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In light of the developing situation regarding Covid-19 we have made the decision to suspend our training programme. This is to ensure that all of our colleagues across our multi-agency partnership can focus on delivery of essential business and preparation for any further developments.
We appreciate your understanding of the current exceptional circumstances, and all courses will be rescheduled in due course.
In the meantime we will work to identify suitable virtual opportunities for essential learning and share these with you.
We are of course suspending our cancellation policy and there will be no charges made for any of our courses whilst our programme is suspended.
The KBSP Inter-agency Training Programme aims to increase participants’ knowledge and skills in the field of safeguarding in order to provide high quality services and improve outcomes for children and adults with care and support needs.
It's our objective to deliver quality training in a safe and reflective environment, and to offer opportunities to all participants to support their own professional development.
Training people together can make a significant contribution to building mutually respectful and trusting relationships, which form the foundation of any partnership working; therefore the process and experience of the courses are as important as the content. Research has shown (Carpenter et al, 2009, The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-Agency safeguarding Training to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. London: DCSF) that multiagency training in particular is useful and valued by professionals in developing a shared understanding of child protection and decision making.
To be considered for one of the KBSP training courses you should follow the steps outlined on page 5 of the training programme and complete the application form.
KBSP training programme April 2020 - July 2020
KBSP application form 2019-2020
Please read the training pathways and course descriptions in the training programme before applying to ensure you’re booking the correct training.
Please check the FAQs before emailing us with any queries.
KBSP recommends that Child Protection Leads and Senior Management update training at inter-agency level at least every two years. Other staff should update at least every three years. Please refer to the training pathways on page 6 of the programme to determine what training you need to do. All agencies should be giving in-house updates of a regular nature as well as sending people on our courses.
Keeping Bristol Safe Partnership has previously offered inter-agency Adult Safeguarding training courses for professionals who work with adults with care and support needs. This training is aimed at anyone responsible for making safeguarding decisions about adults at risk in Bristol, either through specialist direct work with high-risk groups or as safeguarding lead for an organisation, care provider or sector.
We do not currently have any course dates confirmed for Adults Safeguarding but if there is sufficient interest we may be able to run this training again. Please register your interest by contacting us
For more information on adult safeguarding courses available in Bristol read the Training Materials
Identify which working group is most relevant for you in relation to Child Protection and Safeguarding duties – then select any course appropriate for that working group which you have not already completed. The training programme is refreshed annually so there will always be a range of options when refreshing.
Levels can mean different standards to each of our organisations, so we avoid using them for our courses as it causes confusion. The only exception to this is NHS staff. For those staff we have met with Safeguarding Leads in your settings to confirm what level our courses are and you will find this information in the course description.
We have mapped the training programme to your intercollegiate document with the help of your colleagues. You should still select the working group that best describes your Child Protection duties and responsibilities. When you select a course ensure that it is relevant to your working group, and check the course description to ensure that it meets your required intercollegiate level.
Single agency training is specific to the work of your organisation. It can be delivered at any level of skill and knowledge, from a basic induction for Group A staff, to a highly specialist course providing specific techniques for practitioners, or a specialist course covering the exact duties of safeguarding leads within your organisation.
Inter-agency training focuses on more generic child protection topics that are relevant to all agencies working with children and families, and all inter agency courses will be attended by and/or delivered by a number of organisations. Inter-agency training will always contain a focus on how organisations work together to keep children safe, how to balance the competing priorities involved and how to overcome the barriers that exist.
Firstly, because we know there are lots of challenges involved in working together to keep children safe from harm – and over the last 20 years there have been a significant number of child deaths where difficulties in working together were highlighted. The more we learn about working with each other, and the more we put this into practice, the less likely those mistakes will continue to happen. As a result of those mistakes there is also a legal duty on us all to work together, and train together.
The Child Protection landscape changes frequently. We have changes in legislation, in statutory guidance, and also in terms of our awareness of different types of abuse. We also have innovations in practice that enable us to develop new, effective, methods for working with families. If your job involves contact with children and/or families then you will never know everything there is to know about Child Protection. It is fantastic to bring that knowledge and experience to inter agency courses so that newer practitioners can benefit from it.
We revise the training programme and publish a new one each year (April – March). Not all courses are offered every year so it could be that we are not offering the course you are looking for. Email us with the details so that we can add your request to our training needs analysis, and if it turns out we can help you find the course elsewhere we will let you know.
