Safeguarding Children & Child Protection Procedures

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN & CHILD PROTECTION PROCEDURES

Bear Necessities, The Field Barn, Weston Park Farm, Weston on the Green, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX25 3QE

“Everyone who works with children has a responsibility for keeping them safe.”

(Keeping children safe in education, August 2016, DFE)

Statement of intent

We all have a duty to Safeguard Children and their families. Bear Necessities Nursery will work with children, parents and other agencies to ensure the safety of all children at all times. We promote children’s rights to be strong, resilient and listened to by creating an environment in our setting that encourages children to develop independence, self esteem, confidence and a positive self image. We empower children in keeping themselves safe through providing an enabling environment and a variety of activities and events. We promote social, physical and moral development of the individual child free from discrimination and bullying. Bear Necessities ensures that children are never placed at risk while in the care of the nursery/nursery staff and we provide opportunities for the children to learn and develop happily and safely. All practitioners take seriously the responsibility under section 11 of the Children Act and duties under ‘working together’ to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; to work together with other agencies to ensure adequate arrangements exist within our setting to identify, and support those children who are suffering harm or are likely to suffer harm. The Government’s statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ is available in the office or a downloaded copy is saved under ‘Safeguarding’ documents on the nursery’s computer.

Legislation - This policy has been implemented in line with the guidance and procedures of the following legislation:

Children and Adoption Act 2004

Children’s Act 1989

Code of Conduct – Guidance for staff to promote safe working practice for all adults who work with children and young people, OCC, August 2015

Every Child matters, EYFS and the Child Care Act 2006

EYFS Statutory framework 2014

Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families, 2000

Guidance on Record Keeping for Educational and Early Years Settings, July 2016, OCC

Information Sharing, HM Government, March 2015

Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings, Ofsted (August 2016)

Keeping children safe in education DfE 2016

Ofsted (March 2015)

Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board ‘’OSCB’’ guidelines

Prevent duty (June 2015)

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

‘What to do if you are worried a Child is being Abused’ 2015

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ Statutory guidance

United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child

All legislation relating to health and safety.

SAFEGUARDING: Protecting children from any type of harm.

CHILD PROTECTION: Is part of safeguarding children, protecting children from significant harm (abuse). This document lays out the procedures that will be followed if we have any reason to believe that a child in our care is subject to emotional, physical or sexual abuse or neglect.

Safeguarding action to protect children also covers radicalisation, extremist behaviour, bullying, poor parenting particularly in relation to babies and young children.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:

·  Protecting children from maltreatment

·  Preventing impairment of children’s health and development

·  Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care

·  Taking action to enable all children to have the best chances

We at Bear Necessities believe we have a duty to the children, parents/carers and staff to act quickly and responsibly in any instance that may come to our attention. The nursery has a duty to report any suspicions of abuse to the Local Authority, which has a duty to investigate such matters.

The aims of this policy are:

·  To support child’s development in ways that will foster security, confidence and resilience

·  To provide an environment in which children feel safe, confident and know how to approach adults if they are in difficulties

·  To raise awareness with all staff of the need to safeguard children and of their responsibilities in identifying and reporting possible causes of alarm/concern

·  To provide a systematic means of monitoring children known or thought to be at risk of harm,, and ensure we contribute to assessments of need and support plans for those children where appropriate

·  To acknowledge the need for effective and appropriate communication between all members of staff in relation to safeguarding children and young people

·  To develop a structured procedure within the setting which will be followed by all members of staff in cases of safeguarding concerns/alarm

·  To develop effective working relationships with all agencies, involved in safeguarding children

·  To ensure that all adults within our setting who have access to children have been checked as to their suitability, following staff recruitment and selection procedures (see recruitment policy).

Training

All members of the management and senior team will attend Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) training approved by the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB) once every two years. Although each DSO undertakes specific training every two years, their safeguarding knowledge and skills are refreshed through internal practices at least annually. The DSO’s will attend meetings directly relating to this issue, and will report information to the remainder of the staff. The nursery will follow the procedures set out in the Local Authority Child Protection documents and as such will seek their advice on all steps taken subsequently. Each member of staff and students are given a copy of ‘What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused’ and are made familiar with the Safeguarding Children policy and Child Protection procedures on induction and annually. Every member of staff working for Bear necessities will attend a ‘General Safeguarding Training’ course recognised by the Oxfordshire County Council/Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board ‘’OSCB’’, which will be updated every three years as well as completing online Safeguarding Inductory training on induction prior to starting work.

All Staff working at Bear Necessities will receive ongoing training as per the updating of the settings child protection and safeguarding policy and procedure at least annually

Designated Safeguarding officers (DSO’s)

The Designated Safeguarding Officers are fully trained and designated persons that take lead responsibility for safeguarding children in every setting. The DSO’s are responsible for liaison with local statutory children’s services agencies, and the LSCB. The DSO’s provide support, advice and guidance to any other staff on an ongoing basis, and on any specific safeguarding issue as required. At least 1 DSO will always be present in the nursery whilst the setting is open. In the unlikely event of this not being the case, and a DSO was not present, we will refer to the contingency plan in place to ensure all safeguarding matters are dealt with immediately and effectively.

Due to the many hours of care Bear Necessities provides, staff will often be the first people to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse. The nursery has a duty to be aware that abuse does occur in our society. All practitioners are fully trained to be able to respond appropriately to any:

·  Significant changes in children’s behaviour;

·  Deterioration in their general well-being;

·  Unexplained bruising, marks or signs of possible abuse or neglect;

·  Children’s comments which give cause for concern;

·  Any reasons to suspect neglect or abuse outside of the setting, for example in the child’s home; and/or

·  Inappropriate behaviour displayed by other members of staff, or any other person working with the children.

