Furzehill Childcare Centre

At Furzehill Childcare Centre we work with children, parents, external agencies and the community to ensure the welfare and safety of children and to give them the very best start in life. Children have the right to be treated with respect, be helped to thrive and to be safe from any abuse in whatever form.

 

We support the children within our care, protect them from maltreatment and have robust procedures in place to prevent the impairment of children’s health and development. In our setting we strive to protect children from the risk of radicalisation and we promote acceptance and tolerance of other beliefs and cultures (please refer to our inclusion and equality policy for further information). Safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility. All staff, students, any supply staff and visitors are made aware of and asked to adhere to, the policy.

 

Safeguarding is a much wider subject than the elements covered within this single policy, therefore this document should be used in conjunction with the nursery’s other policies and procedures including:

 

• Online safety

• Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

• Prevent Duty and Radicalisation

• Domestic Abuse, Honour Based Abuse (HBA) and Forced Marriage

• Looked After Children

• Monitoring staff behaviour

• Social networking

• Mobile phone and electronic device use

• Safe recruitment of staff

• Disciplinary

• Grievance

• Promoting positive behaviour

 

Legal framework and definition of safeguarding

• Children Act 1989 and 2004

• Childcare Act 2006 (amended 2018)

• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

• Children and Social Work Act 2017

• The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2021

• Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020

• Data Protection Act 2018

• What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused 2015

• Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015.

• Inspecting Safeguarding in Early years, Education and Skills settings 2019

• Prevent Duty 2015

 

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, in relation to this policy is defined as:

• Protecting children from maltreatment

• Preventing the impairment of children’s health or development

• Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care

• Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

(Definition taken from the HM Government document ‘Working together to safeguard children 2018).

 

Policy intention

To safeguard children and promote their welfare we will:

• Create an environment to encourage children to develop a positive self-image

• Provide positive role models and develop a safe culture where staff are confident to raise concerns about professional conduct

• Ensure all staff are able to identify the signs and indicators of abuse, including the softer signs of abuse, and know what action to take

• Encourage children to develop a sense of independence and autonomy in a way that is appropriate to their age and stage of development

• Provide a safe and secure environment for all children

• Promote tolerance and acceptance of different beliefs, cultures and communities

• Help children to understand how they can influence and participate in decision-making and how to promote British values through play, discussion and role modelling

• Always listen to children

• Provide an environment where practitioners are confident to identify where children and families may need intervention and seek the help they need

• Share information with other agencies as appropriate.

 

The nursery staff are aware that abuse does occur in our society and we are vigilant in identifying signs of abuse and reporting concerns. Our practitioners have a duty to protect and promote the welfare of children. Staff working on the frontline with children and families are often the first people to identify a concern, observe changes in a child’s behaviour or receive information relating to indicators of abuse. They may well be the first people in whom children confide information that may suggest abuse or to spot changes in a child’s behaviour which may indicate abuse.

 

Our prime responsibility is the welfare and well-being of each child in our care. As such we believe we have a duty to the children, parents and staff to act quickly and responsibly in any instance that may come to our attention. This includes sharing information with any relevant agencies such as local authority services for Children’s Social Care, family support, health professionals including health visitors or the police. All staff will work with other agencies in the best interest of the child, including as part of a multi-agency team, where needed.

 

The nursery aims to:

• Keep the child at the centre of all we do, providing sensitive interactions that develops and builds children’s well-being, confidence and resilience. We will support children to develop an awareness of how to keep themselves safe, healthy and develop positive relationships

• Ensure staff are trained right from induction to understand the safeguarding and child protection policy and procedures, are alert to identify possible signs of abuse (including the signs known as softer signs of abuse), understand what is meant by child protection and are aware of the different ways in which children can be harmed, including by other children (peer on peer) through bullying or discriminatory behaviour.

• Be aware of the increased vulnerability of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), isolated families and vulnerabilities in families; including the impact of toxic trio on children and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s).

• Ensure that all staff feel confident and supported to act in the best interest of the child; maintaining professional curiosity around welfare of children and share information and seek the help that the child may need at the earliest opportunity.

• Ensure that all staff are familiar and updated regularly with child protection training and procedures and kept informed of changes to local/national procedures, including thorough annual safeguarding newsletters and updates.

• Make any child protection referrals in a timely way, sharing relevant information as necessary in line with procedures set out by the [insert name of local authority].

• Ensure that information is shared only with those people who need to know in order to protect the child and act in their best interest.

• Keep the setting safe online, we refer to 'Safeguarding children and protecting professionals in early years settings: online safety considerations and use appropriate filters, checks and safeguards, monitoring access at all times and maintaining safeguards around the use of technology by staff, parents and visitors in the setting.

• Ensure that children are never placed at risk while in the care of nursery staff.

• Identify changes in staff behaviour and act on these as per the Staff Behaviour Policy.

• Take any appropriate action relating to allegations of serious harm or abuse against any person working with children or living or working on the nursery premises including reporting such allegations to Ofsted and other relevant authorities including the local authority.

• Ensure parents are fully aware of our safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures when they register with the nursery and are kept informed of all updates when they occur.

• Regularly review and update this policy with staff and parents where appropriate and make sure it complies with any legal requirements and any guidance or procedures issued by the Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Partnership.

 

Contact telephone numbers

Local authority children’s social care team 01983 823434

Local authority Designated Officer (LADO) 01962 876364

Local Authority Children’s Reception Team (MASH) 0300 300 0901

Local Authority Out of Hours Team 0300 555 1373

NSPCC 0808 800 5000

Local Safeguarding Partner’s 01983 814545

Local Early Help services 01983 823171

 

Ofsted 0300 123 1231

Emergency police 999

Non-emergency police 101

Government helpline for extremism concerns 020 7340 7264

Child exploitation and Online protection command (CEOP) https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/

 

Full safeguarding policy available in the policies and procedures tab.