home schooling
-
The education of school-aged children at home or places
other than school.
-
Independent school
-
A school which can charge fees for students to attend. All
such schools have to be registered with the Department for
Education. Sometimes known as private schools.
-
Independent Schools Council (ISC)
-
Membership organisation representing the views of
'Association' independent schools (see above), providing
guidance and training to them.
-
Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI)
-
An independent, government-approved body which provides
objective inspections to safeguard the quality and
effectiveness of education, care and welfare of children in
independent schools in England which are members of the
Associations of the Independent Schools Council.
-
Independent School Standards (ISS)
-
Set of mandatory requirements in respect of education,
welfare and pastoral care as well as accommodation and
facilities, against which independent schools in England and
Wales are inspected and which they have to follow. Set out
in The Independent School Standards (Wales) Regulations 2003
and, in England, The Education (Independent Schools
Standards) Regulations 2014.
-
Interagency reporting
-
Sharing of information between different statutory bodies
with responsibilities for child protection/safeguarding, eg
the police, health service, social services.
-
Keeping Children Safe in Education
(KCSIE)
-
Statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education
for all schools and colleges in England concerning the
management of child protection and safeguarding issues. All
schools and colleges must have regard to it when carrying
out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of
children. Latest version issued September 2021.
-
Keeping Learners Safe
(KLS)
-
Statutory guidance issued by the Welsh Government which must
be read and followed by local authorities and all schools
and colleges, and is recommended as relevant for other youth
and children's services or education-related provision.
Latest version issued April 2021.
-
List 99
-
List maintained by the Department for Education from the
1920s to 2009 of those unsuitable to work with children.
Replaced by the Protection of Children Act (PoCA) list and
subsequently by the Children's Barred List, now operated by
the Disclosure and Barring Service.
-
Local authority designated officer (LADO)
-
Officer working within the children's services department of
a local authority designated to receive allegations that an
adult working with children may have abused or may pose a
risk to a child. The LADO is responsible, under statute, for
investigating such complaints.
-
Local safeguarding children board (LSCB)
-
The Children Act 2004 required each local authority to have
a local safeguarding children board as the key statutory
mechanism for agreeing how the relevant agencies in each
local area will cooperate to safeguard and promote the
welfare of children in that locality, and for ensuring the
effectiveness of what they do. Replaced in England in 2019
by local safeguarding partnerships. LSCBs still operate in
Wales.
-
Low-level concern
-
A concern about an adult working with children which is
below the threshold for referral to the local authority
designated officer (LADO). Since the revision of
Keeping Children Safe in Education
in September 2021, low-level concerns about staff have to be
recorded by schools.
-
Mainstream school
-
Any school that is not a special school, ie that does not
cater exclusively for children with special educational
needs.
-
Maintained schools
-
Schools operated and funded by a local authority.
-
Multi-agency working
-
Commonly used in public services to mean working across
public bodies, eg the police, education and social services.
Local safeguarding children boards (LCSBs) are an example.
-
Multi-agency strategy meeting
-
Formal meeting called by social services where there is
reasonable cause to suspect that a child/young person may be
suffering or have suffered significant harm. It will involve
social services, the police and other bodies. Sometimes
called a s47 meeting. There may be a single meeting or a
series of meetings to reach an outcome in a case.
-
Music and Dance Scheme (MDS)
-
A scheme operated by the Department for Education which
provides means-tested bursaries to fund children to attend
the specialist dance or music schools in England.
-
National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)
-
Union and professional association representing those in
leadership positions in sectors from early years to further
education colleges and pupil referral units and other
educational settings.
-
National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women
Teachers (NASUWT)
-
Union representing teachers in all sectors from early years
to further education. Second largest education union in the
UK.
-
National Association of Special Schools (NASS)
-
A membership organisation for non-maintained and independent
special schools in the independent, voluntary and private
sectors in the United Kingdom.
-
National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL)
-
Executive agency of the Department for Education operating
in England between 2013 and 2018, which:
- (a) provided the
award of qualified teacher status;
- (b) oversaw teaching
induction; and
- (c) dealt with cases of professional
misconduct and could issue prohibition orders.
-
National Education Union (NEU)
-
Trade union operating across the United Kingdom for
teachers, further education lecturers, support staff and
teaching assistants.
-
National Governance Association
-
A membership organisation for governors, trustees and clerks
of state-funded schools in England. Provides advice,
guidance and support.
-
National LADO Network
-
Membership association formed in 2016 to support local
authority designated officers (LADOs) in developing robust
systems for managing allegations against people who work
with children and young people, to operate as a forum for
discussion of the LADO role and service, and to share
information and practice.
-
National minimum standards (NMS)
-
Standards issued by the Department for Education (England)
and Welsh Assembly (Wales) against which boarding provision
is inspected. There are separate NMS for mainstream boarding
schools and for residential special schools.
-
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
(NSPCC)
-
A charity campaigning and working in child protection in the
United Kingdom and the Channel Islands.
-
Neutral notification
-
A system of reporting and recording low-level concerns about
staff and students (ie those which would not warrant a
referral to a local authority designated officer and/or
dismissal/serious disciplinary action) but which cause
concern or anxiety.
