Resources

*New* CIS International Safeguarding Toolkit

New offering! The CIS International Safeguarding Toolkit is an online developmental tool to help CIS member schools monitor current practices, understand opportunities for development and growth, track progress, and create a common understanding with school communities on how a school safeguards the students in their care. The toolkit will support a school at any stage of development to improve and manage safeguarding in a school.

Schools will use this toolkit to:

• Identify areas of strength and areas for development. The toolkit content applies to schools in any legal or cultural context, and indicators will point out where schools need to confer with in-country laws.
• Explore resources available exclusively within the toolkit for guided learning within your school.
• Create reviews for each element for communications and reporting within the school community.
• Prepare information and evidence for any accreditation process.

CIS members can find more information about the toolkit in the CIS Community portal for schools.

Child Protection & Safeguarding

• International Taskforce for Child Protection (ITFCP)
  • Safer Recruitment Checklist (2024)
  • Standards
  • Expectations for School Communities have been strengthened* to highlight leading safeguarding and child protection practices.
  • Student Voice: Data, Guidance and Resources: This report focuses on the importance of student voice in the development of safeguarding and child protection practices. This report is accompanied by guidance, survey tools and resources for school use as they consider how to seek and incorporate student voice in their safeguarding programs and practices.
     
• International Protocol (2024) for international schools to manage allegations of child abuse by educators and other adults. Abuse of children by adults in positions of trust is a significant risk facing schools and other organisations around the world. While it is possible to manage allegations effectively, the reality on the ground is that many allegations are being, and have been, handled poorly by schools, sometimes with little or no support from external agencies. The result is that some abusers have been able to move on without challenge. This protocol is the ITFCP and the Safeguarding Unit’s combined response to this. This article from the ITFCP and CIS colleagues introduces the protocol, sets out some of the challenges faced by international school leaders and how schools can use the protocol to manage allegations effectively.
   
• How to prevent and respond to child abuse, neglect, and sexual exploitation—The International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP) and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) joined forces to provide resources via the ICMEC Educator Portal on how to prevent and respond to child abuse for educators worldwide. Find resources and guidance on all child protection topics including writing and evaluating policies, developing safer recruitment practices, and educating staff, parents, and students on prevention and response to abuse when it does occur. Watch a video tour of the Education Portal to start your learning.

Criminal Background Check Procedures

CIS leads the way in promoting high standards of child protection through effective recruitment. We were the first organisation providing international educational recruitment services to require a full criminal background check history of our candidates, which is aligned with the recommendations of the ITFCP. Our schools are expressly committed to ensuring student well-being and safety and a crucial aspect of this is screening potential employees. We support our teachers with meeting this requirement by providing advice and resources. Our child protection workshops provide training to school leaders and counsellors that empower schools to build robust child safeguarding policies and effective reporting procedures.

We recommend you gather background checks from every country where you have worked. Use the below resources to learn how to request this information.

• National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) | Pre-employment screening guidance
• UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) | Criminal records checks for overseas applicants
   

• Safer Recruitment Standards.
• Association of International Schools in Africa's Child Protection Handbook.
• Safeguarding and Well-being guidance from legal firm Farrer & Co. who specialize in child abuse cases. It’s an overview of key considerations and guidance on risk assessments.
• NSPCC Lone Working Guidance contains information about how to protect staff, faculty and young people involved in one-to-one sessions.

Data protection, cybersecurity & safeguarding

• This is increasingly important in international schools due to new legal obligations worldwide relating to data protection and cybersecurity. Review these case studies and consider the possible scenarios within your school community to develop suitable policies.

Helplines and virtual counselling organisations

• Find a mental health helpline in your country
• Find a trusted child helpline in your country.

The following organizations offer virtual counselling:

• Amwell
• Better help
• Expat Nest
• RNG International
• Truman Group
• William & Associate Counselling Services

Grief

• Helpful tips for teachers and faculty on how to support bereaved students.
• This resource provides advice on how to support students experiencing traumatic grief.
• This is a free online support group for those experiencing grief.

