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Welcome to the NYSCP June 2024 edition of our e-bulletin
The Summer Solstice, sometimes known as Midsummer, Litha or St John’s Day occurs on 20th June in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s a celebration of the longest day of the year and beginning of summer. The first full moon in June is the Honey Moon and traditionally it was considered to be the best time to harvest honey from hives and has always been a popular time to get married. This is no doubt because June is a beautiful time of year where we normally expect hot weather and sunshine (even in this country).
Living in North Yorkshire we are surrounded by beautiful countryside with picturesque rural villages. It is very easy to become lost in the beauty of this time of year, which is why in June we focus on Safeguarding Week. This year for safeguarding week, the NYSCP together with partners across the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board, Community Safety Partnership, and our colleagues in the City of York and East Riding partnerships are running a series of events across the week to raise awareness on a variety of topics including Prevent, Learning from National Reviews, Online safety including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Dark Web, Managing Allegations and Safer Working Practice. If you would like to find out more on these and other subject visit the programme of events available from:
Earlier in June is Child Safety Week. Throughout the week we are seeking to raise awareness of child safety issues on a variety of different subject including Button Batteries, Blind Cords and our #AskMe campaign (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtq2mOqW84Q).
The online world continues to develop and is both a vital learning tool, but also an area of risk for children and young people. Over Child Safety Week we also want to raise awareness of online dangers and the information we have for parents and carers on our website:
- Games, consoles, smart devices and how to keep your child safe
- Online Safety
- Reporting online images of my child
As we approach the holiday season it is also worth keeping in mind of the risks from open water and open water swimming. Our partners at the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have produced some informative videos about water safety and we have developed some guidance for parents and carers which can be accessed from our website (https://www.safeguardingchildren.co.uk/parents-carers/water-safety/).
Finally, please remember that the NYSCP has a variety of resources in different formats, all available from our website, YouTube channel, and social media streams. Please subscribe and follow us, and if you want to get in touch, you can always email nyscp@northyorks.gov.uk.
Haydn Rees Jones, Policy and Development Officer
Jump to…
- Do your PART
- Practice Guidance of the month: Professional Curiosity
- Local Policing Support – the new name for our Partnership Hub
- North Yorkshire Youth Commission 23/24 Final Report
- National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Briefing on Children in Elective Home Education
- Financially Motivated Sexual Extortion: Alert for partners
- New interactive learning resource from Childnet looking at reliability online
- Child Safety Week: Top safety tips for families
- Child Safety Week: Get involved
- Attendance and mental wellbeing in schools and colleges
- NYSCP Being Young in North Yorkshire/Early Help Strategy Consultation Events
- Upcoming Masterclasses
Check out the programme of events planned for Safeguarding Week 2024 and get booked on to sessions, don’t forget to share this with your colleagues!
Top Tip: Liaise with your colleagues as to which sessions you all plan to attend and then you can get together afterwards and share learning – how many sessions can you and your team attend across the week?
Practice Guidance of the month: Professional Curiosity
Professional curiosity is a practice mindset and communication skill that involves exploring and understanding what is happening by asking questions and maintaining an open mind. It is about understanding one’s own responsibility in managing risk and safety and knowing when to act, rather than making assumptions and taking things at face value.
All interactions that professionals have with children, young people, families, and adults with care and support needs, and other professionals provide a valuable opportunity to develop meaningful and rich conversations and relationships based on seeing and developing strengths. To do this, we need to actively seek to gain a full and deep understanding of their lives of the people we are working with.
Our professional curiosity practice guidance has just been updated, in collaboration with North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adult’s Board – NYSCP (safeguardingchildren.co.uk)
Local Policing Support – the new name for NYP’s Partnership Hub
North Yorkshire Police’s Partnership Hub has changed its name to Local Policing Support. You may work with some of the team as they work across a wide range of policing areas and multi-agency projects.
The department has changed its name to better reflect the work and remit of the team and to bring them in line with similar teams in other police forces who carry out the same work.
A reminder of what teams are included within Local Policing Support can be found online.
North Yorkshire Youth Commission 23/24 Final Report
Following the North Yorkshire Youth Commission, Big Conversation conference earlier this year, the North Yorkshire Youth Commission Report for 2023/2024 has been published, based on peer-led research with over 1,700 young people across the county on six priority issues selected by young people:
• Discrimination
• Relationships with police and authorities
• Drugs, gangs and county lines
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Online Safety
• Gender violence and safer streets
This work and report, carried out under the former Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, contains recommendations to be taken forward by the Mayor, North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and partners.
National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Briefing on Children in Elective Home Education
In their May Newsletter, the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel provided a short briefing paper about the safeguarding of children in elective home education. The briefing outlines common themes and patterns identified in reviews where children died or were seriously harmed while being electively home educated.
The review outlines that over half of the children in this study were previously known to children’s social care; of those who were withdrawn from school or had never attended school, health practitioners were often the main professionals who had knowledge of the child before the serious harm or death occurred. Therefore, they outline that it is crucial that effective multi-agency working is at the heart of local responses to help and protect this group of children.
The Panel recommends that safeguarding partners assure themselves about the effectiveness of their local systems to help safeguard children who are electively home educated. Learning from reviews highlights the importance of ensuring there is good safeguarding training on offer for elective home education teams within local authorities, and also that these teams are well connected with other children’s services. Therefore, they suggest that safeguarding partnerships take appropriate action to make sure that all professionals understand their roles and responsibilities with respect of this group of children. The full report can be found here.
