level 3 childcare unit 3

Working together to safeguard children 2006 sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children’s Act 1989 and the Children’s Act 2004. It is important that all practitioners within settings and environments looking and caring after children and young people must know their responsibilities and duties in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, following their legislations, policies and procedures.

* Ensuring the environment is clean – Although the nursery has daily cleaners who clean the nursery at the end of play and who twice a week carry out a deep clean, it is the collected responsibility of all staff to ensure the environment is kept clean throughout the day. This means cleaning up any mess or spillages using the appropriate cleaning tools and products. The practitioners, along with the help from the children, are also required to tidy away the toys and playing equipment, and wipe down tables before each meal time so the area is clear for the arrival of plates, cutlery and food and drinks. This is to ensure a healthy and safe environment when eating.

Children’s Act 1989: Identifies the responsibilities of parents and professionals who must work to ensure the safety and welfare of the child/young person. Two important sections included in the act are:

The ‘Children’s Act 2004’ was continuously updated and developed into the ‘Children’s Act 2006’. This act states that all settings have to follow the Early Years Framework Stages (which were renewed in 2012). The Early Years Framework Stages (EYFS) is aimed to fulfil the five aims of ‘every child matters’ and the previous children’s act of 2004. The intentions are to achieve these aims by setting standards, promote equal opportunities and through a framework of partnerships, improve quality and consistency and lay secure foundation for all learning and development, present and future. By improving the quality the service and experiences are improved for all children and families. Safeguarding children is a vital part of improving all childcare services/settings.

The following is an outline of current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation for safeguarding children

Child Act 1989- “the Children Act 1989 aimed to ensure that the welfare of the child was paramount, working in partnership with parents to protect the child from harm” http://www.careandthelaw.org.uk/eng/b_section2 appendix 3

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

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-

Children Act 2006 – Is an Act that defines the new duties imposed on the Local Authorities in respect to improving the Every Child Matters outcomes for pre-school children. The Act also defines new rules in relation to childcare for working parents as well as parental information services. It is aimed at improving the well-being of young children. It emphasises the importance of safeguarding children and young people within an educational setting. If a child discloses neglect or abuse; an establishment should have instructions to help the child. This could be referral to an outside organisation or internally.

Every Child Matters Framework which is currently in the process to be changed is part of the Children Act 2004; it is a piece of legislation which has and influences planning and provisions of learning opportunities. The Every Child Matters ensures that settings provide quality of children’s and young people’s play and learning.This supports children from birth to 19 years. When practitioners plan, they should relate their work to the five outcomes for children; be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve though learning, make a positive contribution to society and achieve economic

Children Act 1989 – Protecting children’s welfare and to provide services according to the specific needs of children.

There has been certain legislation in the United Kingdom along with home policies and procedures that affect the safeguarding of children and young people. Policies and procedures for safeguarding and child protection in England and Wales are the result of the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 brought more changes that affected the way the child protection system works here in the United Kingdom and so affecting the safeguarding of children and young people. Through the protection policies and procedures for safeguarding children and young people, settings which work with children and young people have an important role in the

Children are encouraged to communicate their needs, feelings and thoughts. They are given opportunities to choose and use reading materials.

I have collated evidence which describes the role of the practitioner in meeting the children’s care needs. The evidence can be found in my appendix. The evidence I have collate includes the information on compliance with legal requirements , meeting needs and supporting rights of the children, working in a team with other professional’s, working with families, training and development, inclusive practice/ attitudes and values, positive environment and care of themselves( the practitioner).

Children Act 2004 stated that it is not only one person’s duty to protect a vulnerable individual. It establishes better planning, commissioning, and delivery of children’s services. This act aims to improve effective local working to safeguard and promote children’s well-being. This act introduced local safeguarding children’s boards and appointed a children’s commissioner. The Children Act 1989 did not change anything, it wasn’t until the Children Act 2004 when a children’s commissioner was introduced that the delivery of children’s services started to improve. This act was brought about because of the Victoria Climbie case. There was a failure of communication between different staff and agencies and a failure to follow established procedures.