Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility, but once a disclosure is made only certain individuals should access it. That’s why we’ve expanded our child profile Notes feature into General, Confidential and Safeguarding options, with access restricted by new permissions.
These permissions are off by default, preventing unintentional disclosure, and only Directors and Managers can set them. But as safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, anyone can make a Confidential or Safeguarding Note if they’re permitted access to the Child Profile.
What’s new:
- Notes can now be categorised into Confidential Notes and Safeguarding Notes, putting every concern in just the right hands
- Add additional notes as follow-ups, include attachments and export for passing on to authorities – no more rifling through filing cabinets or flipping through sheets
- Any staff member can add a Confidential or Safeguarding Note, even if they’re not permitted to read them afterwards
- Notifications sent to those with access when a new note or follow-up is added, so relevant staff know straightaway
- An easy-to-read details page, giving a clear timeline and actions required for Designated Safeguarding Leads, SENCOs or others
- New Child notes area added to Safeguarding, keeping all relevant information in one place
- Everything stored in one place for straightforward and robust safeguarding compliance
A filing cabinet in the palm of your hand
Previously, you might have recorded disclosures or concerns on paper, filed them away and locked the cabinet. But anyone with the cabinet keys could access that disclosure, or the documents might find their way into a public bin (as happened to Wolverhampton City Council) constituting a serious breach.
Now, you can make those disclosures digital – if you want to. We’ve expanded our Notes feature to include Confidential and Safeguarding tiers, representing progressively higher restrictions to access. Here’s a little overview of how that works:
- General Notes
- Contain everyday information, and are accessible to all staff marked as having access to the child’s information
- Confidential Notes
- For sensitive family information like separations, court orders and collection arrangements. Accessible to staff given the new ‘confidential access’ permission
- Safeguarding Notes
- Information for Designated Safeguarding leads only, such as safeguarding concerns, disclosures, concerning changes in behaviour. DSLs are now set in the Staff Profile
Safeguarding timelines and follow-ups
From a Confidential or Safeguarding Note come a timeline of follow-ups, attachments (like your Local Authority’s Cause for Concern or similar compliance form) and further actions. Everything is stored – who recorded it, when, and what happened – in an easy-to-follow format on the details page. And these (notes, follow-ups, attachments) can be exported as a zip directly to the computer (only System Owners can do this) for sharing with authorities or higher powers that need to get involved.
When these Confidential or Safeguarding Notes are created, or a General Note is upgraded to a higher tier, those with access to said Notes are notified. This includes follow-ups, archives and un-archives, so those who need to know are aware straightaway and can navigate straight to the relevant Note from wherever they might currently be in the platform.
Ways to access
This safeguarding information is designed to be accessible to those who need it, and hidden for those who don’t. On the Child Profile under Notes, there’s a list and new filters to pull the relevant information forward. If the member of staff doesn’t have the correct permission level, they aren’t made aware anything is missing – it simply isn’t shown.
The same is true for the new Child Notes area under Safeguarding, where all child notes that a member of staff has access to are shown, and can be exported by System Owners.
And while information from the Notes isn’t pulled through to the Safeguarding Insights dashboard, it all paints a picture of where intervention is required or something needs addressing.
Upgrade your safeguarding with Ovivio
If you’re working on paper for one thing, a system for another, your nursery operations aren’t streamlined. Safeguarding children is paramount, and keeping all the information in one place – along with everything else your nursery does – makes life simpler for both running your business and staying inspector-compliant.
If you don’t have one already, take a look at a system that does it all with a support team that know what you’re facing, because they’ve faced it. Only with Ovivio.
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