New 2-16 Safeguarding Progressive and Sequential Curriculum devised by Corby education trust

The curriculum, created for 2-16 year olds across IFtL’s 16 schools (including one all-though school) in Corby and Milton Keynes, gives learners opportunities to “experience life in all its diversity”, and to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills that significantly impact personal development, behaviour and welfare.

It provides detailed plans for two-year-old provision, Nursery, Reception and Years 1-8, with other years currently in development, across four integrated ‘golden threads’: British Values, Healthy Respectful Relationships, Online Safety, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

As well as the Progressive and Sequential Curriculum itself delivered primarily in PSHE/RHSE, the document is designed to support all IFtL and school leaders with promoting the education of safeguarding through whole trust and school events, wider areas of the curriculum, SMSC and assemblies, and staff briefings.

Kim Kemp, IFtL Head of Quality Assurance, Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and Headteacher at Woodnewton – A Learning Community, said that with safeguarding firmly at the heart of the trust and its schools IFtL wanted to be at the forefront of progressive preventative safeguarding practice.

“Great importance is placed on identifying opportunities in the taught curriculum for children to learn about safeguarding, and we believe that high quality of education about safeguarding and how to help all our learners know how to stay safe is fundamental,” she explained. “We know the curriculum extends beyond the academic and must provide for pupils’ broader development so that all our young people grow into confident, resilient, safe and independent positive citizens ready for life in modern Britain.

“We must equip every child with the confidence and ability to be able to ensure their own personal safeguarding and others. We constantly challenge children to think deeply about safeguarding matters and their own personal physical and mental wellbeing. Across all our IFtL schools, we value pupils’ questions and give them space for their own thoughts, ideas and concerns, and also give them opportunities across the curriculum to explore values, personal rights, responsibilities and equal opportunities that develop moral concepts that also impact positively on safeguarding. There are many opportunities throughout our learning in our schools to explore safeguarding issues.

“Our Progressive and Sequential Curriculum will help us to deliver a consistent approach to safeguarding across our schools, whilst empowering Headteachers to tailor this for their own communities.”

Victoria Blackmore, Head of Safeguarding, Children and Families at IFtL, commented: “IFtL’s mission is to be a beacon within safeguarding, child protection and adult protection working across a broad range of organisational boundaries, leading relationships externally and to start to influence the local, regional and national safeguarding developments. The launch of the Progressive and Sequential Curriculum is an important milestone, and we look forward to announcing other developments later this academic year.”

IFtL CEO Sarah Bennett added: “IFtL is committed to ensuring that all our children and young people are safe and feel safe – the right to be safe for any member of the IFtL community is non-negotiable and paramount. Safeguarding and child protection is crucial and we are fully committed to ensuring the welfare and safety of all our children and staff. IFtL and all the schools within the trust must fully adhere to all safeguarding and child protection legislation, policy and procedures always, and under any circumstances.”

IFtL’s Safeguarding Progressive and Sequential Curriculum, a collaborative development with some of the schools’ Designated Safeguarding Leads and Heads, is underpinned by statutory guidance in Keeping children safe in education, Working together to safeguard children, Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education, Education for a Connected World and the Equality Act.