Safeguarding Awareness for Schools, Nurseries and Care Settings

Safeguarding is everyone’s job, including the cook, the cleaner, the receptionist and the minibus driver. This course gives support staff in schools, nurseries and care homes what they need to notice a worry, respond well when someone tells them something, and pass it to the right person straight away.

Who this course is for

• Kitchen, catering and lunchtime staff in schools, nurseries and care homes
• Cleaners, caretakers and site staff
• Receptionists, office staff and drivers
• Volunteers and contractors who work where children or adults at risk are present
• Anyone whose setting asks every member of staff to have safeguarding training

What you’ll learn

• What safeguarding means for children and for adults at risk, and the laws behind it
• Your role, your employer’s role and the designated safeguarding lead’s role
• The four categories of child abuse, the ten types of adult abuse, and signs you might see at mealtimes
• Exploitation, child-on-child abuse, online harm, FGM and the Prevent duty
• How to listen when someone tells you, what never to do, and how to record and report
• Safe working practice, concerns about staff, whistleblowing and what a DBS check does and does not tell you

How it works

Six lessons, each split into short topics with a “Remember” box at the end. Every lesson finishes with its own assessment of 10 questions drawn at random from its question bank, so no two attempts are the same. The course ends with a final exam of 20 questions drawn from a bank of more than 40 covering everything. The pass mark is 80% and you get three attempts at each assessment. Finish the course and your certificate, with your name and a reference anyone can check, is issued to My Account → Certificates.

12 months’ access · any device · certificate the moment you pass

Worth being clear about: this is awareness training for everyday staff. It is not training for a Designated Safeguarding Lead, it is not a regulated qualification, and it supports, but does not replace, the safeguarding training and policies your own setting provides.

Course content

• Before you startLesson
• What safeguarding means and the law behind itLesson
• What safeguarding meansTopic
• Adults at riskTopic
• Laws and guidance that protect childrenTopic
• Laws and guidance that protect adultsTopic
• How safeguarding children and adults differTopic
• Scenario: Mr Price and his bank cardTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Children or adults?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: What safeguarding means and the law behind itQuiz
• Your role, your employer’s role and who is more at riskLesson
• Your role in safeguardingTopic
• The designated safeguarding leadTopic
• Your responsibilities and your employer’sTopic
• Why you must report straight awayTopic
• Who may be more vulnerable to abuseTopic
• Reducing the likelihood of abuseTopic
• Scenario: “I’ll mention it on Friday”Topic
• 🎮 Practice: Notice, listen, record, tellTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Your role, your employer’s role and who is more at riskQuiz
• Recognising abuse and neglectLesson
• What “abuse” meansTopic
• Physical and emotional abuseTopic
• Sexual abuseTopic
• Neglect, and what you may see at mealtimesTopic
• Abuse and neglect of adults at riskTopic
• Why abuse is not always recognisedTopic
• Scenario: Maya at lunchtimeTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Neglect or emotional abuse?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Recognising abuse and neglectQuiz
• Exploitation, online harm and other risksLesson
• Child-on-child abuseTopic
• Exploitation and county linesTopic
• Domestic abuseTopic
• Female genital mutilation (FGM)Topic
• Online harmTopic
• The Prevent dutyTopic
• Scenario: The school minibusTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Which kind of risk?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Exploitation, online harm and other risksQuiz
• Responding, recording and reportingLesson
• When a child tells you: how to listenTopic
• What not to doTopic
• Recording: how and whatTopic
• Reporting: who to tell and whenTopic
• Confidentiality: why it matters and where it stopsTopic
• When information must be sharedTopic
• Scenario: Snack time at the nurseryTopic
• 🎮 Practice: When a child tells youTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Responding, recording and reportingQuiz
• Safe working practice and concerns about staffLesson
• Professional boundariesTopic
• Phones, photos and social mediaTopic
• Being alone with children, and protecting yourselfTopic
• Concerns or allegations about staff, volunteers or contractorsTopic
• Low-level concerns and whistleblowingTopic
• DBS checks: what they are and are notTopic
• Scenario: A photo in the school kitchenTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Safe working habitsTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Safe working practice and concerns about staffQuiz
• Course summaryLesson
• Final examQuiz