-
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and
Skills (Ofsted)
-
A non-ministerial department that inspects and regulates
services that care for children and young people, and
services providing education and skills.
-
Operation Hydrant
-
A hub established by the National Police Chiefs' Council in
2014 to provide national coordination, oversight and
guidance to police forces on allegations of non-recent child
sexual abuse concerning persons of public prominence, or
which took place within institutional settings.
-
Operation Kiso
-
Police investigation by Greater Manchester Police begun in
2014 into allegations of sexual abuse connected to Chetham's
School of Music and/or the Royal Northern College of Music.
-
Order of the British Empire (OBE)
-
A British order of chivalry given by the monarch to people
who demonstrate prominent achievements in service to their
country or community.
-
Personal and social education (PSE)
-
A compulsory component of the state school curriculum in
Wales for those aged between 5 and 16. Includes sex and
relationships education.
-
Personal, social and health education (PSHE)
-
A compulsory component of the school curriculum in England.
It includes relationships and sex education (RSE).
-
Private school
-
See 'independent school'.
-
Profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD)
-
Severe learning disabilities and other disabilities that
significantly affect a person's ability to communicate and
be independent. May include severe sensory and mobility
impairments.
-
Progress monitoring inspection (PMI)
-
Inspection by an inspectorate to monitor action against a
plan after a school has been issued with a notice requiring
them to comply with certain actions.
-
Prohibition orders
-
An order imposed by the Teaching Regulation Agency (in
England) or the Education Workforce Council (in Wales)
prohibiting an individual from undertaking teaching work in
schools/colleges in the United Kingdom.
-
Proprietors
-
People who own independent schools. These can be
individuals, trusts or companies.
-
Quality standards
-
Set of mandatory requirements issued by the Department for
Education against which children's homes are inspected,
which relate to the accommodation, health, safety and
welfare of children in those settings.
-
Residential school
-
A school that provides overnight accommodation for pupils,
as well as education.
-
Relationships and sex education (RSE)
-
In England, it became a mandatory obligation to teach
relationships and sex education in all schools from
September 2020. Relationships education must be taught from
5 to 16. Sex education is compulsory from 11 to 16, but can
be taught in primary settings. Statutory guidance sets out
the core content to be taught at each age. In Wales, it will
become mandatory from 2022.
-
Relationships, sex and health education (RSHE)
-
In England, it is a mandatory obligation to teach
relationships, sex and health education (see RSE). Health
education must be taught in all state-funded schools from
September 2020.
-
Risk of sexual harm order
-
A civil order which could be imposed by the court on a
person who was thought to pose a risk of sexual harm to a
child under the age of 16. In 2014, risk of sexual harm
orders were replaced by
- (a) sexual harm prevention orders (SHPOs) and
- (b) sexual risk orders (SROs).
-
Safeguarding (see also 'Child protection')
-
Protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment
of children's health or development; ensuring that children
have safe and effective care; and taking action to enable
all children to have the best life chances.
-
Safeguarding policy (see also 'Safeguarding')
-
Guidance, rules and procedures put in place by an
organisation in order to safeguard children.
-
Secretary of State for Education
-
Minister responsible for the work of the Department for
Education, including: early years, children's social care,
teacher recruitment and retention, the school curriculum,
school improvement, academies and free schools, further
education, apprenticeships and skills, higher education, and
oversight of the departmental coronavirus (COVID-19)
response.
-
Serious incident reports
-
If there has been a serious incident in a charity it must be
reported to the Charity Commission. A serious incident is an
adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in
or risks significant harm to the charity's beneficiaries,
staff, volunteers or others who come into contact with the
charity through its work; loss of the charity's money or
assets; damage to the charity's property; or harm to the
charity's work or reputation.
-
Single central record (SCR)
-
Register which should be maintained by every school that
sets out the recruitment checks undertaken prior to
permitting a person to start work and when such checks need
to be updated.
-
Social care common inspection framework
(SCCIF)
-
Guidance issued by Ofsted as to how it inspects children's
homes. Published 2017 and updated in 2021.
-
Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties
-
A type of special educational need where children and young
people have severe difficulties in managing their emotions
and behaviour.
-
Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
-
Learning difficulties or a disability that affect a child's
ability to learn.
-
Special school
-
A state-funded or independent school specially organised to
make provision for pupils with special educational needs. It
may be maintained by a local authority or academy, or be a
non-maintained special school.
-
State-funded schools
-
Schools that are paid for by national taxes and provide free
education to children between the ages of 3 and 18.
-
Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)
-
Executive agency of the Department for Education which
regulates the teaching profession and maintains a record of
those with qualified teacher status (QTS).
-
Whistleblower
-
A person, usually a worker, who exposes information or
activity within a private, public or government organisation
which is illegal, endangers someone's health and safety,
damages the environment, is an abuse of power, or involves
covering up wrongdoing in any of these categories.
-
Working Together to Safeguard Children
-
Statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education
(and prior to that the Department of Health) since 1991
which provides advice on child protection practices and
processes for those working with children across all
sectors.