activity disorder. 206. It recommended that when families/carers are making decisions about support for gender questioning children, they should be encouraged to seek clinical help and advice. When parents are supporting pre-pubertal children, clinical services should ensure that they can be seen as early as possible by a clinical professional with relevant experience. 207. As such, when supporting a gender questioning child, schools should take a cautious approach and consider the broad range of their individual needs, in partnership with the child’s parents (other than in the exceptionally rare circumstances where involving parents would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child), including any clinical advice that is available and how to address wider vulnerabilities such as the risk of bullying. 208. Risks can be compounded where children lack trusted adults with whom they can be open. It is therefore vital that staff endeavour to reduce the additional barriers faced and create a culture where they can speak out or share their concerns with members of staff. 57 Part three: Safer recruitment 209. This part of the guidance has four sections providing schools and colleges with the legal requirements ‘must do’, what they should do, what is considered best practice and important information about: i. the recruitment and selection process ii. pre-appointment and vetting checks, regulated activity and recording of information iii. other checks that may be necessary for staff, volunteers and others, including the responsibilities on schools and colleges for children in other settings iv. how to ensure the ongoing safeguarding of children and the legal reporting duties on employers. Recruitment and selection process 210. This section focuses on ensuring potential ap