The trend
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. MyVoice – the latest in a range of award-winning solutions from The Safeguarding Company – is an open access reporting system that will empower anyone associated with your community to report safeguarding concerns.
MyVoice is quick to set up, simple to use and gives everyone, everywhere a voice for their safeguarding concerns.
What’s happening?
In 2021, Following historical claims of sexual abuse in schools, the government tasked Ofsted with carrying out a ‘rapid review of sexual abuse’ in schools and colleges. The report following Ofsted’s subsequent review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges recommended that all schools “provide an anonymous reporting system”, with due consideration given to the additional challenges and barriers involved with reporting issues concerning children with SEND.
More recently, the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse showed that many institutions lack appropriate policies and procedures. A section of the report, titled ‘I kept trying to tell them’, details how “Victims and survivors often said that the adults around them failed to notice that they were being sexually abused as a child, despite clear signs.”
The report also highlighted that ‘for some children, incidents are so commonplace that they see no point in reporting them.’
What’s the impact?
Following the publication of these reports, the need to give everyone – especially children – a voice has never been more urgent. The Ofsted report highlighted that 79% of girls surveyed said they had experienced some form of sexual assault.*
We at The Safeguarding Company were saddened to hear of how these issues are affecting children and young people. It’s the duty of every society to take care of all children and adults, wherever they live, learn and work. We therefore hope that the recommendations outlined in both reports will result in positive outcomes, and that with the correct reporting systems in place, children will be able to thrive.
Our bank of free resources can help educate teachers and pupils about what constitutes a safeguarding concern, and how to report them.
*Approximately 900 children aged 13 and above participated in a focus group for the report.
What’s next?
In response to these reports’ findings and customer demand, we’ve created MyVoice. This is a bespoke platform that enables anyone to report a concern quickly, easily, and anonymously** (if the establishment so chooses).
We believe that by providing a secure, easily accessible reporting tool, schools can carry out early interventions, embed an open safeguarding culture and provide better support for anyone who needs it.
Schools using MyVoice can set their own mandatory and optional fields within reporting forms to ensure that only specific information is recorded. MyVoice can also be made available to anyone in your community without direct access to MyConcern (our award-winning recording and case management software).
MyVoice users can therefore include anyone within your network, such as students, parents, volunteers and contractors.
**The system’s anonymity function can be optionally activated at the customer’s behest.
GET INVOLVED
MyVoice is simple to use, and can be integrated within your school’s website or intranet facilities within minutes, thus supporting Ofsted’s recommendations for schools to “provide an anonymous reporting system” that’s accessible to all.
The option to add custom logos and branding further allows forms to be tailored your organisation or school. See how MyVoice can enhance your pupil recording and safeguarding procedures – thesafeguardingcompany.com/myvoicedemo
Discover more…
Find out more about how MyVoice can help you create the right safeguarding culture in your establishment by visiting thesafeguardingcompany.com/myvoice.
You can also join The Safeguarding Community to connect with other safeguarding leads – for more details, visit thesafeguardingcompany.com/the-safeguarding-community.
For more information, call 0330 6600 757 or email info@thesafeguardingcompany.com.
