Explore what attendance data is telling us about vulnerable children, the key drivers of absence, and how schools can strengthen consistency in identification and intervention. This session will illustrate good practice through practical case studies, showing how proactive attendance approaches can identify concerns early, support vulnerable pupils and improve outcomes.

Gain practical strategies to safeguard non-speaking children and those with communication differences, with a particular focus on autistic children. Explore how communication needs can affect safeguarding, how to identify concerns, and how to effectively capture and respond to the child’s voice.

Explore the impacts of domestic abuse and gain practical tools and confidence to recognise concerns, respond appropriately and provide effective support.

• Recognise how domestic abuse, including coercive control, impacts children’s safety, wellbeing, development and education.
• Identify signs and indicators of children affected by domestic abuse, including teenage relationship abuse.
• Apply child-centred, trauma-informed approaches to support and safeguard affected children.
• Understand safeguarding responsibilities, including information sharing, early intervention and multi-agency working.

• Explore emerging digital safeguarding risks, including AI, online grooming, radicalisation and self-harm.
• Learn how to use data insights proactively to strengthen interventions, training and online safety education.
• Build a whole-school digital safeguarding strategy that engages staff, governors, parents and students.

Gain practical strategies to build trust, identify and address the root barriers to engagement, and maintain effective, relationship-based communication. Explore how strong partnerships with families can improve safeguarding practice and lead to better outcomes for vulnerable children.

• Understanding the landscape and context of serious youth violence within our cities and how this affects all schools.
• Drivers and risk factors for young people and communities.
• Safeguarding and prevention for our young people.

• Explore the online ‘Manosphere’ and why their messages resonate with boys.
• How misogyny intersects with other safeguarding risks.
• How we can effectively engage young men in these conversations with compassion and understanding.

Build confidence in understanding and responding to self-harm, reducing uncertainty and stigma while equipping yourself with practical strategies to better support students and their families.

• Recognise the hidden signs of affluent neglect.
• Strengthen professional curiosity and challenge assumptions.
• Use evidence and observation to inform safeguarding decisions.
• Apply clear processes for recording and escalating concerns.

Explore some of the current safeguarding challenges and how your school and safeguarding team can respond while keeping the needs and rights of the child at the centre of decision-making:
• The growing prevalence of sadistic online exploitation (SOE), where young people are drawn into networks that use harm, humiliation and exploitation functioning as mechanisms for participation, belonging and status.
• Emerging risks associated with AI, including deepfakes, chatbots and other AI-generated content.

• Identify vulnerable children by recognising key groups, patterns, and emerging trends.
• Capture and amplify the child’s voice, overcoming barriers to effective communication.
• Support vulnerable children by removing barriers, engaging families, and strengthening safeguarding practice.
• Manage vulnerability through effective information-sharing, triangulation, multi-agency coordination and supervision.

Deepen your understanding of legal requirements and court record procedures. Strengthen your professional confidence in applying best practice.