Today the Government published the updated Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE 2022). It states ‘schools and colleges play a crucial role in preventative education and is most effective in a whole school/college approach that prepares pupils/students for life in modern Britain and creates a culture of zero tolerance for sexism, misogyny/ misandry, homophobia, biphobia and sexual violence and harassment.
Over the last 12 months, LimeCulture has been working with a range of schools and colleges across the country to help design and deliver a whole school approach to preventing and responding to sexual misconduct, including child on child abuse.
Our ‘Preventing Sexual Misconduct Education’ (PSME) programmes have been developed to provide teachers and those delivering Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) with the confidence and competence to engage with young people in Key Stages 3, 4 & 5 (ages 11-18) in relation to consent, healthy relationships, sexual misconduct, body confidence, equality, and the legal framework as part of the RSE curriculum. These prevention programmes have been developed to allow flexibility in delivery through bite size sessions, with step-by-step guides, resources, and tools to support those delivering.
Feedback from our Train the Teacher session and the resources provided
The trainers did an amazing job with the material, engaged well with all the learners on the course and have helped developed some key knowledge surrounding the area. I personally feel a lot more confident about delivering the material to students in our college and feel more informed with regards to the wider landscape of sexual misconduct.
LimeCulture’s Sexual Misconduct Liaison Officer (SMLO) Model has been developed for schools and colleges to support the response to sexual misconduct for both the reporting and reported pupil/student. The SMLO Model was successfully piloted with The Perse School, an independent school, where LimeCulture staff worked closely with the leadership team, teaching staff and students to develop and embed the SMLO Model within the school. The SMLO Model has subsequently been implemented in a range of independent and state schools, with specialist accredited training delivered to a cadre of staff across the schools to enable them to appropriately support students who either report sexual misconduct or are reported against.
The SMLO Model places sexual misconduct within the strategic safeguarding response of schools, in line with statutory duties, providing the infrastructure to embed the SMLO Model into existing safeguarding structures.
Staff in schools who have received the SMLO training have said:
I thought the trainers were excellent and really enjoyed the group on a really tough subject matter. I feel empowered, not only with new knowledge and skills, but also around aspects of my safeguarding role, thanks to their advice and coaching. Thank you.
Tackling sexual misconduct can be complex and challenging but recent feedback, shows how important it is to get it rightL
I have really enjoyed working with you and speaking through the intricacies and difficulties of tackling sexual violence and misconduct in a school setting. I know that all the participants found it brilliantly useful, and I was so glad to see it all come together after so long. We are meeting this week to discuss how to roll out the SMLO model in our school and I know it will form the key foundation for our response to all these issues.
Moving forward, and in light of recent updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE 2022) LimeCulture will be combining these initiatives to provide a comprehensive Model for schools that incorporates both the prevention and response elements to allow schools and colleges to embed a Whole School Approach to Sexual Misconduct.
LimeCulture will be launching our Embedding a Whole School Approach to Sexual Misconduct: Prevention and Response Model for Schools and Colleges’ in the autumn 2022. For further information email schoolsandcolleges@limeculture.co.uk