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July City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership Newsletter

Safeguarding week 2025 is now complete with over 65 sessions run through the week, with over 2200 people attending! Thank you to all who supported the week by presenting or attending.

We are already thinking about Safeguarding Week 2026, and we want the week to be better than ever. Therefore, we want to hear from you by completing the Menti Survey below. Whether you attended one of the 2025 sessions or not, we want to hear how we can make 2026 more impactful and wider-reaching across all our communities.

Please complete the survey by Sunday 31st August 2025, and feel free to circulate it among your networks as we would like to understand what format would be beneficial to professionals, communities, volunteers and members of the public.

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In York we want all practitioners to feel informed and supported in delivering early help to families at the very earliest opportunity. The Supporting Families Team would like to understand your views about providing early help, what challenges you face and where it has been successful. We would also like to better understand what more we can be doing to support you/your organisation so that we can provide a more informed and effective service.

To help us ensure we are supporting the workforce effectively to do this it would be hugely appreciated if you could spend just 5 minutes to tell us about your own awareness, knowledge and experience of early help by completing a short survey.

Please feel free to share on this with colleagues and partners who may have engaged with our team in the past.

The closing date for this survey is 30 July.

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This briefing will provide an overview of the national vision for the reforms of Children’s Services. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and understand how these reforms will developed locally.

  • Target audience: This briefing is relevant to all statutory, non-statutory and voluntary agencies who work with children in York
  • Course outline: This briefing will provide an overview of the national vision for the reforms of Children’s Services

The purpose of the session is to share a summary of the national expectations of the Families First Programme including:

  • Family Help
  • Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams
  • Family Group Decision Making

There will be an opportunity to ask questions and understand how these reforms will developed locally.

Dates:

  • 2 September 2025, 11.00am to midday
  • September 2025, 9:30am to 10.30am

These sessions are free and can be booked online via MyLO.

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The national alert mobile phone test will be going ahead on 7 September 2025.

This will sound on all smartphones, even if they’re on silent.

This may pose a risk to those in abusive relationships who have an emergency phone.

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The City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership E-Learning Training is changing.

From Autumn Term 2025, a new Safeguarding Children E-Learning package will be available. Our current e-learning package has been reviewed and updated and a brand new course has been produced.

The costs will remain the same for those organisations who are charged. Further information regarding costs is available on the partnership website.

It is planned for our old training portal to be discontinued. If you have a certificate from your past e-learning training, please download and save to your computer.

Additionally, if you would like to view any of our e-learning presentations these won’t be available once the training portal is discontinued so make time over the Summer to access these free training sessions!

Information in relation to accessing the new course will be communicated in due course. In the meantime if you have any queries please email: [email protected].

A reminder that the Partnership also offer free face to face training as follows:

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Hate Crime Awareness Week will soon be upon us and to promote the valuable work that continues to progress across North Yorkshire, a Hate Crime Conference is being held at the Priory Street Centre in York on Wednesday 15 October 2025.

There are some wonderful guest speakers lined up to present to you on the day and the conference will offer attendees the opportunity to shape the York and North Yorkshire Hate Crime work landscape moving forward. A full agenda will be circulated nearer the date.

If you have any questions about the event, please email Lesley Gray on [email protected].

If you have any building or parking access requirements, please let Lesley know. The nearest car park can be found on Nunnery Lane. The nearest bus stops are located outside York Railway Station which is a 5 minute walk from the venue.

Book to attend the Hate Crime Conference 2025

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Brightsparks is proud to offer Resilience Triple P, a new, fully funded* 8-week programme supporting families of children aged 6 to 12 who live in York and have experienced bullying or difficulties with peer relationships.

What is Resilience Triple P?

Resilience Triple P is an evidence-based programme designed to give children and their parents practical skills to manage bullying and build positive peer relationships. Over 8 interactive sessions, families work together to boost confidence, emotional resilience, and social skills in a safe, supportive environment.

What to Expect:

  • 4 Parent Sessions: Learn positive, supportive strategies to help your child thrive.
  • 4 Child Sessions (with parents present): Build social confidence and learn practical ways to manage peer challenges.
  • Game-Based Learning: Interactive activities that help children explore resilience in a fun way.
  • Sibling-Friendly Environment: Siblings aged 6 and over are welcome to join in!

Session Overview:

  • Location: The Gateway Centre, Front Street, Acomb, YO24 3BZ
  • Time and date: 4.00pm to 6.30pm from Thursday 25 September 2025 - weekly sessions until 20 November, with a break for October half term
  • Cost: Free -Fully funded by City of York Council (pilot scheme, limited spaces)

Places are limited, find out more and sign up online.

Please contact Katie at Brightsparks if you require any more information on email: [email protected].

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Children and Young People’s Voice and Involvement Strategy 2025 to 2028

A new Children and Young People’s Voice and Involvement Strategy 2025 to 2028 has been published and is now available on the Safeguarding Children Partnership website.

This Strategy outlines York’s commitment to ensuring young residents are seen, heard and actively involved in shaping the services that support them.

It is underpinned by our shared vision: “Every conversation starts with the child or young person. We pledge to work together with young people to ensure their voices are heard, valued and acted upon.”

