Designing child-friendly safeguarding measures at school

There has been a growing recognition that inappropriately designed programs and poor operational management at school can create the possibility of risks to children. Safeguarding measures at school must be designed to minimize the risk of harm to children.

A child-safe school must ensure that it takes account of the environment, local context, and impact (intended or unintended) on the children and communities it is engaged with. It has to therefore determine the context in which it is operating and adopt child-friendly approaches that include adapting policies and procedures for children, so they become aware of the school safety strategies.

Often adults fear that children cannot handle information about abuse and feel uncomfortable communicating abuse and safeguarding with children. This talk will provide an overview of what you need to do to develop or strengthen child-friendly reporting and responding mechanisms at school.