At Elgin Pre-School safeguarding is at the very heart of everything: in who we are and in what and how we do things.
Jackie Barber is the designated safeguarding lead, Child Protection Officer and oversees all Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, supervising the practitioner team.
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What is child protection and safeguarding?
Child protection is the process of protecting a child identified as suffering from, or potentially suffering from, significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect.
The term safeguarding is used more broadly and according to the latest government guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015), it means:
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Protecting children from maltreatment
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Preventing impairment of children’s health or development
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Ensuring the children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
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Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
What are the key principles of safeguarding?
Several key principles underpin safeguarding to ensure the welfare and happiness of children.
First and foremost, a child’s needs should be put first — always.
Following this, it’s important to help and support children as early as possible before issues escalate and become more damaging.
Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility and everyone at a setting should act in a timely and coordinated manner to respond to any concerns about the welfare of a child.
The Early Years Foundation Stage 2014 sets the foundation of safeguarding measures for early years providers to follow. They are based on four overarching principles, including:
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Children learn and develop best in an enabling environment
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Children are unique, learn constantly and can become resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
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Children learn and develop best in different ways and at different rates
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Children learn strength and independence from positive relationships.
Local authorities have overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people in their area. They have a number of statutory functions under the 1989 and 2004 Children Acts which make this clear, and this guidance sets these out in detail. This includes specific duties in relation to children in need and children suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, regardless of where they are found, under sections 17 and 47 of the Children Act 1989. The Director of Children’s Services and Lead Member for Children’s Services in local authorities are the key points of professional and political accountability, with responsibility for the effective delivery of these functions.
Whilst local authorities play a lead role, safeguarding children and protecting them from harm is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play.1
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as:
• protecting children from maltreatment;
• preventing impairment of children's health or development;
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Local agencies, including the police and health services, also have a duty under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to ensure that they consider the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when carrying out their functions.
Under section 10 of the same Act, a similar range of agencies are required to cooperate with local authorities to promote the well-being of children in each local authority area (see chapter 1). This cooperation should exist and be effective at all levels of the organisation, from strategic level through to operational delivery.
Professionals working in agencies with these duties are responsible for ensuring that they fulfil their role and responsibilities in a manner consistent with the statutory duties of their employer.
For more details; https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/592101/Working_Together_to_Safeguard_Children_20170213.pdf