Schools must “assess and balance” the risk of potential strip searches to pupils’ wellbeing before calling the police, according to guidance updated in the wake of the Child Q scandal.
The Department for Education has updated its guidance on searching, screening and confiscation after the incident, in which a 15-year-old black girl was strip-searched by Metropolitan Police officers called to a Hackney secondary school.
A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review of the incident earlier this year told the DfE to “urgently revise” its guidance, after concluding that school staff should have “been more challenging to the police” and had “insufficient focus” on safeguarding needs.
The review also found racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor” when deciding to undertake a strip search.
