News

Source: Ofsted 

Date: 09 August 2022

Ofsted have republished their guidance for childminders, nannies and daycare providers in England on the requirements that must be met to provide appropriate care. Requirements include: children are cared for and kept safe from harm; there needs to be a written safeguarding policy (not applicable to nannies); that no-one caring for children or on the premises is under the influence of drugs or alcohol; and that children’s behaviour is managed in a suitable way, free from corporal punishment.

Read the guidance: Childminders and childcare providers: register with Ofsted

Source: NSPCC 

Date: 27 July 2022

The NSPCC has published a news story around unsupervised children in the summer holidays. Findings include: the NSPCC helpline received 6,017 contacts in 2020/21 about children left at home without adult supervision, an increase of a fifth compared to 2019/20; and 60% of the 2020/21 contacts to the helpline were serious enough to pass on to the police or social services. The story includes guidance for parents and carers on making decisions about their child’s supervision needs.

Read the news story: NSPCC Helpline predicts rise in calls as children are left home alone during the school summer holidays

Source: NSPCC Learning

Date: 23 June 2022

The NSPCC has created new PANTS resources to keep children who communicate using Makaton safe from sexual abuse. PANTS (the five underwear rules) supports parents and carers to have conversations with their child to help keep them safe from sexual abuse. The resources include Makaton guides explaining the rules and setting out the importance of having these conversations with children.

Access the resources: Working with diverse groups

Online sexual abuse

Source: The Lucy Faithfull Foundation

Date: 27 June 2022

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation has released a new paper which summarises research they initiated into harmful sexual behaviour. The paper discusses technology-assisted harmful sexual behaviour (TA-HSB) and evaluates their ROSA project which was set up to provide support to help combat TA-HSB. Findings include: 38% of young people referred to the ROSA project self-produced sexual images of themselves or others and 28% were exploited solely online. The paper notes the positive short-term impacts of the project and recommends wider access to training and support. 

Read the news story: The Faithfull papers
Download the report: The ROSA project: the prevention and early intervention of technology-assisted harmful sexual behaviours (PDF)

See also on NSPCC Learning 
> Harmful sexual behaviour