All schools, whether independent or state-funded, are regularly required to undergo rigorous inspections to maintain the best possible standards for their students. As part of these inspections, regulatory bodies including Ofsted, Estyn, Education Scotland and the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), will often assess how well a school carries out its safeguarding practices to ensure they are effective and meet the required standards.
A key part of these inspections includes looking at a setting’s records, procedures and policies relating to safeguarding as well as exclusions, sexual harassment, bullying and referrals to local authorities. Schools are only provided with very short notice to prepare and share this information in a clear and organised way, often meaning school leaders have as little as one day to gather the required records. Following reports that thousands of schools are missing out on top results upon reinspection, it is vital that settings proactively invest in tools and software which can significantly enhance their readiness for inspections at a moment’s notice.
No matter which inspectorate your setting falls under, here are five reasons why you should invest in safeguarding software like CPOMS to help you prepare for your next inspection:
1 – Instant access to powerful, customisable reports
Schools not only need to have information readily available to pass inspections, but this needs to be easily accessible and ready for interrogation by inspectors. Reporting with CPOMS allows you to analyse your data with just a few clicks. Unlike many report builders, the system is intuitive and doesn’t require any training, meaning that any data that needs to be accessed by the likes of Ofsted, Estyn or ISI inspectors either on the day of, or before an inspection, can be done instantly.
Every education setting and school has unique needs. With CPOMS Safeguarding software you can decide which specific categories of information you would like to monitor and tailor them to meet your school’s exact requirements. CPOMS also enables you to customise reports so that they can be created easily and accurately before being shared easily with different stakeholders including inspectorates.
The CPOMS system is well-suited to maintaining organised and meticulous records of safeguarding concerns or challenges across settings, helping you to present evidence to inspectors that will demonstrate that effective safeguarding policies are in place.
2 – Build and visualise clear chronologies
Ofsted states in their inspection framework that the consideration and evaluation of schools’ abilities to protect children from harm forms a significant part of the assessment. This involves considering to what extent schools have created an environment where bullying, discrimination, harassment and violence are not accepted, and that incidents are dealt with quickly and effectively when they do occur.
CPOMS allows you to quickly, easily and securely record all of the information you require to maintain safeguarding processes for every child in your school, all in one place. This means that chronologies for each child and their circumstances can be built automatically, demonstrating a full timeline of concerns, incidents and appropriate interventions as and when they are needed.
3 – Collaborate seamlessly across settings and agencies
As well as ensuring that information can be logged clearly, with CPOMS Engage education settings can automatically and securely share essential safeguarding records with local authorities, social services and other agencies responsible for the protection of children, and vice versa. The simplicity and speed at which safeguarding information can be shared with schools and local authorities securely through the system helps to ensure a timely, collaborative approach to pupil’s safety and wellbeing.
With CPOMS software you don’t have to reformat files and make countless phone calls between agencies, which can be time consuming. Instead, the seamless, secure sharing of data between agencies means that more time can be spent on providing pupils with the support they need.
4 – Ensure sensitive information is securely controlled
Using intelligent, role-based access, CPOMS Safeguarding allows you to securely manage who has access to what information and when. Visibility of sensitive information can easily be configured into appropriate levels of access to reflect the needs of your setting, so that only those who need to access relevant information can.
This means that when a member of staff reports a concern for example, senior leaders can then receive relevant and detailed information appropriately. With CPOMS software, it becomes a simple matter to demonstrate to inspectors that the right people, at the right time, are made aware of a given situation that requires their attention.
5 – Store and demonstrate security check records
Maintaining accurate and readily accessible records regarding the security checks of all staff working within education environments is an essential part of many school inspections. In relation to safeguarding and security checks, Ofsted’s School Inspection Handbook states: “We expect schools to maintain, as they are required to by ’Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges’, a single central record of the safeguarding checks they carry out. The statutory guidance also requires trusts to record this information in a way that allows for details of each individual academy to be provided separately and without delay, even if it is held centrally.”
With CPOMS StaffSafe, maintaining and updating all important records regarding staff members, including security checks such as DBS certificates, is made easy. Using the intuitive System Builder, you can upload your current SCR (Single Central Record) spreadsheet into the system, set parameters of your choice and easily demonstrate whole school, group and individual compliance to inspectors as and when required.
Summary
Safeguarding is an important aspect of every inspection, which is why it’s vital that schools take proactive measures to ensure the safety and well-being of their students.
Software from CPOMS can help to ease the stress of the inspection process as it provides the tools required to clearly record, track and analyse the information which will typically be requested during an inspection. By implementing safeguarding software into your school, you not only enhance your readiness for inspections but also create safer, more secure learning environments for pupils.
To find out more about how CPOMS can help you to prepare for an upcoming inspection, speak to a member of our team today.
