Child Safeguarding
The Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools 2017 (the procedures) which issued under Circular 0081/2017 apply to all recognised schools. They give direction and guidance to school authorities and to school personnel in relation to meeting their statutory obligations under the Children First Act, 2015 and in the implementation of the best practice (non-statutory) guidance set out in Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2017 (Children First National Guidance 2017).
The procedures include:
• The reporting procedures to be followed by registered teachers in respect of their role as mandated persons, including a requirement to liaise with the Designated Liaison Person (DLP) and, where applicable, to submit mandated reports jointly with the DLP to Tusla.
• Guidance and direction for boards of management in relation to meeting their statutory obligations in relation to Child Safeguarding Statements. In that regard, the procedures require that all boards of management use certain mandatory templates published by the Department of Education and Skills when preparing, publishing and reviewing their Child Safeguarding Statement.
• Oversight requirements which are aimed at ensuring full compliance by schools with the Children First Act, 2015 Children First National Guidance 2017 and with the Department’s requirements as set out in the procedures for schools.
It is the responsibility of the board of management to ensure that the procedures are implemented in full and to quality assure their effectiveness on a regular basis. In that regard, good governance requires that the board of management can and does satisfy itself that the school has robust procedures in place to enable it to deal fully and properly with all child protection matters in the school in accordance with The Children First Act, 2015 the Children First National Guidance 2017 and with the Department’s requirements as set out in the procedures for schools.
The procedures contain certain oversight requirements aimed at ensuring that the board of management meets its responsibilities in this regard. All boards of management must comply in full with these oversight requirements which are set out in detail in chapter 9 of the procedures. They include oversight by the Board of the school’s child safeguarding requirements and oversight of the reporting of child protection concerns. For the purposes of oversight of the reporting of concerns, the procedures require certain information to be provided to and reviewed by the board of management as part of the principal’s Child Protection Oversight Report that must be provided to the Board at every Board meeting.
Boards of Management are required to undertake an annual review of the Child Safeguarding Statement and issue the notification confirming completion of that review to the Patron and Parents' Association in accordance with the procedures set out in chapter 8 of the Child Protection Procedures.
The Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools 2017 and the associated mandatory templates and other supporting documents (additional optional templates and guidance documents) are available on the Department’s website at www.education.ie. Schools must ensure they use the most up-to-date version of the templates as published on the Departments website www.education.ie