As well as every educational setting has a safeguarding policy, also every borough should have policies and procedures for safeguarding children. The Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is responsible for ensuring that all agencies and departments that work with children and young people in the borough, work together to support the welfare and safety of every child in that area.
To ensure that work is carried out in an effective manner, the LSCB coordinates the work of local agencies in order to provide positive outcomes in regard to children’s and young people’s safeguarding. In fact, in order to protect and keep children and young people safe from harm and abuse, each borough has its own safeguarding management team which is responsible for promoting good practice and developing links in all areas regarding the safety of children and young people. Educational setting should always work in line with the Every Child Matters programme which states that each child has a right to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. Within childcare practice teaching and non-teaching professionals must be aware of their clear and defined role in relation to safeguarding and child protection.
In every work environment, practitioners ensure the children/young people welfare by following policies and procedures for safeguarding. According to the revised Principles for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults (JCQ, 2017), there are nine principles recognised as essential steps in developing safeguarding policies and procedures for children and vulnerable adults. ? Principle 1: A safeguarding policy should always be in place.
? Principle 2: Procedures and systems. Educational settings should have clearly defined reporting procedures and response mechanisms that ensure safeguarding responsibilities are met. This will include a designated Safeguarding Officer.
? Principle 3: Prevention. Schools must adopt measures to minimise the risk of abuse by any person it retains to engage in any activity in relation to its qualifications. ? Principle 4: Codes of behaviour that set out acceptable standards of behaviour and good practice for staff and representatives. ? Principle 5: Implementation. An educational setting should give clear guidance to permanent staff and representatives on how the safeguarding policy are applied. ? Principle 6: Equality and inclusion. In accordance with equality legislation, every school must fight discrimination and ensure that procedures are equally applied to all children and vulnerable adults.
? Principle 7: Communication. Safeguarding policy must be available to the public. ? Principle 8: Education and training available for every member of staff. ? Principle 9: Monitoring the implementation of the safeguarding policy.National legislation and guidance influence the development of local policies and procedures that affect every day work with children and young people. Policies must cover the protection of all children and young people under the age of 18 and the content of the policy must be reviewed annually. These guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding children that affect a practitioner’s day-to-day work, are related to:Childcare practiceThe Education Act 2002 poses a duty on education authorities to promote and safeguard the health and well-being of children and young people.
This affects day-to-day work as all school’s members must be aware of the child protection procedures at all times, such as how to spot signs of physical and emotional abuse, how and who to report suspects and concerns, how to maintain the safety of the school’s environment, be aware of the health and safety of children/young people, and how to undertake any training required. In fact, adults working with children should be fully trained in safeguarding by a nominated safeguarding adviser should receive training in order to develop their understanding of the signs and indicators of abuse and neglect. The training should be offered every 3 years.Child ProtectionIn all educational settings policies and procedures for safeguarding state that all employees, volunteers and students should be properly vetted; this includes checks into the eligibility and the suitability. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children and young people. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
DBS Checks must be carried out for anyone who wishes to work with children, the elderly or individuals who might otherwise be classed as vulnerable. The DBS is able to provide information about an individual as to whether or not he or she has a criminal conviction or has been charged with a criminal conviction which has expired. This information is gathered from a number of sources and collated by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), who will provide the applicant with what is known as a “disclosure”. For child protection to work effectively, practitioners must ensure to have good inter-relationships with other agencies and a good cooperation with competent professionals able to respond to every child protection circumstance. It is crucial to monitor the success of the work done by the local agencies to guarantee that all practitioners and managers within a specific borough have a clear understanding of safeguarding procedures, policies and requirements. It is important to identify multi agency success in case of concerns with regards to safeguarding issues and assist with the recognition of training needs and requirements across the children’s workforce.Risk assessmentRisk assessments are another important factor in safeguarding children and in day-to-day work.
In fact, before any activity is carried out with children and young people, practitioners are required to first assess any possible risk or hazard through the setting’s policies and procedures in order to make sure everything involved is safe. For example, if a teacher assistant is planning an activity, such as an art and craft activity in which scissors will be used, he/she will need to risk assess the potential danger of scissors and every other small object that could be dangerous for children’s safety.Advocacy and good conductAdvocacy safeguards children and young people and protects them from abuse and poor practice. The government developed the National standards for the provision of children’s advocacy services (2003) in order to ensure that children are able to speak out and have their views acknowledged.
This affects day-to-day work as early years practitioners need to know how to access advocacy services in case a child requires support. In fact, children and young people attending school should be nurtured and taught by people who are both paid and unpaid. These professionals will provide children and young adults with opportunities to learn and gain knowledge of a range of subjects. However, all adults have a special responsibility to the children they work with: a code of conduct provides teaching and non-teaching professionals with a clear guideline on the types of practice that will meet these responsibilities. Good conduct not only prevents incidents and allegations, but also helps to highlight any conduct that is unsafe and unprofessional.Supporting who express concerns and recordingIf a child or a young person in the work premises needs to express concerns about a specific circumstance, professionals in the educational settings should follow policies and procedures. In their day-to-day work, adults must treat information they receive about children and young people in a discreet and confidential manner reassuring the children/young adults that they will be listened and helped; however, practitioners shouldn’t make promises, or say that what has been discussed is going to be a secret (see the guidance on confidentiality below). In fact, whilst adults need to be aware of the need to listen and support children and young people, they must also understand the importance of not promising to keep secrets.
Moreover, professionals should never come to their own conclusions or ask direct questions to children as they will receive support and advice from the designated child protection officer. Every educational setting needs to have procedures in place for recording concerns and incidents in the case a child discloses information that concerns his/her welfare. The storing and processing of personal information about children and young people is governed by the Data Protection Act 1998. Employers should provide clear advice to adults about their responsibilities under this legislation. The members of staff should make records of exactly what the child has said in their words and report it to the designated child protection officer, ensuring that these records are kept confidentially and separated from pupils’ records.
Guidance on confidentiality and sharing Head teachers and safeguarding/child protection officers should disclose personal information concerning a child to other members of staff only on a need to know basis; however, every member of the staff must be aware that they have a responsibility to share information with other agencies. Concerns and allegations about adults should be treated as confidential and passed to a senior manager without delay. When a child or a young person discloses information to a member of staff asking that the information remains a secret, it is crucial that the member of staff tells the child/young person that they have a duty to transfer information to the appropriate agencies.