Details in relation to the launch of this strategy will be shared in due course.

JTAI Domestic Abuse Audit Learning briefing

During 2024 a multi agency audit was carried out in relation to Domestic Abuse. Any key learning raised from this multi-agency audit has been pulled together in the form of a briefing and is now available on the Partnership website.

Partnership Procedure for Non-recent, Organised and Complex Abuse

The City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedure for Non-recent, Organised and Complex Abuse has recently been updated.

The Partnership website has been updated accordingly.

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A dedicated SEND hub has been created by SWGfL for educators, designated safeguarding leads (DSL’s) and Child Protection Leads.

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City of York Council and Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, are consulting on an All-Age Autism and ADHD strategy covering 2025 to 2030.

The production of this strategy has had a lot of input from partners and groups in the city which support and advocate for people who are neurodivergent over the last 6 months, and they are now consulting on a draft document.

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Ofcom have published 3 reports on the online lives of children in the UK. The reports cover:

  • children’s online spending and potential financial harm
  • passive measurement of children’s internet use
  • platform design and user behaviour

The reports look at different activities and themes that contribute to children’s experiences of the online world, including children’s internet use, children’s online spending and potential financial harm, and platform design and user behaviour.

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The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) have created guidance for professionals working with children and young people on understanding and responding to artificial intelligence (AI) generated child sexual abuse material.

The guide aims to enable practitioners to: stay informed about the ways AI can be misused to create child sexual abuse imagery; understand the law and legal implications of AI-child sexual abuse material; provide an effective response through step-by-step guidance on how to respond to incidents; and provide support for victims.

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The Professionals Online Safety Helpline (POSH), part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, has helped professionals working with children and young people for longer than a decade, supporting over 30,000 requests during this time. Your feedback will directly help them to assess and inform the future of the POSH service, allowing them to understand your needs and how they might adapt and develop the service to support professionals going forwards.

Whether you have used their service before, or not, your views would really help them shape the future of the helpline.

The survey contains 20 questions and should take no longer than 5 to 10 minutes to complete - it is also entirely anonymous.

If you would like to get in touch with them directly with any ideas or suggestions, please contact them on email: [email protected].

Have your say and help shape the future of POSH.

This survey closed on 31 July 2025.

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The York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership takes part in community events as part of Road Safety Month.

Road Safety Month brings together partners who are working together to invite residents to take part in the campaign to increase awareness and change behaviours to increase road safety.

Led by the Combined Authority and the Mayor, alongside the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership, Road Safety Month features a mix of education, and engagement activities across York and North Yorkshire, and is designed to encourage safer behaviour among road users to make travelling around the region safer for all, whether you’re a driving a car or motorbike, walking or cycling.

With a continued focus on education, enforcement, and engagement, the Road Safety Partnership remains committed to reducing serious injuries and fatalities on the region’s roads, and is making use of state of the art resources to help achieve this:

  • the partnership’s motorcycle simulator provides a realistic, hands-on experience designed to improve hazard perception and decision-making, allowing riders to safely explore how to respond to common road dangers
  • virtual reality headsets provide people with a passenger’s perspective of a car accident, demonstrating how distracted and unsafe driving can quicky lead to injuries and fatalities
  • engagement vehicles give residents the chance to see how road safety is enhanced and enforced by the Police and Fire services

A series of events will be taking place and further information in relation to this is on the website:

A reminder also that the Be Bright, Be Seen, Be Safe is the key message from North Yorkshire and the City of York Councils.

The Be Bright, Be Seen, Be Safe campaign has resources we would encourage your organisations to share, particularly when the nights start drawing in:

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World Breastfeeding Week: 1 August to 7 August

Every year from 1 to 7 August, families, health workers, and communities around the world come together to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week.

In 2025, the theme is “Prioritize Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems” - a call to action to build lasting, equitable support for breastfeeding mothers everywhere.

This week is more than a health campaign; it’s a global movement to invest in the future of children, families, and the planet.

A reminder also that the City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership has a dedicated webpage in relation to babies and pregnancy.

National Road Victim Month: 1 August to 31 August

National Road Victim Month is a dedicated observance aimed at remembering those who have lost their lives or have been injured in road traffic accidents. This month serves as a time for reflection on the impact of road traffic accidents on victims, families, and communities. It also raises awareness about road safety and the importance of preventing further tragedies through responsible driving and road use.

Playday: Wednesday 6 August

Playday occurs every year on the first Wednesday in August and is a campaign held to celebrate the importance of Play in children’s lives. The annual campaign encourages thousands of children across the UK to get involved in their local community events, be it at their local park or community centre, or you can even set up your own playday to get your community involved.

The theme for this year’s Playday is Spaces for Play.

This year’s theme highlights the vital importance of accessible, inclusive spaces where children and young people have opportunities to play freely, spending time, and connecting with friends - and feel valued as part of their community. Children will play anywhere and everywhere, so access to quality playful spaces and places is essential for their happiness and development, offering opportunities to boost both physical health and emotional well-being.

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Please let your colleagues know they can sign up now to receive our newsletter.

If anyone has any items for newsletters going forward, please let us know on email: [email protected].