The Chesil Education Partnership
Author: Vicky Prior, Chair
The Challenge
The Chesil Education Partnership is a partnership of 21 schools and a Further Education College in Weymouth and Portland.
The Partnership comprises fourteen primary and three secondary schools; one 13–19 school; two special schools, a pupil referral unit and Weymouth College. The Partnership was formed in 2004 with a vision to create a positive and genuine culture of cooperation amongst the educational establishments to ensure the highest educational outcomes for all children and young people in the area.
The partnership works together to enhance learning opportunities, develop staff, raise standards and, through the establishment of innovative and cost-effective provision, enhance achievement.
One of the key challenges facing the Partnership was ensuring effective safeguarding across all of the schools in the Borough of Weymouth and Portland, not least achieving a smooth transition of pupils between establishments and working with other organisations supporting pupils and families.
The Solution - MyConcern
In early 2015 we introduced MyConcern across every establishment within the Partnership to bring continuity and to support the robust reporting and management of safeguarding concerns.
This standardisation ensures a higher level of consistency across our schools and for multi-agency initiatives, improving communication between staff within schools and between organisations, thus improving safeguarding outcomes for the children and young people involved.
The electronic transfer of safeguarding records between establishments has made us more effective in ensuring continuity of support and we now have a much more efficient records transfer process.
Implementing MyConcern
Links between MyConcern and the management information systems of each school were created prior to implementation, ensuring that the roll out went very smoothly.
The training that our Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) received from the highly experienced MyConcern trainers was particularly effective in achieving a smooth changeover from previous paper-based recording systems. In addition to the DSL training all staff were provided with a briefing on the introduction of the system and how to record a concern.
Desktop links were provided to all staff enabling them to access MyConcern quickly and easily to report their concerns. The immediate notifications that DSLs receive as soon as a concern is reported or updated concerns has greatly enhanced their ability to respond to concerns, while at the same time delivering a very significant reduction in unnecessary bureaucracy and the costly manual processing of paper records.
The Outcomes
MyConcern provides trends and pattern data for analysis through an extensive report system in order to predict and prevent concerns from escalating or even arising in the first place, both at school and Borough levels.
- Greater visibility of safeguarding concerns.
- Enhanced staff confidence in reporting concerns.
- Reductions in both risk and cost.
- Improved information sharing between schools and with other agencies.
- Increased collaboration between DSLs, especially in respect of siblings and transition.
- More effective multi-agency responses to concerns.
- Accurate, timely and comprehensive record-keeping.
- Support for Ofsted inspections of safeguarding.
- Automated transfer of safeguarding records on transition significantly cuts bureaucracy
and ensures continuity of support for learners.
Solutions
Our suite of safeguarding solutions to support MATs is ever growing, so we can help with your safeguarding processes in a number of ways. From MyConcern, which offers a secure management of all categories of safeguarding, child protection and pastoral concerns, to Clarity, our game-changing high-level reporting system for senior leaders, which provides anonymised data across multiple establishments using MyConcern to track issues and trends. This makes your safeguarding information a major strategic asset. Explore our products below:
For Concerns about Children and Young Adults
Easy-to-use, centralised, secure record-keeping and case management for all types of safeguarding concerns
Find out moreFor Safer Recruitment
A safer recruitment and personnel vetting tool that acts as your Single Central Record. Designed to guide you through the recruitment process and to ensure that no check is missed
Find out moreFor Multi-establishment Reporting
A powerful reporting tool designed exclusively for multi-establishment safeguarding. Paired with MyConcern and Confide to provide high-level, anonymised reporting across groups of establishments
Find out moreFor Allegations Against Staff
One of the most sensitive issues facing any leader is how to handle serious allegations about their staff. Confide is the answer
Find out moreWe Are Safeguardians
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