Implementation of MyConcern

[kellula]

Hi

 

I'm the Deputy DSL at our school, currently implementing MyConcern. Great to connect with someone who is further along with road with that process. I wonder if you could help by giving your view on a couple of things...

 

1. Confidentiality: We have a bit of an issue in that not all of the school's DSLs (Primary, Middle and Upper School) agree on how big the Team should be. It feels like we're going to struggle over time with every member of staff who reports a concern feeling that they should be on the Team. Do you use specific criteria for deciding who is on the Team or is this decided on a case-by-case basis?

2. Thresholds: Are you using it solely for child protection concerns or for wider pastoral concerns?

3. Value as legal evidence: We were advised recently that for disclosures of abuse and other issues that could end up in court, on-line systems may prove problematic in terms of being used as evidence. The preference here was for signed paper documents. How are you managing that conundrum?

 

Thank you so much in advance for any advice and/or insights.

[elsiegee40]

Split into own thread. @kellula

 

I am only going to respond on point one

 

From a Safeguarding point of view any reported concern goes direct to the DSL and nobody else has entitlement to know what happens next... not even the person who reported it.

 

The DSL may choose to involve others in specific cases, but a concern is just that ... a concern. Even when proven it is better that as few people as possible know detail. You never know what or who will be involved in a concern. It may end up being something you share with the all staff or it may end up as something taken off the DSL's hands by the police. Keep the default team small and manageable to prevent Chinese Whispers.

Edited December 5, 2017 by elsiegee40

[jmak]

We had to fight to get a third person on the official training, without which you can't be a DSL. They only relented because we knew that one of them was going on maternity leave and we didn't want to be left with only one.

 

Not sure if it's proportional to the number of students - we only have 350.

[Accura2k7]

We use MyConcern here, with 3 DSL's and all staff involved are included in the concern they raised and added to unless it is detrimental to the case. We had an issue recently and was praised by Social Services on our reporting and that all members we're able to actively add information, and see the outcome.

 

If someone reports a concern, and doesnt know the outcome, whats to stop them Whistleblowing and causing more of a problem when it would already be in hand?