Today’s Education in the Media blog looks at our work surrounding anti-bullying, and children in care.
Anti-Bullying
Today, Friday 9 November, the Anti-Bullying Alliance has published new research in advance of Anti-Bullying Week, which commences on 12 November. This was covered by BBC Online, the Sun, the Metro, the Mirror and the Daily Express.
We have always been clear that bullying of any kind is completely unacceptable. Schools should be safe places for all pupils and are required by law to have behaviour policies in place to prevent bullying of any kind.
From next year, schools will have new guidance on how to teach Relationships Education, including teaching pupils about respect, tolerance and issues such as online safety.
We are also working with organisations including the Diana Award to help schools to tackle bullying. In addition to this, to coincide with Anti-Bullying Week, we will be launching two teaching resources on bullying and behaviour.
A Government spokesperson said:
Since this government came into office, improving pupil behaviour has been a key part of our education reforms. We are working with organisations, such as the Diana Award, to support schools to tackle bullying. Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy in place to prevent all forms of bullying and from next year they will have new guidance on how to teach Relationships Education to their pupils, which includes teaching pupils about respect, tolerance and addresses issues such as online safety.
Children’s Services
Today, Friday 9 November, the Local Government Association has published a report on the number of children being referred to social services. The Telegraph and the Mirror have run pieces on this.
The £84 million announced in the Autumn budget will build on learning from existing Innovation Programme projects in Hertfordshire, Leeds and North Yorkshire, helping target councils to improve their social work practice and decision-making. This will support children to stay safely at home so that they can thrive in a stable family environment.
Minister for Children and Families Nadhim Zahawi said:
Every child, no matter their circumstances, should have the care and support they need for a happy, fulfilling life. That’s why we are improving children’s social care and the child protection system so that children at risk are identified sooner, and across Government, tackling the causes of why children are in need – including through our landmark Domestic Abuse Bill to better support victims, cracking down on child exploitation in all of its forms, improving access to specialist mental health support for children and young people, and looking at how we can improve the educational outcomes for children in need.
In the Budget we announced an additional £410million for adult and children’s social care services, in recognition of the pressures on local councils. We are also investing £84m over the next five years to support up to 20 local authorities who are seeing high or rising demand for children’s social care to work more effectively with their most vulnerable families.
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