Safeguarding statement for our website
The Government Guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, states that ‘Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play’.
The word safeguarding means:
Protecting children from maltreatment
Preventing impairment of children’s health or development
Ensuring the children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Our attitudes and values towards the well-being and development of our children is promoted at every opportunity. We believe that every child has a right to learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment which includes the right to protection from all types of abuse. Staff are trained to be vigilant for signs of any child in distress and are confident sharing information to relevant team members or professionals in order to avert and alleviate any such problems.
Safeguarding children is about ensuring every child is safe from harm – safe from people who could abuse, safe from discrimination or harassment – and that we all feel safe in our environment.
Every child matters and every child should live free from experiencing abuse of any kind
Our belief is that we are tireless in our work to protect children
We do not shy away from difficult conversations
We are well trained to spot any signs of abuse or neglect
Our ethos is to work with the whole family to improve outcomes
We support families in need through the TAF process
We support families who have worries
We can help with issues and concerns
We can be a listening ear if you are worried
We also support the Government’s Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.
We train and support all staff to work with children who may have adverse childhood experience and we know that any form of abuse or over hearing abuse affects them
We follow all safer recruitment guidance to deter any unwanted applications in all areas of our work, including for our voluntary committee.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy. These can be downloaded from our website by parents and carers and are available in printed form at pre-school.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our children are discussed with parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
If a member of staff is concerned about a child’s welfare, they will record their concern with any observations or conversation heard, and report to Amelia or Andrea on the same day.
If a member of staff has concerns which relate to the actions or behaviour of another member of staff (which could suggest that she/he is unsuitable to work with children) then this will be reported to one of the DSLs in confidence, who will refer and seek advice from the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) who will consider what action to take.
Our Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) are:
Amelia Joyner – Pre School Leader
Andrea Parker – Deputy Pre School Leader and SENDCo