‘You said, we did’ (86 Responses)
Schools (Up to 23rd March 2026)
61 responses – 100% either very satisfied (53/61) or satisfied (8/61) with the service.
Partners (Up to 23rd March 2026)
25 responses – 100% either very satisfied (24/25) or satisfied (1/25) with the service.
This is the third year that we have sent out a separate EVC survey. An EVC ‘you said, we did’ document will be sent out by Mick Bradshaw and will be available to view on the ‘Educational Visits’ page on the Cognus website.
You said – comments taken from the survey
We did – our response
Themes:
Training
It would be good to have some specific training on elements of safeguarding- maybe a question to answer or something to fine tune our skill set or debate in small rooms during the termly DSL updates.
We are looking to incorporate this into our sessions.
Is the in-person safeguarding transfer of information morning necessary – can the information just be sent as I get more from that the conversations on the day?
DSLs have requested that this session remains face-to-face. This year we will also be asking for a form to be completed before attending to help support the discussions. Thank you to Rachel from Cheam High for suggesting.
We would like more access to restraint training and positive/safer handling.
This training is provided by external companies. Please contact Limes College for more details on recommended providers.
We would like more training on AI.
We recently added some AI content to our bitesize training materials. Please find details of how to access here: Bitesize Safeguarding Training Videos and Accompanying Slides – Cognus
More training around online trends and usage.
We recently added updated online safety content to our bitesize training materials. Please find details of how to access here: Bitesize Safeguarding Training Videos and Accompanying Slides – Cognus
How to work with parents around avoiding pathologising. Absence and anxiety.
For support with this, please view the following pages on the Cognus website. Here you will also find contact details for the relevant teams:
Educational Psychology – Cognus
Attendance Support Team – Cognus
We would like more support on EOTAS – we have concerns about EOTAS and this being allowed for families who are maybe not doing it for the right reasons.
For support with this, please view the following pages on the Cognus website. Here you will also find contact details for the relevant teams:
Principals and Service User Eligibility – Cognus
More availability for supervision
Our supervision offer ensures that supervision is available to all that request it. We can be flexible to suit your needs and have facilitated a total of 302 supervision sessions this year, reaching 122 staff members.
In terms of Group A and B supervision, if you try to book after the first session has taken place, you may get a message saying, ‘booking closed’. If you email cpdadmin@cognus.org.uk we will be able to get you booked on.
For further information, please visit:
What is reflective safeguarding supervision? – Cognus
We often need debriefs for staff after complex incidences but there is little capacity to support these. Extra hours within the service for us to buy in this support would be helpful.
Our ‘adhoc’ supervision sessions are available to book here:
A bitesize training on cybersecurity would be helpful and an update to the online safety training as has been the same for a few years.
We recently updated our Online Safety Bitesize materials to include latest guidance, emoji education and AI. Please find details of how to access here: Bitesize Safeguarding Training Videos and Accompanying Slides – Cognus.
Or for more information around this, including bespoke training packages, please contact Stephen.welding@cognus.org.uk.
For Cyber Security training for schools, please visit:
Cyber security training for school staff | National Cyber Security Centre – NCSC.GOV.UK
This information is also available here:
Safeguarding Commonly Asked Questions – Cognus
We feel we need more on engaging parents -hardest aspect of the role.
We will try and incorporate this in our training content and in information shared in our monthly safeguarding briefings.
It would be nice to have some new posters to display in school and JPGs or PDF’s to use on our school websites. Andrew Hall used to have some but not so much now.
We will look at adding an additional tab on our safeguarding web page/commonly asked questions for you to access the latest safeguarding posters to display in and around your school.
Summer / seasonal vulnerabilities: – what support is available for families?
This information is shared in the termly ‘Youth Newsletter – Risks in the Local Area which is distributed from the Police.
We will also look at adding this content in our monthly safeguarding briefing.
