Parents are key to ensuring good safeguarding practice

Schools and colleges are bound by statutory guidance such as Keeping children safe in education to ensure children are safeguarded from harm. However, out-of-school settings do not have to follow any specific code of conduct with regards to health & safety, safeguarding or preventing radicalisation or extremism.

The Department for Education is planning to produce guidance for parents which sets out key questions they may wish to consider when choosing an out-of-school setting for their child.

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What is an Out-of-School Setting (OOSS)?

OOSS generally provide tuition, training, instruction or activities outside of normal school hours (i.e. during the evenings, weekends, and/or school holidays), although some OOSS are run part-time during school hours to help meet the needs of those in home education.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Tuition or learning centres (which may be used to support mainstream, or home education) e.g. in term time or holiday courses in key stage 1-4 curriculum; English and mathematics skills; examination preparation (i.e. SATs, GCSE, A Level and 11 plus / school entry exams) etc.
• Extracurricular clubs or settings, e.g. ballet classes, gymnastic training, sports tuition, instrumental music tuition, martial arts training, drama classes, etc 
• Uniformed youth organisations, e.g. the Scouts and Guides;
• Open access youth providers, e.g. centre-based and detached youth work; 
• Supplementary schools or what are sometimes called complementary schools, e.g. those offering support or education in addition to the mainstream, or core learning, and which operate after school hours or during the weekend;
• Private language schools, including those for children coming from abroad;
• Religious settings which offer education in their own faith, culture, religious texts, preparation for rites of passage, etc. e.g. Jewish yeshivas and chedarim, Muslim madrassahs, Hindu OOSS, Sikh OOSS, Christian Sunday schools, etc

What will the voluntary safeguarding code of practice cover?

The code already exists in draft form and can be viewed on the government website. It is designed to help providers understand how they can run safe OOSS in ways which promote the welfare and help ensure the safety of the children attending them.

It is set out in two parts.

Part 1 outlines as a minimum three broad areas in which the Department for Education recommends that all OOSS providers adopt policies for. These are:

• Health and safety;
• Child welfare (this includes online and digital safety); and
• Suitability of staff and volunteers.

Part 2 outlines those areas which they recommend OOSS give additional consideration to when developing their practices and policies. These are:

• Governance; and
• Finance.

Each section contains questions that parents and carers might ask OOSS providers in order to satisfy themselves that their child will be safe in their care, as well as examples of good answers that the providers should be able to give.

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