Safeguarding children and child protection

Safeguarding Policy

The intention of this policy is to ensure all staff, volunteers and anyone working with the children at our setting know the signs and symptoms of abuse and can take appropriate safeguarding steps to protect the children in our care.

The purpose of this policy is to provide a safe and nurturing environment where children can learn and thrive and be happy and safe.

Definitions

Safeguarding

The actions that are taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.

Safeguarding specifically

• protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
• preventing harm to children’s health or development
• ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
• taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

 Child protection

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection

To safeguard the children within our care, we provide our own approach and guidance to safeguarding, adopting the following policies and procedures.

1. Staff suitability, induction process and training

During the recruitment process, all staff and volunteers are subject to satisfactory reference requests and DBS checks prior to employment.

Suitability of staff working with children is of the utmost importance and the need to know whether the person is safe to work with children is paramount. Please see our Safer Recruitment Policy.

An induction process is held for all staff members and volunteers. A probationary period of six months is applicable to all paid employees and at the end of this period the employee will have a probation review and discuss their performance with the management team. Please see our Induction Policy.

Training

It is mandatory for all staff in the nursery to be First Aid trained in the event of a medical emergency. First aid will be administered by a trained and qualified first aider and parents/carers will be informed immediately.

Designated Safeguarding Lead Training

The DSL at the setting is responsible for dealing with any allegations or disclosures made by staff or children. Please see the ‘Safeguarding flowchart’ for the process followed.

Please also see:

Allegations made against a staff member policy

Responding to disclosures policy

At our setting, the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Designated Safeguarding lead undergo training every 2 years and complete refresher training in between.

All employees complete basic Safeguarding training.

Rabbit Patch Day Nursery

Willow Cottage

Handcross Road

Plummers Plain

Lower Beeding

Horsham

RH13 6NX

01403 891976

A safeguarding lead will always be available via email or telephone during setting opening hours and will respond as soon as possible.

There are four main types of abuse these include, Physical, Sexual, Emotional and Neglect. Below are the signs and symptoms of each

Physical abuse is when someone hurts or harms a child or young person on purpose. It includes:

• hitting with hands or objects\
• slapping and punching
• kicking
• shaking
• throwing
• poisoning
• burning and scalding
• biting and scratching
• breaking bones
• drowning.