If a course proves more popular than we expect then, if we have capacity, we will run additional dates. If the course is full then complete an application form and send it in and we will place you on the waiting list and contact you if further dates are offered. If at all possible, book places early to avoid disappointment
Please contact the Training Administrator as soon as you are aware that they will not be able to attend the course due to illness. We need all cancellations in writing. Please email KBSP.training@bristol.gov.uk
You can find details of our cancellation policy on page 37 of our training programme. The policy will be quoted on your confirmation email when you book a place on one of our events.
Yes – as long as they belong to the same working group as you in terms of their safeguarding responsibilities. If you do need to change who will be attending a course then send us an application form for the new participant and confirm in the email who they are replacing, and whether you would like an alternative date for the person who can no longer attend.
Every year we send out a training needs questionnaire to our partner organisations, to safeguarding leads in those organisations and we encourage them to share this with anyone who might want to contribute to telling us what training is needed in Bristol for the year ahead. We also offer courses bases on learning identified in Serious Case Reviews, and Child Protection Incident Reviews and in response to any national or local priorities identified as relevant to child protection. We won’t always offer courses, sometimes we will recommend training delivered by another organisation to meet these needs.
Training is only useful if it makes a difference to how you do your job. Part of our evaluation process is to ensure that your manager is considering whether the training was value for money, how it has affected your practice, and what further needs might arise as a result you completing a course with us.
This is related to the ongoing evaluation of our training and its effect on practice. You can find details on page 38 of our programme.
We need to know how you are using the training that you attended, and how useful you found it. We also need to find out if there are any concerns about the training, and we want to hear about any suggestions for improving our training. The online questionnaires only take a few minutes to complete but they provide us with lots of important information.
In order to ensure that the courses all run with an inter-agency group we often limit the number of places allocated to each type of organisation. All your staff will complete the same course, but we might book them onto different sessions so that the inter agency mix is maintained.
This isn’t unusual, lots of people carry more than role at work. To decide which course is best for you, think about what your current training need is, and book on the course that is appropriate for that part of your work. For example, if you are an advanced practitioner and also a manager, which course you choose would depend on whether you wanted to develop your practice skills, or whether your focus was your role as a safeguarding manager. If you want to develop some awareness of a type of abuse you have not encountered before then you might choose to book onto an awareness course, even though you have advanced practitioner skills in other areas.
To make the right decision read the course content before making your choice.
Yes we can if we have capacity. Please see page 35 of our programme for further details
KBSP Training Admin, Tel. 0117 922 4626, email: KBSP.training@bristol.gov.uk
Bristol wants to do better for our children and families across the city. Practitioners tell us that they often struggle to identify and explain exactly what neglect issues exist within a family, using language that everyone understands. This has also caused difficulties when referrals are made to other agencies as the level of neglect, and the impact it is having isn’t always clear.
To help us to improve this area of our work the Keeping Bristol Safe Partnership has agreed to fund an evidence based tool that clearly identifies what level of Neglect is present, and the impact this is likely to have on children within the family – GCP2. This tool is suitable for use by any practitioner that works directly with children and families across Bristol.
In order to use this tool in your work with families you need to attend and pass one of the training days that we are putting on over the next year. Don’t worry, other Local Authorities report 100% of staff attending the course passed it.
As soon as you have been to the training you can start to use the tool in your work. Completing a GCP2 assessment will provide you with clear evidence of which areas of neglect are an issue, and how much of an impact they are having. You will then use your existing professional skills and judgement to assess why the neglect is present, and what action needs to be taken.
This tool integrates easily into your existing assessments, and works well with our Signs of Safety approach. This is not about creating more work; it is about evidencing clearly the work that you already do, and making plans and interventions more effective.
If this is something that would help you in your work then please talk to your manager and arrange to attend one of the dates. Please only apply for this training if you believe you will use the tool in your role.
The following course dates are available to book:
To apply for a course date, please complete an application form and send to KBSP.Training@bristol.gov.uk
Please note that while these events are free, if you have booked a place and do not attend your organisation will be charged £80 for your place. Therefore, you must supply invoicing details on your application form.
The Awareness Briefings are suitable for anyone who does not need to use the GCP2 tool themselves, but manages teams that will, or works in partnership with agencies that will be using the tool. The aim of the briefing is to ensure that you understand what this tool does, how it can help your staff and families that you work with, and why it is so effective in identifying neglect.
The next briefing will take place on:
Thursday 3rd June 2020 at City Hall, City Centre Bristol
This event is free but you must book a place through Eventbrite to attend. Please click on the date to take you to the Eventbrite page.
GCP2 Information for Professionals