School safeguarding in Coventry after Pelka case is 'horrifying', claims study

The assessment, by safeguarding campaigner Jonathan West, found that only two of the 114 Coventry primary and secondary schools’ safeguarding policies met all 10 criteria for effective reporting of child protection concerns.

West, who runs a blog on child protection in schools, says the criteria he used to test the policies was compiled using statutory guidance and advice from safeguarding experts about what the minimum standards for good practice should be.   

The average score for all schools was five out of 10, 14 per cent of the schools scored two or less and one scored zero.

Only 27 per cent of schools fulfilled the three key criteria on reporting incidents or allegations of abuse to school child protection leads and the local authority, and formally recording them.

West undertook the research in light of failings in school safeguarding policies highlighted by the serious case review into the death of four-year-old Daniel Pelka, published last year.

West said: “These results are horrifyingly bad. On the evidence of the written policies, Daniel’s visible injuries might have gone unreported by many of Coventry’s schools.

“It is impossible to have good safeguarding practice without a good written procedure, because without the written instructions staff won’t know what they should do.”

A statement from Coventry Council acknowledged the “important and detailed work” done by West, but questioned some of his methodology and scoring against the criteria.

Specifically, it said not all the criteria he used were statutory requirements of schools; the criteria he used to assess school reporting procedures were incorrect; and 60 per cent of a sample of 30 schools’ scores the council deemed to be wrong.

The statement added: “The council takes its role to challenge and support our schools extremely seriously and we are confident we have the commitment of head teachers and governing bodies to respond to those challenges.

“In October, the local safeguarding children board, with support from the local authority, initiated a detailed city-wide audit and analysis of safeguarding and child protection arrangements in all school settings. This covers a wide range of issues, including all those for which statutory requirements apply.

“The results are currently being collated and analysed. If any gaps in the safeguarding and child protection arrangements in schools are identified, then they will be followed up by local authority safeguarding staff immediately to ensure full compliance with the national statutory requirements and good practice guidelines.”

West obtained the school safeguarding policies through Freedom of Information requests. Only four schools in Coventry failed to respond.