Birmingham charity puts safeguarding and writing in the spotlight
Experts from the fields of safeguarding and writing are taking part in two online conferences organised by Birmingham charity Services For Education.
The first, on Thursday, March 27, will focus on ‘contextual safeguarding’ - to understand and respond to young people’s experiences of significant harm beyond their families. Despite high-profile media reports of harming and abuse of children in their own homes, recent data shows increasing risks to children are often the familiar, ordinary, ‘every day’ situations. Children can be vulnerable to harm in wider contexts including relationships with their peers, schools and their neighbourhoods - delegates at the safeguarding conference will hear.
One of the conference organisers - Jo Perrin, a seasoned Education Adviser at Services For Education with a strong background in safeguarding - said many recent high-profile situations have had a contextual safeguarding element.
“Only by understanding all the risk areas in a child’s life can we understand the actual lived experience of the child and their full vulnerabilities. Our legal processes and our practices have, to a large degree, developed to focus on risks to children in their own homes – where parental figures may have significantly harmed a child or somehow colluded in that harm.
“Whilst none of this is wrong, and it has protected generations of children, schools need to be aware of what is happening outside the immediate school environment,” said Jo.
The second conference, on Thursday, April 10, is designed to support primary teachers as part of a bid to turn-around a national decline in writing outcomes. Delegates will hear that reading, writing, speaking and listening instruction all have valuable, mutually supportive contributions to make in developing keen readers and enthusiastic writers amongst primary school pupils.
Speakers include Martin Galway, Head of School Programmes at the National Literacy Trust and Alex Quigley, a teacher, school leader and the author of best-selling books. Alex will explore some of the key challenges facing children in an environment where there is a currently a national decline in writing outcomes.
The two conferences are part of the work of charity Services For Education which provides expert training and development to teaching and support staff in nearly 600 schools in the West Midlands to improve practice and ensure teachers are best equipped to respond to developments in curriculum and policy.