CPOMS Quality Assurance Toolkit

CPOMS safeguarding audit toolkit for DSLs – review recording quality, chronologies, actions, patterns and safeguarding practice across your primary school.

Is your school using CPOMS effectively, or simply recording lots of information?

This practical CPOMS Quality Assurance Toolkit has been designed for Designated Safeguarding Leads, deputy DSLs and senior leaders who want to review the quality rather than simply the quantity of safeguarding records.

The toolkit helps DSLs sample records systematically and ask whether entries provide a clear, factual and useful safeguarding chronology.

Use the toolkit to review:

• quality of safeguarding entries;
• factual versus subjective recording;
• whether children’s own words are captured appropriately;
• dates, times and contextual information;
• actions taken following concerns;
• evidence of DSL review and response;
• follow-up actions;
• repeated concerns;
• chronology;
• attendance information;
• patterns across different members of staff;
• cumulative safeguarding concerns;
• whether apparently minor information is being joined together;
• recording consistency across the school.

Includes:

• CPOMS quality assurance checklist;
• safeguarding chronology audit;
• recording-quality review;
• sample recording expectations;
• monthly DSL QA record;
• safeguarding recording improvement planning;
• prompts for identifying emerging patterns.

The toolkit is particularly useful for DSL monitoring, safeguarding audits, governor evidence, Ofsted preparation, termly safeguarding reviews and improving whole-school recording practice.

Although designed with CPOMS users in mind, many of the auditing principles can also be adapted for schools using alternative electronic safeguarding recording systems.

A practical resource for busy DSLs who want to be able to answer:

“If I sampled our safeguarding records today, would they tell me clearly what happened, what we did and what happened next?”

Please ensure all audits are completed in accordance with your school’s confidentiality, data protection and safeguarding procedures.