Following the Supreme Court's ruling about the legal definition of ‘woman’ and its relation to biological sex, we know that there is significant concern and upset for some children, families and colleagues -  particularly members of the trans community.

Bristol City Council will continue to navigate this issue sensitively, with respect for differing beliefs, an adherence to the law, and with continuing lawful support for the trans community and people with different gender identities. We will do this whilst respecting protections for all equalities strands covered by the Equality Act 2010, including sex and religion or belief. 

It's important to consider supporting those whose who are likely to be affected negatively. Please signpost children and young people to your existing pastoral offers,  you can also signpost children and their families to local and national support.

As a setting, if you wish you review existing best practice resources on supporting children who are transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse children and young people you can find a list of resources here. Please note that these are likely to be adjusted to consider the implications of the ruling and we will need to wait for updated guidance from the government, from there we will consider what updates, if any, are required to our policies and practices.

Please make contact with a member of the team if you need further support and guidance around safeguarding related issues.

Contents:

• New Secure messaging system for Bristol City Council
• MARAC -  new form and arrangements
• Sharing intelligence and reporting crimes to the police.
• Family's First Transformation Programme
• S.175 and Data Drop
• Martyn’s Law
• Introducing Yuno: A New Sexual Health Service for Young People and Adults Across BNSSG
• Anti-Bullying Week 2025: "The Power of Good" Theme Launched to Champion Kindness and Inclusion

Training and CPD 

• Term 5 DSL network cancelled
• Knife Crime Prevention in Bristol: Safer Together Film for Schools and Youth Services - Tuesday 20th May ( 3:30 – 5:00pm)
• Event : SET-and-LADO---Practice-challenges-regarding-dealing-with-concerns-about-staff - Tuesday 3 June 2025 (9:30am - 11:30am)
• Event : SET--Responding-to-Critical-Incidents---Guidance-for-Senior-Leaders-in-Schools-and-Education-Settings -Tuesday 17 June 2025 (08.45 - 16.00)
• Supporting Children with Emotionally Based School Avoidance – Upcoming CPD from Barnardo’s

New secure messaging system for Bristol City Council

Please be aware that from the 19th of April 2025 - Bristol City council's Proofpoint licenced expired and Proofpoint encryption was decommissioned. We changed our email security platform from Proofpoint to a Microsoft alternative product. This means that any encrypted messages you receive may look different depending on your email system:

• If you use Outlook on the web, you will receive see the email content in the ordinary way when they open it.
• If you use other software, such as the Outlook desktop client, or Gmail, you will not see the email text when you open it, but instead will see a link. When they click it, it takes them to a website where the full email will open.

Please liaise with the sender if you continue to have problems accessing the email. If the information is time sensitive you may want to suggest that the password protect a word document and or take the information over the phone.

MARAC -  new form and arrangements

Avon and Somerset Police and partners are currently streamlining processes around the MARAC to accommodate a shrinking resource. To support development of an effective system, we have redesigned our MARAC request for information form.

Developments:

•  Minutes will be compiled from agency responses and request for information.
•  The form for education has been streamlined - professionals are asked to bullet point and summarise their main analysis of concerns rather than wider general details about the child.
• The reason for MARAC is provided in the body of the email not in the form. This means you may need to save a copy of the email as well as your form on to your child's safeguarding files (e.g, CPOMS).
•  Voice of the child and parent/carers - please provide observations - individuals may not be aware of referral and notifying them can put them at further risk.
• We have produced a short  video to support colleagues to navigate the process- Introduction to Bristol Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC)

Sharing intelligence and reporting crimes to the police.

The team have been involved in a few escalations where children who have been victims of/involved on the periphery of  crime but have not been reported to the police. We strongly encourage you to work with the child and family/carers to develop confidence in getting the right help and support. Sadly some of these incidents have led to negative outcomes for the children's education due to ensuing poor interagency practice.

