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Learning and development

Children Safeguarding professionals can learn and develop through a continuous, multi-faceted process that combines formal training, reflective practice, and multi-agency collaboration. This approach ensures that knowledge and skills remain current with legislation, best practices, and emerging risks.

Key methods for learning and development include:

  • Multi-Agency Structured Training Courses: Professionals should engage in training relevant to their specific roles and responsibilities, ranging from introductory levels to advanced training, such as dealing with harmful sexual behaviour or domestic abuse. The Partnership have produced Training Guidance to enable professionals to determine what level the courses are aimed at.
  • E-learning Training: Our e-learning training offers flexible access to awareness training. The e-learning training provides in depth local safeguarding information.
  • Learning Masterclass briefings: Our Learning Masterclass briefings or "lunch and learn" sessions are particularly beneficial for busy schedules and provide up to date information.
  • Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPR): Learning from both local and national case reviews of serious incidents is crucial for identifying systemic issues and improving future practice. Each time a review is undertaken, we share the learning via our 7 point briefings – Learning from Case Reviews and Learning Masterclass.
  • Multi-Agency Audits and Quality Assurance: Participating in or reviewing the findings from multi-agency audits allows professionals to assess the effectiveness of current procedures and identify areas for improvement in collaborative working. Any identified learning again is shared via our 7 point briefings – learning from multi-agency audits.
  • National Learning: The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel are an independent panel commissioning reviews of serious child safeguarding cases
  • Regional Learning: In some cases learning is shared between local Safeguarding Children Partnerships.
  • Supervision and Peer Reflection: Regular formal supervision and informal discussions with colleagues offer a safe space to reflect on practice, challenge assumptions, and explore different perspectives on complex cases.
  • Case Studies and Scenarios: Discussing real-life examples and scenarios in team meetings or workshops can help staff apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations and prepare for disclosures.
  • Staying Informed: Keeping up to date by reading professional journals, articles, e-bulletins, and statutory guidance.

Why not sign up to the Partnership newsletter to see what training opportunities are available and to receive up to date information in relation to learning from child safeguarding practice reviews?

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Additionally, Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships (formerly LSCBs) may decide to conduct a Serious Practice Review whenever a child has been seriously harmed and in accordance with the guidance in Working Together 2023. Further information regarding child deaths is available on the partnership child deaths page.

Serious child safeguarding cases are those in which:

  • abuse or neglect of a child is known or suspected, and
  • the child has died or been seriously harmed

Purpose of a Safeguarding Practice Review

The main purpose of Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs) is to learn lessons from serious cases where children were harmed or died, to improve future safeguarding practices, and prevent similar incidents. They focus on how agencies worked together (or failed to), identifying systemic issues, and implementing actions to enhance multi-agency collaboration, policies, and effectiveness of child protection systems, rather than blaming individuals.

What the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel does

In 2018 a new National Panel for Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel was set up by the Department for Education. This is an independent panel which can commission reviews of serious child safeguarding cases where they are complex and /or in the national interest.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel is an independent panel commissioning reviews of serious child safeguarding cases. They require national and local reviews to focus on improving learning, professional practice and outcomes for children.

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Thematic reviews are carried out nationally by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. They are an independent panel who commission reviews of serious child safeguarding cases. They require national and local reviews to focus on improving learning, professional practice and outcomes for children.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel works with the Department for Education. They are an independent panel commissioning reviews of serious child safeguarding cases. They aim to ensure that national and local reviews focus on improving learning, professional practice and outcomes for children.

Recent reviews, research and analysis carried out by the Panel include:

  • “It’s Silent”: Race, racism and safeguarding children.  This review explores what happened to 53 children from Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage backgrounds who were the subject of child safeguarding reviews between January 2022 and March 2024.  The purpose of this briefing is to share learning from analyses of rapid reviews and local child safeguarding practice reviews (LCSPRs) to inform the work of safeguarding partners.
  • National review into child sexual abuse within the family environment
  • Safeguarding Children in Elective Home Education.  The purpose of this briefing is to share learning from analyses of rapid reviews and local child safeguarding practice reviews (LCSPRs) to inform the work of safeguarding partners.
  • The briefing explores common themes and patterns identified across reviews and highlights practice issues raised by safeguarding partners from across England.
  • Safeguarding children with disabilities in residential settings review. The Phase 1 report examines allegations of abuse and neglect to children living in private residential settings in Doncaster operated by the Hesley Group.  The phase 2 report sets out recommendations to improve the safety, support and outcomes for children with disabilities and complex  health needs living in residential settings.
  • Management of bruising in non-mobile infants  This paper explores the current guidance on the management of bruising in non mobile infants in the light of published evidence and variations in practice.
  • The aim of this paper is to support safeguarding partners in reviewing their current policies on bruising in non-mobile infants and to make recommendations on how the evidence base and national guidelines can be further developed.
  • Multi-agency safeguarding and domestic abuse paper.  This paper sets out key findings from a thematic analysis of rapid reviews and local child safeguarding practice reviews where domestic abuse featured.
  • National Review into the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson. This paper sets out recommendations and findings for national government and local safeguarding partners to protect children at risk of serious harm.  It examines the circumstances leading up to the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson and considers whether their murders reflect wider national issues in child protection.

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Annual Reports

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel publish an Annual Report each year.

These reports look at the child safeguarding system, based on serious child safeguarding incidents over the year. They set out patterns in practice for national government and local safeguarding partners to better protect vulnerable children.

Further useful resources and information

Complexity and challenge: A triennial analysis of serious case reviews 2014-2017 analyses 368 Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) relating to incidents between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2017. This is the sixth consecutive analysis of SCRs by this research team; together these reports cover 14 years from 2003-2017.

The Serious Case Reviews website contains the full report, as well as other useful reports. See Serious Case Reviews - Archived Resources.

The NSPCC have also been working with the Association of Independent LSCB Chairs to create the National Case Review Repository (NSPCC Learning) to make it easier to access and share learning at a local, regional and national level.

Keep up-to-date with any national Child Safeguarding Practice Panel Reviews.

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Where cases have been shared with another authority, for instance if a child is place out of area with another authority, we will share the learning.

We will also publish and share learning within our regional network.

The regional local Safeguarding Children Partnerships are:

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The partnership hold Learning Masterclass events to disseminate learning from the Partnership to professionals and practitioners.

Previous Learning Masterclass Events have included:

  • Voice of the Child
  • Children’s Rights
  • Private Fostering
  • Early Help Launch
  • Contextual Safeguarding Launch
  • Harmful Sexual Behaviour

Learning Masterclass events are usually advertised in the Partnership Newsletter.  Please sign up to hear more about future events.

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The Safeguarding Children Partnership carry out regular multi-agency audits to understand the impact of work undertaken by the partnership but to also identify any areas of learning.  This programme of work is driven by the Learning, Development and Performance Sub-Group.  Further information about the Partneship governance structure is on the About Us webpage.

Joint Targeted Area Inspections are joint inspections carried out by:

The inspectorates jointly assess how local authorities, police, health, probation and youth offending services are working together in an area to identify, support and protect vulnerable children and young people.

The City of York Safeguarding Partnership have produced documentation in relation to Joint Targeted Area Inspections and have recently carried out work in relation to Child Sexual Abuse including a multi-agency audit. Each time a new Joint Targeted Area Inspection theme is announced (approximately twice a year), the partnership will update the documentation for the new theme once the new framework is published. It is also planned for the Partnership to undertaken a multi-agency audit in relation to each new theme.

Partnership Joint Targeted Area Inspections Resources:

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