Why is a Section 175/157 required?
Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 introduced statutory duties for Schools/Colleges, Governing Bodies and Local Authorities. Section 175 guidance requires governing bodies to carry out an annual review of the school’s policies and procedures, and to provide information to the Local Authority about how the duties set out in the guidance, have been discharged. A similar duty applies to proprietors of independent schools (including academies/free schools) under Section 157 of the same Act.
The Section 175/157 annual audit captures important qualitative and quantitative information, informing an overarching dataset on the status of safeguarding arrangements across the region’s educational settings.
To make this process as manageable as possible, the self-assessment process is completed using a dedicated online survey platform.
To support colleagues in completing the 2023/24 self-assessment, the S175/157 toolkit of resources and information has been developed.