Online safety & virtual learning

(see also Data protection and cybersecurity)

• Schools launching/using virtual learning platforms and online classrooms should review their existing child protection and safeguarding policies and consider implementing specific guidelines. View this CIS guidance on keeping students safe and protecting their well-being in online and remote learning environments, plus these safeguarding implications for online learning.
• Guidance on the role of the school counsellor during online and remote learning, please see this Position Statement issued by ISCA.
• This ICMEC Safer School Infographic sets out key principles of e-learning and child protection.
• SWGfL’s Safe Remote Learning and this DfE guidance on Safeguarding and Remote Education during Coronavirus (COVID-19) for information about safeguards to put in place when organising classes online.
• Guidance on eight solutions to adapt safeguarding & well-being curriculum for remote learning environments.
• Childnet International develops and raises awareness of excellent resources for children of all ages and their blog contains advice and resources to use during the COVID pandemic. Their Digital Leadership Programme empowers students to have agency to promote online safety.
• Europol’s infographics are for students and parents and professionals and employers.
• Childnet’s toolkit with practical online safety advice for parents and carers. Includes tips and guidance for parents about how to keep themselves and their children safe online.
• Free ebook for parents looks at how parents can keep their children safe online.  

Peer-on-peer abuse

• Peer-on-peer abuse toolkit by Farrer & Co. provides an overview of how schools can address peer-on-peer abuse.
• This briefing provides guidance on how schools and universities can protect students from peer-on-peer abuse. The briefing is a more detailed, longer version of a blog and contain more guidance exclusively for our members. The information is based on a series of conversations with students since 2018 about different forms of peer-on-peer abuse provides the first-hand context and a strong foundation for the guidance in this blog and briefing. Find ways that schools and universities can prevent and respond to this form of harm, specifically looking at some of the challenges and strengths facing institutions that serve geographically mobile and culturally diverse student bodies. We’ve also been careful to reflect on the Coronavirus, anti-racism, and diversity and how these may also have an impact on peer-on-peer abuse. We hope that the information and links to resources will help to support you in your roles as you work to protect students.

Protecting your own well-being 

• A blog about the impact of loneliness on rising rates of substance abuse
• Advice from Dr Mitchell to help your staff and parents establish a routine and protect their well-being in isolation.
•  This self-care resource has many simple activities which students can do at home. Staff, faculty, and parents might also find this self-care tool helpful.
•  This webinar series from Harvard helps you to deal with daily stress, anxiety, and a range of other emotions.

Reporting

• Report online child sexual abuse material to international hotlines.
• Reporting routes for inappropriate, harmful, or illegal material directly to the service provider on their website.
• This Managing Allegations Protocol (2024) will help you to prepare for and respond to any allegations against staff or volunteers.

Research

• Research and data about well-being (2020)—What are your graduating students' concerns and how can we help? The pandemic brought uncertainty, loss and hardship to many students graduating from secondary school this year. Part of our mission is to help you guide students as they transition from secondary school to higher education. Here are three ways that you and your colleagues can help them. Thanks to 130 school counsellors, we have a better idea of students' biggest concerns. Read the executive summary / full report.

Resources for students of all ages

• Storybook for children on COVID-19: My Hero is You.
• Barnardo’s wish box.
• Young Minds self soothe box.

Young Minds and Childline’s advice and resources for students on:

• Looking after your mental health while self-isolating.
• What to do about self-harm.
• Coping with suicidal feelings.

Student Minds’ guidance and links for students to:

• Look after their mental health
• Access guidance for ongoing mental health difficulties
• Look after your health if self-isolating
• Tackle xenophobia
• Support friends & family

Suicide & self-harm: prevention and response 

• Suicide safer schools and colleges guide for teachers and staff (Papyrus)
• Suicide prevention toolkit for schools
• Suicide postvention
• Advice and guidance on self-harm
• Practical advice for parents on how to support a child who is self-harming.

University guidance and transitions for older students

Financial Aid 

• CIS Financial Aid Tool
• Acceptance rates and financial aid charts for US universities

Connecting with CIS universities 

• CIS contact database for admissions personnel.
• Our partners Concourse (now part of EAB) enable universities to receive detailed profiles of well-matched students and make admission offers based on their academic performance, interests, and financial needs—flipping the script on traditional admissions. Their reinvention of how this has historically worked creates a student-centric and equitable admissions process. Students create a simple profile outlining their personal and educational interests and qualifications. The profiles are certified by the students’ counsellors. Universities are presented with anonymized versions of the profiles that match their criteria and can make proactive offers of admission and scholarship. There is no cost to CIS member schools or students to use this service. If you have students ready to graduate who are still considering university offers or still investigating options, contact Concourse to learn how this service can help now. Learn more via the FAQs.

Student transitions & well-being

• CIS 2020 survey on understanding student well-being needs.
• Read this blog Student mental health & well-being: supporting students in transition from school to university.
• Student Minds Know Before You Go toolkit.