Understanding better the thresholds that social service use for safeguarding e.g. what constitutes a Child Protection case?
Training on Thresholds is available via the LSCP website:
Event : Threshold-Guidance-Training-2627 – 34484
Due to popular demand, this course is now full, however you can sign up to join the waiting list.
There is another session later on in the year:
Event : Threshold-Guidance-Training-2627 – 34483
Please also familiarise yourself with the Threshold Guidance document available on the LSCP website:
Sutton Local Safeguarding Children Partnership – LSCP Policy & Practice
Informative training based on legal guidance, so it gives us background information rather than just guest speakers.
We incorporate key guidance updates into our DSL Network Sessions, with updates given by our training advisors, but will give more time to this going forward due to the amount of updates that are pending.
Information about trends and patterns locally e.g. regular updates about hate crime figures, contextual safeguarding risks, data from social care.
We recently had colleagues from our community safety team come along to our DSL Network sessions to share information. Information is also shared in the termly youth newsletter on ‘risks in the local area’.
We will continue to invite police representatives to update us on local trends.
You can also access this information in the annual reports on the LSCP website:
Sutton Local Safeguarding Children Partnership – Annual Report and Business Plans
Regular updates on online safety risks.
We will incorporate this in our monthly safeguarding briefings.
Can we have more training on the impact of SEND reform (if any) on safeguarding.
We will consider this when reviewing our training content for the year ahead.
Can we have more guidance around supporting staff across the school in terms of student mental health/self-harm?
For support with this, please view the following pages on the Cognus website. Here you will also find contact details for the relevant teams:
Educational Psychology – Cognus
CAMHS – Deborah Ayodele from CAMHS holds termly drop-ins for schools, however these are not well attended. Please get in touch with Deborah if you would like to find out the details of the next drop-in:
“Ayodele, Deborah” <deborah.ayodele@swlstg.nhs.uk>
Please also refer to the Self-Harm Protocol on the LSCP Website:
Sutton Local Safeguarding Children Partnership – LSCP Protocols
It would be useful to have more information on working with parents and disguised compliance.
We will consider this when reviewing our training content for the year ahead.
General Communication
It would be good to have consistency with other boroughs.
We are also in support of this; however each borough follows their own processes. This is part of ongoing discussions and also features in the updated Working Together guidance.
We would benefit from more timely responses from social care.
We will feed this back to the social care team on behalf of schools. There are also termly locality and education meetings for you to come along to where issues like this can be raised. Please look out for future dates in the monthly safeguarding briefings.
Improve consistency of staff team as there have been several absences or personnel changes.
We will feed this back to the social care team on behalf of schools. There are also termly locality and education meetings for you to come along to where issues like this can be raised. Please look out for future dates in the monthly safeguarding briefings.
We need to clone the Education Safeguarding team and ensure there are ‘more of them’ – they are incredible and really do make the DSL role easier – although I am aware a new team member has recently joined.
We recently had Lina, our training and review advisor, join our team. In the year ahead we will also be looking to add more capacity to support Mick, our Outdoor Education Advisor.
More timely communications regarding incidents in the local area (although the speed of notifications has improved in recent weeks).
We share information as guided by the Local Authority, Community Safety and Police Teams. This will be fed back on behalf of schools.
Can we please have more input from police? We miss our school’s liaison officer support.
This has been fed back to the LSCP. We are currently asking schools to complete the following survey to support these discussions:
Feedback on experiences since the removal of the School’s Police Teams – Fill in form
The resources have become harder to access so don’t use as often. To access the bitesize materials, you need a Microsoft login – which we don’t have.
We apologise if you have been having difficulty accessing our resources. You should not be asked for a password to access any of our materials. We are aware that this has been happening for a few schools when trying to access our bitesize materials, however this is due to how your IT systems are set up. If this persists please follow the instructions here: Bitesize Safeguarding Training Videos and Accompanying Slides – Cognus. New content is added each term, and it would be a shame for you to miss out.
