Written by Nina Hartley, Child Protection & Safer Recruitment Advisor, Rugby School Thailand and speaker at the 40th Annual Conference

Rugby School Thailand (RST) has built a bespoke safeguarding model that embeds proactive safeguarding practices and wellbeing across the school. As part of this, RST employ me, Nina Hartley, a UK qualified Social Worker who works as a Child Protection and Safer Recruitment Advisor (CPSRA), and has worked with the school to develop a progressive ‘Early Help Intervention Model’.

Many of the international staff have come to work at RST from British Schools where there are clear pathways for early help. It is true that early help pathways are underdeveloped within an international school context, but it is possible to develop infrastructures aimed at this provision. Staff at RST no longer feel as frustrated with the perceived notion that there is not much they can do to support families. The model has empowered staff to be more competent in identifying and managing risk, leading to less professional anxiety, and the breaking down of stigmas that can be barriers to responding.

This model recognises the importance of early identification of the problem or disclosure and allows us to provide support as soon as possible, to prevent issues from becoming child protection concerns. It refers to a set of non-statutory ‘levels’ of concern that may typically lead into statutory child protection. These early steps bring together the child, the family, and internal and/or external agencies to work collaboratively to develop a ‘Wellbeing Plan of Action’.

A fundamental part of implementing an outstanding safeguarding programme is to develop partnerships and positive relationships with fellow schools. Following the successful implementation of RST’s ‘Early Help Intervention Model’, we are now sharing expertise and best practice with other schools, to improve safeguarding standards for children across Thailand. As part of this, the CPSRA has been involved in a series of safeguarding webinars with the British Embassy and the International Schools Association of Thailand (ISAT), and RST also hosts its own webinars to share best practice. RST was praised by the British Embassy Bangkok for having one the best Child Protection and Safeguarding Policies in Thailand and has also received commendation from COBIS “for excellent safeguarding policies, processes and whole school teamwork”. 

The ‘Early Help Intervention Model’ operates in collaboration with all departments across the three parts of the school. Training provided by the CPSRA has ensured all staff feel empowered to identify concerns, and are confident on how to report them.

Each part of the school has a ‘Wellbeing Task Group’ consisting of English as Additional Language (EAL) leads, the school nurse, Special Educational Needs (SEN) leads, Sports lead, Heads of Year and the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL). The group meets fortnightly to discuss the needs of vulnerable pupils, compile a ‘Wellbeing Assessment and Plan’ if needed, and assesses the support that the pupil and/or their family would benefit from.

In addition, the CPSRA holds regular reflective safeguarding supervision sessions with the DSLs, where collaborative reflection in a safe space is encouraged in order to analyse ongoing concerns and specific incidents, assess risk and need, and to mitigate against unconscious bias during decision making and planning. This type of supervision reduces the number of referrals to statutory services by helping to contain professional anxiety and empower decision making to achieve the best possible outcomes for the child. This leading practice is in its infancy and is only just being rolled out in some schools in the UK.

We have built a sense of collective responsibility and accountability by providing training to all staff so that they can confidently identify early safeguarding concerns. This training is rolled out across all departments, including estates and maintenance, admin and academic staff and training is delivered in both Thai and English. International schools in Thailand are required to have a native Thai Principal as part of its leadership team. Involving the Thai Principal in the delivery of the training has been crucial in getting buy-in from everyone involved, and has facilitated in-depth, cross-cultural conversations around what safeguarding means within an international school.

You can hear more from Rugby School Thailand at our 40^th Annual Conference this May in her session ‘How to Set up an Effective Early Help Service in International Schools’. Book your delegate place now.