Disclosure Barring Applications

Quality Assurance – Safeguarding – The Golden Thread

At St. Michael’s we take notice of and adhere to all the national and local policies and guidance in regard to Safeguarding Children and Young People.

The Governors and staff of St. Michael’s CE School fully recognise the responsibilities and duty placed upon them to have arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of all pupils at the school. We recognise that all staff, including volunteers, have a full and active part to play in protecting pupils from harm. We believe that our school should provide a safe, caring, positive, and stimulating environment in which pupils can learn and which promotes the social, physical and emotional wellbeing of each individual pupil.

At St. Michael’s we take the safety and security of our school community very seriously. We do not allow any individual into school to help unless they have been through the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) clearance.

We warmly welcome parents and carers to come in and help in school and at school events so long as the clearance is in place. We have a set of clear procedures in place and these outline the stages to take when applying for a DBS clearance.

Safeguarding is a central and well-embedded part of our school ethos and culture and is viewed as the ‘golden thread’ that runs throughout our school. The Governors and staff of St. Michael’s CE School fully recognise the responsibilities and duty placed upon them to have arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of all pupils at the school and always have the best interests of the pupils at the heart of what they do.

Quality Assurance – Single Central Record (SCR)

Schools and colleges have a statutory duty to maintain a single central record in line with statutory guidance and associated legislation. The single central record must cover the following people:

• All staff (including supply staff) who work at the school: in colleges, this means those providing education to children;

• All others who work in regular contact with children in the school, including volunteers.

• We also have 'Letters of Assurances' in place for the external letting organisations who run regular onsite clubs activities at the school. These are attached to the SCR documentation.

Generally, the information to be recorded on these individuals is whether or not the following checks have been carried out or certificates obtained, the date on which the checks were completed and who completed the check:

• an identity check;

• a barred list check;

• an enhanced DBS check;

• a prohibition from teaching check;

• further checks on people living or working outside the UK;

• a check of professional qualifications; and

• a check to establish the person’s right to work in the United Kingdom.

Quality assurance is an important part of our robust self-reviewing and self-evaluating procedures that we have in place. We firmly believe that regular checks and monitoring result in our school compliance to the DBS procedures.

• St. Michael’s CE School: Disclosure Barring Service Policy

1st of the Month Checks

There are monitoring procedures in place known as the '1st of the Month' checks. This involves:

• Reviewing the SCR and checking the updates that have taken place;

• Ensuring that the external providers are compliant;

• Removing those who no longer are associated with the school;

• Ensuring that the documentation is in place, up to date and compliant.

Local Authority Compliance Check

Our SCR was audited by a representative from the Local Authority on 21st October 2021 and was deemed compliant. A further review was carried out on May 5th by the Senior HR Officer. Once again all was deemed compliant.

Referral to the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS)

The school and Board of Governors is fully compliant with the recommendations as outlined in the document 'Inspecting Safeguarding in Early Years, Education and Skills: (August 2021)' and recognise that they have a legal obligation to have procedures in place to make a referral to the DBS "if a person in a regulated activity has been dismissed or removed due to safeguarding concerns or would have been removed had they not resigned." The school is fully compliant and would seek advice from LADO before proceeding.

Information link on what should be disclosed

• Overview on what should be disclosed on a DBS

Wandsworth LADO Contact

• LADO: Local Authority Designated Officer