The Early Years Foundation Stage provides clear guidance on the safeguarding responsibilities of early education and childcare providers.

All providers and staffmust be confident about how to respond to:

  • Concerns for the welfare of a child in your care;
  • An allegation of serious harm or abuse by any person living, working, or looking after children at the premises;
  • Concerns around whistle-blowing.

Please ensure that you have a copy of the safeguarding poster for parents on display in your setting.

You should also keep a copy of the child protection poster for practitioners available for staff to access (not for public display).

If you are not sure about the role of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), please refer to the SfYC website page on safeguarding where you can download resources, reporting forms and guidance notes.

What you should do if you think a child is being abused:

If you have any concerns because you think that a child might be being abused and you want to talk to someone or ask someone to find out what is going on, you should contact the Children’s Services Department.

During office hours (8.30am – 5:00pm) - you should contact the Professional Helpline 01329 225379

At all other times you should contact the out-of-hours Service: 0300 555 1373 – this number is for anyone who wants to make a referral (including parents).

If this line is engaged you will be put through to an answerphone. Leave your name and number and they will call you back as quickly as possible.

For more information about reporting your concerns, please visit the HCC webpage Child protection in Hampshire

Whilst we recognise the usefulness of being able to discuss Early Years practices in social media forums, please remember that there are already very clear guidelines for Hampshire practitioners as outlined above and in more detail on the SfYCwebsite pages, and on the HampshireSafeguarding Children’s Board website.

We have written a policy checklist for child protection to help providers review their own child protection policies. This is available to download on our Facebook group: