Beyond Referrals - Schools
Last updated: 13 Jul 2020
Beyond Referrals: levers for addressing harmful sexual behaviour in schools
Young people report that schools are locations where students can encounter sexual harm. This can involve a range of harmful sexual behaviours (HSB) from name-calling and sexual bullying to sexual assault. Schools are also places that can provide safety to young people and promote positive ideas about gender and relationships.
Research indicates that in order to create safer school environments, schools, multi-agency partnerships and inspectorates need to work together to offer solutions to HSB that move beyond referrals to social care of the individuals involved. Instead professionals need to provide a holistic response to HSB in schools which crosses both prevention and intervention. Key thematic findings from the Beyond Referrals 2 project, along with the recommendations that followed, can be found in our briefing: Harmful sexual behaviour in school: a briefing on the findings, implications and resources for schools and multi-agency partners.
The Contextual Safeguarding team, supported by a Research Advisory Group, have created a range of resources for schools, multi-agency partnerships and inspectorates for tackling harmful sexual behaviour in schools. This page provides all the resources for schools to assess their own response to harmful sexual behaviour. This includes guidance to the traffic-light tool for self-assessment; an example completed self-assessment; a range of resources to help schools complete their self-assessment; and finally, an online scorecard where you can enter your scores and print tailored reports.
To begin, download the HSB traffic-light tool and guidance.
School Self-Assessment Toolkit & Guidance
Start by downloading the self-assessment traffic light tool for schools.
Guidance
Updated Toolkit
Toolkit Template
Completed Toolkit Example
Use this scorecard to record assessment scores for your school and print reports.
School Self-Assessment Methods
Completing your self-assessment requires using a range of methods from speaking with students, staff and parents, to reviewing policies and procedures and safeguarding logs. For complete guidance on how to do this, including templates, download and use the following guides:
Student Engagement
How do you include student experiences? Sample lesson plans, consent forms and guidance.
Hotspot Mapping Guidance
Guidance to support our hotspot mapping video, including a consent form and example discussion questions.
Student Survey Guidance
Guidance to support our template student survey for identifying harmful sexual behaviour
Webinar Guide on Student Engagement
In this webinar Jo Walker, discusses the value of running engagement sessions with students.
Student Survey Template
Use our student survey or make your own.
Video Guide on Hotspot Mapping
Video guidance on how to conduct hotspot mapping with young people to assess the physical environment and safety of the school.
Staff Engagement Guidance
Guidance on how to engage staff in a focus group with questions and template
Reviewing Behaviour Logs
A guide and template for reviewing behaviour and safeguarding logs.
Parent Survey Guidance
Guidance to support our template parent survey for engaging parents
in relation to the school’s approach to harmful sexual behaviour.
Reviewing Policies and Procedures
What to look for when reviewing policies and procedures!
Reviewing Safeguarding and Behaviour Logs in Schools
In this webinar, Jenny Lloyd outlines how to carry out reviews of school behaviour and safeguarding logs to review how schools are recording, recognising and responding to HSB.
Parent Survey Template
Survey questions ask about the level of communication and relationship parents have with the school on harmful sexual behaviour