Rationale
When a child has experienced bullying, prejudice or racism by their peers it can mean that they no longer identify their school as a safe place, and this can cause anxiety around attending and partaking in school activities.
An assailant of an incident may also experience the same feelings, as many children find being challenged around an incident quite traumatic.
A Safety plan is a good way to structure the discussion with the child and their parent(s)/guardian(s) to understand key areas within the school day and school times that cause the most anxiety. This can help the child to feel heard, as well as understanding how these concerns can be mitigated through planning and support.
It can also help parent(s)/guardian(s) who feel anxious about their child attending the school to feel that an incident is being taken seriously and that there is a good relational approach to support their child.
Additional things to consider
- Would the child benefit from having a buddy for a few weeks in school, or do they need some mentoring or counselling to move forward from their experience?
- It is important to identify key adults throughout this plan, being mindful to outline a contingency plan if those key adults are absent or are part-time.
- All worries of the child should be heard, and a strategy should be put in place to mitigate their worries. Ignoring their concerns will only escalate their feelings of being anxious and isolated.
- We feel is important that the child also takes some responsibility for managing their own feelings and with this we have incorporated an area of what they can do to help themselves to feel safer.
- We’ve also included activities outside of school time as we know that incidents outside of school can lead to anxiety within school.
- Please ensure any incident of bullying prejudice or racism (BPRI) is reported to the local authority and you can access guidance and support via the BPRI resource.
- It may be necessary if the child hasn’t been in attendance for a while to have an adjusted timetable, having a timetable that is planned around the key areas of concern can be helpful to engage them back into school. A relational approach to emotionally based non-attendance can be useful. For example, if lunch time is of great concern an adjusted timetable could mean that they can leave before lunchtime initially for them to get back into school life and feel comfortable. It is important if an adjusted timetable has been agreed that it is outlined in the plan, with clear dates for review and an end date. Please follow the Annex R guidance.
- Once you have completed the safety plan, it may highlight areas of the school which are vulnerable to contextual safeguarding concerns. You may decide to undertake a contextual safeguarding audit and put a plan in place to reduce associated risks.
How to use this plan
- This document is a template only and should be edited according to your setting, the child’s needs and age group. You should do a short edit before you print off the document to use within your discussion. This will ensure that all areas outlined in the plan are relevant, for example tutor time might not be relevant to primary and you may already be aware of additional areas of concern to add to the plan.
- Examples of areas and times have been listed to support you to understand what sort of things could be within the plan.
- This plan is for the child and should be easily understandable by the child themselves and a copy to be given to them as well as a copy to their parent(s)/guardian(s). It should be reviewed regularly and review dates agreed with all those involved.