All early years providers have to be registered and are inspected by the regulating Body OFSTED. They check the safety and suitability of building, the environment and the equipment we use meet the necessary requirements. We have been inspected as a setting and we display our registration certificate for everyone to see.
As a setting we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage. The Childcare Act 2006 Section 40 requires early years providers registered on the Early Years Register and schools providing early year’s childcare to comply with the welfare Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. All staff have had a DBS check before they are left unsupervised and have an induction when they start which includes reading our policies and procedures. We have duty rotas in every room so staff are always in the correct ratio for the age room and the children in the room. We avoid lone working when possible to minimise the risk to both the adult and the children. All practitioners should follow the main beliefs of the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, which states that the welfare of children is paramount. Everyone who works with children has a responsibility for keeping them safe. A single practitioner will not know all of a child’s needs or their circumstances, if children and families are to receive the right help at the right time, everyone who comes into contact with them has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action.
As a welfare requirement mutual support, teamwork, continuous improvement and training must be available for all staff; it is both mandatory and crucial. Our employer and manger ensures that the all staff receive safeguarding training which we update regular and before new staff start as part of their induction we ensure that they have had the basic on line safe guarding training. We also had staff update their training regularly and when needed for example when prevent training became available all staff had to complete it. The Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 has new guidance which highlights specifically that “practitioners should, in particular, be alert to the potential need for early help for a child.
Practitioners in the setting do observations on their key children following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) These observation provides opportunities to gauge children’s needs and to plan the child’s next steps in their learning. Observations take place on a regular basis as part of daily routines. Our keyperson system includes a secondary keyperson and we all work as a team with in the room, sharing information when needed. The setting works closely with families and co-operate fully with other agencies to take all reasonable steps to minimise the risks of harm to a child’s well-being. The staff follow the policy and procedures when filling in accident forms and ask parent, carers to fill in accident at home forms if a child comes to the setting with an injury. These are monitored and any repeated injuries or unexplained injuries are reported to the Safeguarding Lead officer or the deputy safeguarding lead. All staff share appropriate information in a timely way and can discuss any concerns about an individual child with senior members of staff, the SENCO or the designated safeguarding lead officer (DSL).
We have different sheets for concerns which staff fill in and pass to the safeguarding lead officer (DSL), the SENCO or the manager; this person will then follow the necessary procedure. All staff are aware of the Fundamental Values, Democracy, Rule of law, Individual liberty and Mutual respect and use them within practice every day. The children are given opportunities to develop their self-confidence and self-awareness, they choose what they want to explore and what activities they do. We have rules within the room which the children helped to make. We have an ethos of inclusivity and tolerance in our settings, where views, faiths, cultures and races are valued and celebrated.The guidance states that early years and childcare settings must “have and implement a policy and procedures to safeguard children” (crown 2018). In my setting we have policies and procedures which take into account legal legislation.
They are in place to protect children which include a safeguarding policy, which also has the prevent duty within it showing the clear procedure which is in place for protecting children at risk of radicalisation, whistle blowing policy, mobile phone policy and lone working policy. All policies are evaluated regularly in line with any changes and reviewed annually. All policies are easy to read and understand. We also have posters in each room and in the main entrance of the setting which shows staff and parents the steps they need to follow if they have a safeguarding concern with contact numbers and Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) details.
