Safeguarding Kit for School Governors

Overview

School governors play a critical role in safeguarding. While they are not responsible for the day-to-day management of child protection, they hold the headteacher and senior leadership to account for the school's safeguarding culture, policies, and practice. Many governors, particularly new ones, are unsure exactly what their safeguarding duties entail. This kit provides clear, practical guidance on what governors should know, ask, and do.

Key Risks

• •Governors lacking sufficient safeguarding training to hold the school leadership to account effectively.
• •Governing boards not receiving regular, detailed safeguarding reports or failing to scrutinise them properly.
• •The designated safeguarding lead being under-resourced, under-trained, or not given sufficient authority.
• •Safeguarding policies being approved without proper review or challenge from the governing board.
• •Failure to maintain a single central record of staff vetting checks, or gaps in safer recruitment practice.

Policies

• •The school's safeguarding and child protection policy must be reviewed and approved by the governing board at least annually.
• •Governors must ensure there is a staff code of conduct, a whistleblowing policy, and a complaints procedure that are all up to date.
• •The safer recruitment policy must include governor involvement in recruitment panels for senior staff and positions of trust.
• •The governing board should have a standing agenda item for safeguarding at every meeting.

Adult Conduct Boundaries

• •Governors should not involve themselves in individual safeguarding cases — their role is strategic oversight, not operational management.
• •The nominated safeguarding governor should have appropriate training and regular meetings with the DSL, but must not direct the DSL's casework.
• •Governors visiting the school should follow the same visitor protocols as any other adult, including signing in and wearing identification.
• •Any governor who receives a direct disclosure from a child or parent should report it to the DSL immediately and not investigate independently.

Communication Boundaries

• •Safeguarding reports to the governing board should be anonymised to protect the identities of children and families involved.
• •Governors must treat all safeguarding information as strictly confidential and not discuss it outside of governing board meetings.
• •The nominated safeguarding governor's contact details should be available to parents and staff as an additional point of contact.
• •Minutes of governing board discussions on safeguarding should be recorded in a confidential annex, not in the public minutes.

Image Guidance

• •Governors should ensure the school has a clear, up-to-date policy on photographing and filming children that covers school events, social media, and promotional materials.
• •When attending school events, governors should follow the same photography rules as other adults present.

Emergency Escalation

Safeguarding Checklist

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