Financially Motivated Sexual Extortion: Alert for partners
Globally, there has been a large increase in reports of children and young people being forced into paying money or meeting another financial demand (such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card) after an offender has threatened to release nudes or semi-nudes of them. This is financially motivated sexual extortion, a type of online blackmail often referred to in the media as ‘sextortion’. It is a form of child sexual abuse.
Financially motivated sexual extortion is usually carried out by organised crime groups (OCGs) based overseas who are typically motivated by money. These groups target all ages and genders however, a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18.
For more information visit our website.
New interactive learning resource from Childnet looking at reliability online
Childnet are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new, interactive and gamified resource helping young people to decide what they can trust when they are online.
‘Reliability Online’ has been developed in partnership with the Childnet Youth Advisory Board and covers a variety of risks including AI generated imagery, scams, fake news, giveaways, body image, and social media bots. Reliability Online | Childnet
Child safety week: Top safety tips for families
Swim safe this Summer
Whilst it may not seem warm enough to go for a swim yet, it’s never too soon to be thinking about water safety.
It’s scary to think about but drowning doesn’t happen like it does in the movies. A drowning child doesn’t splash about or cry for help. They slip quietly under the water, often unnoticed.
But, once you understand how and where drowning happens, there are things you can do to prevent it.
Be burns aware
BBQ season will soon be upon us and we can’t wait to enjoy eating outside again. Just remember a BBQ and the ground underneath it can stay hot enough to cause a serious burn for a long time after it’s been used.
So, stay alert and keep children well away from the cooking area until it’s completely cooled.
Is your garden child-friendly?
Are you lucky enough to have a garden? Or can your child play in the garden of family or friends? Outdoor play is a great way to burn off energy but not every garden is child friendly.
So, make sure chemicals like weed killer and fertiliser are kept away from curious youngsters and garden tools are locked away in a shed.
Children choking on food
Four top tips to stop young children choking:
- Stay with babies and young children while they eat.
- Learn how best to cut up their food:
- grapes, strawberries, small tomatoes – cut lengthways and into quarters
- sausages, cheese, large hard fruit – cut into thin strips.
- Avoid some foods until they’re older – hard sweets, whole nuts, popcorn and marshmallows.
- Learn basic first aid so you know what to do in an emergency.
Child Safety Week: Get involved
Get involved: Child Safety Week 2024 runs from Monday 3rd to Sunday 9th June.
Child Safety Week is the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s annual community education campaign, acting as a catalyst for thousands of safety conversations and activities UK-wide.
We help families build confidence and skills in managing the real risks to children’s safety.
We want all children to have the freedom to grow and learn, safe from serious harm.
Don’t miss out. Grab your free Child Safety Week resources.
Attendance and mental wellbeing in schools and colleges
Some children and young people may find it harder to attend school or college than others and can face several barriers. This can include pupils who have long-term mental health difficulties or who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Absence or reduced attendance can sometimes be rooted in emotional, mental health or wellbeing issues.
Although absence can be a complex issue, school and college staff can support children and young people by focusing on the specific needs of individuals as part of a whole-school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.
School and college staff should work together in partnership with children and young people, their families and other agencies to provide support.
Mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk have produced some resources which are aimed at helping schools and colleges support children and young people who are experiencing difficulties with attendance and mental wellbeing.
The resources are divided into materials for use by school or college staff, children and young people, and parents and carers.
NYSCP Being Young in North Yorkshire / Early Help Strategy Consultation Events
Being Young in North Yorkshire 2021-2024 is the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Strategy for children and young people living in North Yorkshire, with a vision that “all children and young people are safe, happy, healthy and able to achieve in North Yorkshire”. As we move as a partnership to develop a new Being Young in North Yorkshire Strategy from 2025, we would like to take the opportunity to consult with partners on the impact of the current strategy, shine a light on areas of achievement and good practice in line with our four key themes, and identify areas of focus and priority.
The Early Help Strategy outlines what Early Help looks like and how the approach works across North Yorkshire. The strategy is due for review and it is vital to consult with partners on their views of the Early Help, remembering that The Early Help System is not a single service. It is a network of services, processes and interactions that aim to help children, young people and families at the earliest opportunity. Improving this system requires clarity of what success looks like, shared across a range of partners, and informed by the voices of managers, practitioners and families.
As a partnership, we have arranged a series of online consultation events as an opportunity for you to share your views and help us shape the future development of these strategies. Three sessions have been arranged, for you to select and attend the most convenient session for you, involvement at all three sessions is not required, if you are interested in been involved please email us at nyscp@northyorks.gov.uk confirming which session you would like to attend and we will send you the meeting link.
- Tuesday 2nd July 2024, 9:30 – 11:00
- Thursday 4th July 2024, 16:30 – 18:00
- Wednesday 10th July 2024, 12:00 – 13:30
Upcoming Masterclasses
- Wednesday 5th June, 12-1pm – Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector
- Wednesday 3rd July, 12-1pm – Home Environment Assessment Toolkit (HEAT)
- Wednesday 11th September, 12-1pm – NYSCP Business Unit updates
- Wednesday 9th October, 12-1pm – Vaping and Young People in North Yorkshire
- Wednesday 6th November, 12-1pm – Professional Curiosity
- Wednesday 4th December, 12-2pm – Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 – Partnership updates
Useful Links
- Worried about a child?
- NYSCP Website, including
- NSPCC – CASPAR Weekly updated
- CEOP – Think U Know
- CYPS info
Did you know you can sign up to receive this bulletin directly into your mailbox at NYSCP e-Bulletin (mailchi.mp)
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