When working with children and young people, we need to be aware of local and national guidelines for safeguarding on a day to day basis. The kinds of issues which may arise in schools may vary however you should always be alert to any safeguarding concerns and ensure that you are acting appropriately and within the appropriate guidelines.
The term Childcare Practise applies to all those who work in schools, nurseries and other early years settings, child minders and children homes. All professionals working with children will need to be fully trainees and CRB (criminal records bureau) checked. Those in childcare practise are required to ensure that they demonstrate the correct safeguarding procedures and follow the policy of the organisation
It emphasises the important principles to be followed when working with children and young people: settings must provide a safe and secure environment, if any children are identified as suffering from abuse or likely to suffer the appropriate action must be taken.
A guideline to all staff on how pupil’s behaviour should be managed. It is important that this policy is constantly being applied to ensure full safety of the pupils; this is why all staff must be familiar with this policy.
Law and guidance regulate the way you should work with children in your childcare setting to support and encourage their well-being and safeguard them from abuse and maltreatment. Legislation provides a comprehensive instruction on what must be attained in respect to child protection and safeguarding. Whereas Legal guidance is more precise and provides details on how the law ought to be applied and fulfilled in early years settings and services. Laws and statutory regulation are compulsory and should reinforce policies and procedures that are used in your setting.
In order to not only promote the welfare of children within a setting but also to protect them from harm and abuse there are a number of pieces of legislation and statutory guidance that must be adhered to. Both laws and statutory guidance are mandatory and so legally enforceable and must act as a foundation of which policies and procedures within any setting can be based upon.
There are many policies and procedures within the UK that outline the current legislation and guidelines to help with safeguarding children and young people.
This means keeping children safe from accidents (i.e. road safety), crime and bullying and actively promoting their well-being in a healthy, safe and supportive environment. It also encompasses issues such as pupil health and safety and bullying, about which there are specific statutory requirements, and a range of other issues, for example, arrangements for meeting the medical needs of children with medical conditions, providing first aid, school security, drugs and substance misuse.
All organisations and people that work with, or come into contact with children should have safeguarding policies and procedures to ensure that every child, regardless of their age, gender, religion or ethnicity, can be protected from harm. This includes hospitals, schools, private sector providers, sports clubs, faith groups and voluntary/community organisations.
It is everybody’s responsibility to safeguard children – This means every single staff member within a setting; irrelevant of what role they may have there. This also includes non-staff members, such as volunteers, student’s third-party companies (visitors, service providers etc). Each setting should therefore adopt their own safeguarding policy, of which has to be kept up to date and followed at all times.
Ensuring children and young people’s safety and welfare in the work setting is an essential part of safeguarding. While children are at school, practitioners act in ‘loco parentis’ while their parents are away. As part of their legal and professional obligations, practitioners hold positions of trust and a duty of care to the children in their school, and therefore should always act in their best interests and ensure their safety – the welfare of the child is paramount (Children Act 1989). The Children Act 2004 came in with the Every Child Matters (ECM) guidelines and greatly impacted the way schools look at the care and welfare of pupils. Children and young people should be helped to learn and thrive and be given the opportunity to
As a home based child-minder the safe supervision of children both in and out of the home is ultimately my complete and main responsibility. When considering the level of supervision required it is important to remember that ’supervision’ can be interpreted into 3 different level types- I.e. the depth of supervision that you adapt, and that safety requirements outlined by Ofsted determines supervision to be adapted at all times of children in my care primarily in the following activity areas;
In a childcare setting these are the Acts that each policy and procedure cover and safe working practices that ensure the following: Information sharing – Legal framework, Data Protection Act 1998 and Human Rights Act 1998, Children Act 1989 and Every Child Matters, Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, Protection of Children Act, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 (updated in 2010) and The Protection of Children in England: A progress report 2009.
Schools must have a policy about safeguarding children and this must adhere to current legislation. This policy should offer advice and have a recognised procedure for practitioners to follow in the case of suspected child abuse. If a child does approach a practitioner to confide in them about any form of abuse, the practitioner must:
|As adults in positions of responsibility it is important to be aware of the importance of protecting children and young people from harm. While |
All people working with children are governed by legislation that is in place to protect your children and the child care provider. In this document I have listed four important legislations that are of particular importance to home based child care providers and noted how I aim to incorporate them into my practice. Child care practitioners also have a regulatory body; in England it is Ofsted. This document gives you a brief description of their supervisory role in child care settings. However, the list of legislation is not comprehensive and nor is the short description of Ofsted’s Role, if you would like more information or would like to discuss
As a youth worker a child/young person safety is very important. It is important to remember to notify line-management immediately if a young person discloses abuse. You should never promise a young person confidentiality as this must be broken depending on how bad the situation is. There have been many cases in England where departments have not acted fast enough resulting in a child's death