Following consultation and research with COBIS headteachers, DSLs and the COBIS Safeguarding Committee, our safeguarding team have compiled guidelines for member schools to draw on and consider when reviewing and updating their child protection and safeguarding policies.

A summary of this extensive document can be found here and the full document can be reviewed in the COBIS Members area of our website. Please contact natalie.williams@cobis.org.uk if you require support to login. 

As a guide for COBIS Schools, the following statutory guidance from the Department for Education sets out the responsibilities of all local authorities, schools and Further Education (FE) colleges in England to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.

• View the full DfE guidance on Keeping Children Safe in Education on the DfE website here.

COBIS offers a range of training opportunities related to Safer Recruitment, Child Protection, and Safeguarding.

• Click here to read about Child Protection Courses
• Click here to read about the COBIS/EduCare online training opportunities

COBIS, as a member of the Project Board, supported the launch of the International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) by The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) in the UK.

Click here for full details.

The International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP) was formed in April 2014 to help international school communities address child protection challenges.

For more information please click here.

To download the June 2016 Report, please click here.

The International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP) and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) have worked in partnership to develop an Education Portal where schools can access child protection resources and report suspected or known abuse. Please click here to access the Education Portal.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, or UNCRC, is the basis of all of Unicef’s work. It is the most complete statement of children’s rights ever produced and is the most widely-ratified international human rights treaty in history.

• Read the full convention (pdf)
• Read a summary of the UNCRC (pdf)

In September 2016 the DfE issued a revised version of the statutory guidance - Keeping Children Safe in Education. This is a useful guide for COBIS Schools which sets out the responsibilities of all local authorities, schools and Further Education colleges (in England) to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.

Download the Guidance

• The NSPCC have also published a briefing on the key updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education. Click here to download the NSPCC briefing

Our colleagues at the Council of International Schools have put together a helpful briefing document that covers the appropriate checks to request from a prospective employee's current and previous countries of employment and residence. The document is the result of extensive research into governmental, law enforcement and embassy websites, and COBIS is grateful to CIS for compiling this invaluable resource. This guidance is another excellent example of the commitment of both organisations and others which constitute the International Child Protection Task Force.

READ THE GUIDANCE

For guidance on managing allegations of child abuse by educators and adults, please refer to this Protocol for international schools.