Nigel Leat: Safeguarding training 'available to abuse school'

Nigel Leat was jailed after admitting abusing children as young as six-years-old

Safeguarding training was available to staff at a school where a teacher abused pupils, the head of children's services in north Somerset said.

Sheila Smith said the key issue at Hillside First School was a barrier to staff reporting concerns.

Nigel Leat was jailed indefinitely in 2011 after admitting 36 offences including attempted rape of a child.

The response of the council is being examined as part of an Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Ms Smith, director of children's services, apologised on behalf of North Somerset Council for the abuse perpetrated by Leat and said she recognised the "significant damage" this caused children and their families.

She added safeguarding remained an "absolute priority" for the council.

Leat abused children at Hillside First School in Weston-super-Mare between September 2006 and December 2010

Ms Smith challenged accusations there was insufficient safeguarding training available for staff, saying what happened in north Somerset was "very much" what happened in other authorities around the country at the time.

She added: "I think they (the assertions) are not necessarily true that there was not adequate training.

"There was information available to Hillside School, from a range of places, that was not taken account of."

Ms Smith said people would often say they needed more training, but part of that training was the notion that staff would know there were people and places to go to if they needed more information.

'Safeguards were there'

She said: "They (staff) couldn't go upwards or outwards and that for me is the issue.

"It is not necessarily about whether you make it easier in legislation or guidance for people to raise feelings of unease, it is what gets in the way of people doing that. The culture (at the school) got in the way.

"Having heard and read from the children, who are now young people, and their parents, I do understand that that shock, that complete unbelievability of how could this have happened, and that is why I said all those potential safeguards were there, but they weren't used."

Ms Smith added: "You have to have a culture which says it is absolutely expected that if you have any concerns about a colleague, this is an institution that invites you to discuss those."