Last week the Welsh Government published new guidance for schools on peer sexual abuse, exploitation and harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) in schools. The guidance was co-written by NSPCC Cymru/Wales and Barnardo’s Cymru, and is designed to supplement existing safeguarding measures outlined in the All Wales Practice Guide on Safeguarding Children1 and the Wales Safeguarding Procedures2.
NSPCC Wales convened a steering group of professionals across the education and safeguarding sectors to input into the guidance and contributed information from existing NSPCC resources such as the Harmful sexual behaviour framework.
The guidance includes:
- definitions of the core topics covered
- an outline on the duties and responsibilities of education settings in relation to HSB
- advice on facilitating a whole school approach to preventing and responding to peer sexual abuse, exploitation and harmful sexual behaviour.
The new guidance is directed at professionals working with children up to the age of 18 in an education setting, including early years, maintained and independent schools, and further education colleges.
> Download the new guidance
References
Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board (2021) All Wales Practice Guides [Accessed 25/05/2023].Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board (2020) Wales Safeguarding Procedures. [Accessed 01/06/2021].