You do not require a login to access our commonly asked questions:
Safeguarding Commonly Asked Questions – Cognus
Could we have a drop-in service – for an example, an afternoon which is available for DSLs to make contact and raise (non-urgent) questions/concerns?
You can contact our Education Navigator to discuss a case. If it is not urgent, then please email her and she will get back to you when she can:gillian.bush@cognus.org.uk
If you question is non-case related, then please contact hayley.cameron@cognus.org.uk.
This is available without needed a drop-in service and is frequently used.
I’m sure this is unavoidable however sometimes we get conflicting advice between the service, police and social care.
Apologies if you have experienced this. We will feedback to the relevant agencies as we should all be following the same policies and protocols. If you would like to discuss a particular case where you have received conflicting advice from the team, please get in touch: hayley.cameron@cognus.org.uk
We still do have to chase responses on occasions for referrals that have been put in but perhaps have not been triaged or waiting on the allocated social worker to make contact for example.
We will feed this back to the social care team on behalf of schools. There are also termly locality and education meetings for you to come along to where issues like this can be raised. Please look out for future dates in the monthly safeguarding briefings.
We would like more time to talk through case concerns.
You can contact our Education Navigator to discuss a case. If it is not urgent, then please email her and she will get back to you when she can:gillian.bush@cognus.org.uk
We would like to be informed when cases are closed
We will feed this back to the social care team on behalf of schools. There are also termly locality and education meetings for you to come along to where issues like this can be raised. Please look out for future dates in the monthly safeguarding briefings.
Of the 10 referrals made, 6 resulted in no further action. We were told not to inform the parents for 3 of these referrals which puts a strain on our relationship with our families, especially when cases are closed so quickly.
We will feed this back to the social care team on behalf of schools. There are also termly locality and education meetings for you to come along to where issues like this can be raised. Please look out for future dates in the monthly safeguarding briefings.
In summary:
Please see the impact statements below. We are committed to maintaining the following:
Sutton is brilliant at supporting schools- so much better than Surrey where I worked before!
The team are fantastic, and we are lucky to have them as a resource in Sutton as other boroughs do not have the same offer.
Thank you to all the team – so supportive, someone is always available- I never feel any question or query is insignificant.
The team are responsive and are non-judgemental when offering advice.
Every member of the Safeguarding team provides the best support, with the quickest response time and genuinely want to help.
Training is always excellent. Very informative but also well-paced and relevant.
Safeguarding can be such a complex and upsetting area, but the team are always so friendly, positive and helpful and work so hard and make sure all professionals well informed and supported.
The team are reflective in their practice. As all practitioners in safeguarding are, they embrace learning from a variety of sources to further enhance their practice.
The team are keen to participate in all workstreams of the LSCP whether policy development, audits, supervision for teachers, and peer support for other Safeguarding Leads in the partnership.
A great team to work with – professional, polite and thorough.
Your resources are good. I ask new staff to access them and have the link to your page on the school safeguarding page.
I like how the WhatsApp Group gives access to all staff across the brough who wish to sign up. Lots of responses which are always helpful. I like it that people can post whenever they need it. You always feel that someone is around to support.
Having worked in other boroughs I would like to say that Safeguarding in Sutton is extremely good. DSLs are well supported by the Education safeguarding and the MASH team who are approachable, professional, knowledgeable and understanding.
Always an efficient and professional service. Excellent communication within CFCS and out to the wider school economy. Highly valued contributions to strategic safeguarding developments through the LSCP.
Information and guidance is always timely, up-to-date and well delivered.
I wish the Education Safeguarding Team could help share and create their model in other local authorities. We would be lost without them.
Contacting the team always leaves me feeling supported and reassured. All team members make themselves available, are responsive, and provide clear, reliable guidance.
We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you and to maintain effective safeguarding policies, practices, and procedures across Sutton. Thank you for everything you do!