Cyp 3.3 2.1

Children Act 1989 – Determines the duty of early year’s practitioners to identify and meet the separate and distinctive needs of children and to keep them safe. It initiated the belief that the child ought to be at the centre of planning and that a child’s well-being and safety are vital when judgements are made concerning them. This act also recognises the accountabilities of parents in keeping their offspring safe. In this act there are two particular segments that relate to the duty of local authority with concern to child protection, these are-

For child protection to work effectively we must ensure we have good inter relationships with other agencies and good co-operation from professionals that are competent in responding to child protection situations. A procedure for recording concerns and incidents if a child discloses information that concerns his/her welfare; We must make a record of exactly what the child has said in their words and report it to a safeguarding officer, ensuring that these records are kept confidential and separated from pupil’s records. Guidance on confidentiality and sharing; the head teacher or safeguarding officer will only disclose personal information concerning a child to other members of staff on a need to know basis, however all staff must be aware that they have a responsibility to share information with other agencies.

The children act 1989 has influenced some settings by bringing together several sets of guidance and provided the foundation for many of the standards practitioners sustain and maintain when working with children. The act requires that settings work together in the best interests of the child and form partnerships with parents or carers. It requires settings to have appropriate adult to child ratios and policies and procedures on child protection. This act has had an influence in all areas of practice from planning a curriculum and record keeping. The every child matters framework has

Safeguarding children and young people is important as it extends beyond child protection and it includes more wide-ranging concepts. Safeguarding children and young people means we are protecting them from all sorts of harm such as accidents, deliberate abuse, neglect and even factors such as bullying, prejudiced attitudes and failure on allowing children to participate in different activities etc. The wider concepts of safeguarding means that we are protecting children from maltreatment, we are preventing impairment of children 's health or development, we are ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care and also taking action in order to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes. Child protection is also an important part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. 'Staying safe action plan 2008 ' highlighted a number of areas that were of concern:

Updating policies and procedures to promote welfare and safety of children in the area of authority.

As professionals, we have a duty to ensure that children and young people are protected while they are in our care and that where we have other concerns outside school, these are investigated fully. School policies and procedures need to be such that parents and governors are aware of them and that staff are fully trained with regard to safeguarding. Schools will need to consider and include in their policies:

In recent times safeguarding of children has once again come under spotlight with cases such as Madline McKan and the horrific murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. Prior to this the Children’s act of 1984 and updated 2004 version highlighted that all professionals have an obligation to report suspected abuse. There was a public inquiry in 2000 to address the failure of the law which was not upholding the protection of vulnerable children. There was changes to the legislation and the government set up The Every Child Maters (ECM) initiative. This works in line with current legislation Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 Act. This Act authorised guidance on how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. All organisations must have the succeeding policies and procedures:

1. Setting the standards for the learning, development and care, ensuring that every child makes progress and that no child gets left behind. Parents, providers should deliver individualised learning, development and care that enhances the development of the children in their care and gives those children the best possible start in life. Every child should be supported individually to make progress at their own pace and children who need extra support to fulfil their potential should receive special consideration. All providers have an equally important role to play in children’s early years experiences and they have to ensure that the provision they deliver is both appropriate to children’ needs and complementary to the education and care provided in child’s other settings.

025.3 Ensuring children and young people’s safety and protection in the setting is an essential part of safeguarding and promoting their welfare. Every adult working in the setting must be a suitable person to work with young children, and must have

The EYFS is ‘a central part of the government ten-year childcare strategy choice for parents, the best start for children , and is given legal force under sections 39 to 44 of the Childcare Act 2006.’ (Thornton and Brunton,2009p11)The EYFS places standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old. All the schools including school that are registered with Ofsted must proceed to follow the EYFS. This also includes nurseries, pre-schools, child-minders and reception classes. The framework ensures that all practitioners working with children have a set of common principles that could be delivered for good education for

. Another relation to the safeguarding and welfare requirements relating to the EYFS are risk assessments on a regular bases, this will ensure the childcare setting is safe to be in and hazards are at a very low risk, as well as this professional attitudes with staff are a must, this is to ensure the correct working relationships are formed, therefore trust can be built

Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010) sets out the guidelines on how the setting and individuals should work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. This is in conjunction with the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. This document covers what to do when there are concerns about a child and the correct procedures to follow. In addition it states the roles and responsibilities of different agencies and practitioners, summary of the nature and impact of child abuse, training requirements for effective child protection and how to best operate best practice in child protection procedure.

These organisations and groups should commit to protect all children and know what they will do to keep children safe and respond to concerns by follow the supporting procedures including safe recruitment ensuring all staff and volunteers are received child protection training. (NHS England 2015).

These national legislation and local guidelines have a huge effect on the development of local policies and procedures which then have a knock on effect on the day-to-day work of any adult working with children and young people. The safeguarding procedures within my setting will outline the specific actions I will need to take in order to maintain the safety of the children and promote their welfare. That said, all settings have to cover off certain common themes for their policies and procedures:

I need to be aware of the child protection procedures at all times. This may include how and who to report my concerns to, how to play my part in helping to maintain a safe school environment and how to spot the signs of abuse.