Can we take a moment to talk about child protection?

Well, no, in many ways, we can’t.

Keeping children safe is at the very heart of what schools and teachers do. Safeguarding comes before lessons, assessment, data and targets. Quite rightly, child protection trumps everything. After all, if a child isn’t safe or doesn’t feel safe, they’re not in a position to learn effectively.

Safeguarding is a crucial part of the job and yet it is one of the things we can talk about the least. Don’t get me wrong, we can talk about the processes at large, but - for obvious reasons - we can’t talk about the specifics of individual cases.

Yet sometimes, as a designated teacher or a member of staff who has had a disclosure made to you, you really feel as if you do need to talk about the specifics with someone.

While safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, when you take on a designated person role, you can find yourself dealing with a lot more and possibly hearing things in meetings that nobody should ever have to hear.

You may have to stay late at school unexpectedly because, funnily enough, safeguarding issues don’t always follow working hours. Then you can find yourself at home in the evening, unable to shift your thoughts from a child or a family going through a situation that you wouldn’t ever wish any child to go through.

The issues can feel overwhelming

At times, you may find yourself replaying events that have unfolded over in your mind and disagreeing with how social services have handled them, even when you know they’ve done the best they could, within the guidelines, rules and laws that govern them, not to mention their workloads.  

Sometimes your protective streak kicks in and you want to say to everyone, “To hell with this because I know something isn’t right here.” But gut instinct alone is, of course, not enough.

And then, at times, one of the worst feelings of all can descend: powerlessness. You might find yourself feeling like a small cog in a large machine, and the sheer unfairness of the issues stacked up against a child can seem overwhelming. You feel that way, and you’re just the one observing it, not the poor kid living it.

In those moments, I remember something I heard during a speech at a looked-after children’s conference. The young man speaking had spent most of his life in care and retold his story in a very powerful way. He said there was one teacher who never gave up on him. But at the time, this young man was so full of anger that he never once showed this teacher how much the encouragement and support meant to him. Even to this day, the teacher would not know how much he helped by continually showing that support.

Bear this in mind the next time you find yourself feeling like a small cog in a large, unbearable machine; you will often still be having an impact on children who need it most. You might not know it at the time - you may never know - but the difference you make could be truly significant.

Claire Lotriet is an assistant headteacher at Henwick Primary School in London. She tweets @OhLottie

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