Please can you consider the following actions - you may wish to bookmark these for links for quick access:

• Remind yourselves and your pastoral team of the when-to-call-the-police--guidance-for-schools-and-colleges.pdf
• Confirm that colleagues are aware of your Neighbourhood Police Team contacts Your area | Avon and Somerset Police
• If you are reporting a crime use this form to report it - Report a crime or incident | Avon and Somerset Police.  You should always call 999 if you or someone else is in immediate danger, if the crime is in progress or if the suspect is detained.
• If you are not reporting a crime - but you feel suspect something has happened, its important you can share intelligence particularly if there are incidents of exploitation occurring where harm maybe occurring to multiple children - please use this form - Give us information about a suspected vulnerable or exploited person | Avon and Somerset Police.

Contextual Safeguarding

• You can raise concerns about a space/place by letting us know and we can raise it to relevant professionals - Community Safety - Share information (Tactical)
• Operation Bond is part of a contextual safeguarding approach which aims to ensure robust information sharing information between Bristol area schools, the local authority and Avon and Somerset Police to respond to incidents of conflict in the community proactively and appropriately. You need to sign the up and agree to the information sharing protocol to be invited to these meetings you can do this by clicking the following link - Bristol's Operation Bond

Family's First Transformation Programme Launch

Bristol City Council has launched its Family First Transformation programme on the 22nd of April - This programme has been fully led and designed by our Children’s social care leadership team and is our response to the national children’s social care reforms. It represents a once in a decade (maybe more) opportunity to serve children in the way we want to – working earlier to prevent crises, keeping children safely at home as far as possible, supporting families to stay together.

Mission statement: We will work to keep our children safe, stable and wherever possible, within their families and communities. We, along with our partner agencies, will provide our families, carers and workforce with the right support to enable this to happen and create lasting change, putting children and families at the heart of every care decision.

The Families First Transformation Programme is structured around several key workstreams each designed to address specific areas of need and opportunity: https://www.bristolsafeguardingineducation.org/media/415pqpjm/families-first-programme.pdf

The programme is closely linked with the national Families First Partnership programme, supporting the delivery of reforms in local areas. This alignment ensures that our efforts are part of a broader, cohesive strategy to improve outcomes for children and families across the country.

S.175 Audit and Data Drop

Thank you to all the settings that have responded to our statutory request for information. Please be minded that with Working Together 2023, there is a duty for settings to respond to safeguarding audits of quality and compliance as requested by the Local Authority and or local safeguarding partners (Working Together 2023, para 79).

S.175 Audit - 2024-2026

Many of you are well underway with your audits and considering implementing actions to progress and develop practice within your settings. We will monitoring your progress live on via SharePoint and have written to those of you who  have yet to initiate the process. We strongly encourage you to consider utilising your time effectively to work with your leadership and governance to ensure compliance and effectiveness of your safeguarding mechanism to keep learners safe and implement your action plan.

For further information or queries please visit Bristol's S.175 Audit and/or contact your locality Education Safeguarding Advisor Bristol's Safeguarding in Education Team

KBSP Education Data Drop (covering the year 2023-24)

Thank you those who have completed and shared your information for the academic year 2023-24. We have written to settings who have to complete this to remind them. For further information and guidance around this please visit KBSP Education Annual Data Drop

Martyn's Law

The Act received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025 and it is expected that the implementation period will be at least 24 months.

Whilst those that fall within scope of the Act may wish to begin considering the requirements, they should note that there will be no legal requirement to comply until the legislation comes into force. The Home Office will publish statutory guidance during the 24 month implementation period. This guidance will assist those responsible to understand the requirements set out in the legislation. It is being designed to be easy to follow, needing neither particular expertise nor the use of third-party products or services. 

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: Overarching Factsheet - GOV.UK

Martyn’s Law for the education sector

Term 5 DSL network cancelled

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances we had to cancel the sessions as we must prioritise other safeguarding demands. We will be sending out materials which can be disseminated to governors, members of the SLT, and your wider safeguarding teams as a video in lieu of the cancelled event.

Please make sure you are signed up to our mailing list to see this. This will also be uploaded to the news section of our website.

We thank you for your understanding.