For example, inappropriate sexual comments; excessive one-to-one attention beyond the requirements of their usual role and responsibilities; or inappropriate sharing of images.

Staff at Bear Necessities will be trained to understand and recognise new emerging local and national themes in order to stay up to date with all areas of Safeguarding. These areas will be fully acknowledged by all staff and strict safeguarding policies and procedures will be followed at all times in the event of any of the below areas being seen by the children/a child:

·  Child Sexual Exploitation

·  Self- harm

·  Missing children inclusive of unknown sudden and long-term absences from the setting

·  Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

·  Prevention and radicalisation (preventing counter terrorism initiatives) - see Prevent duty section

·  Peer on Peer abuse

·  Drug exploitation

·  Forced marriage

·  Human trafficking

·  Fabricated illness

Acts of Commission Acts of Omission

Does something leading to harm Fails to do something that leads to harm

Staff here at Bear Necessities nursery are also fully trained to understand and identify vulnerabilities. Such examples are:

Child factors – Age (babies under 1), Disability

Parental factors – Mental health and person characteristics, History of maltreatment, substance misuse

Family factors – Family structure and divorce, Domestic abuse

Environmental factors – Poverty and unemployment, social isolation, violent communities, being in care

School factors – Staff changes, low expectations, home/school links not established, limited use of school services

Children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities can face additional safeguarding challenges. Bear Necessities ensures their child protection policy reflects the fact that additional barriers can exist when recognising abuse and neglect in this group of children. These can include: • assumptions that indicators of possible abuse such as behaviour, mood and injury relate to the child’s disability without further exploration; • the potential for children with SEN and disabilities being disproportionally impacted by behaviours such as bullying, without outwardly showing any signs; and • communication barriers and difficulties in overcoming these barriers.

Self Harm

Deliberate self harm is intentional self-poisoning or injury, irrespective of the apparent purpose of the act. Self harm is an expression of personal distress, not an illness. Example of what this can involve are:

Cutting, burning and biting, Substance abuse, head banging and hitting, taking personal risks, neglecting oneself, pulling out hair, disturbed eating, overdosing and self-poisoning.

There may be changes in the behaviour of a young person which are associated to self harm or other emotional difficulties. Such as: Changing to eating and sleeping habits and moods, increased isolation from family and friends, lowering of academic grades, becoming socially withdrawn etc. www.nice.org.uk

Domestic Abuse

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass but is not limited to the following types of abuse: physiological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional.

Forced marriages (FM)

FM is now a specific offence under s121 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 that came into force on 16 June 2014.

A FM is a marriage conducted without the valid consent of one or both parties, and where duress is a factor Forced marriage is when someone faces physical pressure to marry (e.g. threats, physical violence or sexual violence) or emotional and psychological pressure (e.g. if someone is made to feel like they’re bringing shame on their family). This is very different to an arranged marriage where both parties give consent.

FM is illegal in England and Wales. This includes:

·  taking someone overseas to force them to marry (whether or not the forced marriage takes place)

·  marrying someone who lacks the mental capacity to consent to the marriage (whether they’re pressured to or not)

Link to the guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380125/MultiAgencyPracticeGuidelinesNov14.pdf

Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

Modern slavery can take many forms including the trafficking of people, forced labour, servitude and slavery. Victims can include adults and children in all walks of life and backgrounds. A quarter of all victims are children.

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 places a duty on specified public authorities to report details of suspected cases of modern slavery to the National Crime Agency. Indicators of modern slavery can include:

Lack of access to legal documents, malnourished appearance, untreated or unexplained injuries, withdrawn and frightened attitude etc.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transparency-in-supply-chains-a-practical-guide

Anti-Bullying

Our policy on the prevention and management of bullying is set out in a separate policy and acknowledges that to allow or condone bullying may lead to consideration under child protection procedures. Bullying is a safeguarding matter that if left unresolved can become a child protection matter. Our setting will take seriously any bullying concerns and both investigate and take action to protect pupils where appropriate. Please see anti-bullying policy.

Peer on Peer Abuse

Children can be vulnerable to abuse by their peers. Such abuse should be taken as seriously as abuse by adults and should be subject to the same child protection procedures.

Child Protection Procedure

Should any member of staff have concerns for the welfare of any child they will immediately inform the Designated Safeguarding Children’s Officer and will follow the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB) procedures/Local Authority guidance in all cases of abuse, or suspected abuse. Early Years Practitioner’s responsibilities do not include investigating the suspected abuse in too great depth but to make a confidential, factual record of what they have seen or heard. This is to be done at the time of the event and shared with the DSO. At Bear Necessities our fair and focused practices include:

Explaining to the child that we have a duty to share the information in order to help them; Listening carefully to the child, Reassuring them that we believe them; Giving the child time to talk (we do not ask leading questions, just open questions if there is reason to do so. I.e. a suspicion of assault or injury caused in the home environment); Not promising the children to keep secrets; Recording the information in a confidential and secure matter, and acting appropriately as soon as possible (within 24 hours) .

Here at Bear Necessities, we will use our own ‘Safeguarding Record Form’ to ensure we have all relevant information included and all relevant persons are involved. Detailed and accurate written records of concerns about a child are kept even if there is no need to make an immediate referral.