safeguarding and promoting children's welfare
Safeguarding and promoting children's welfare forms a large part of our statutory responsibilities and covers most of the requirements of our registration with Ofsted (England), The Care Commission (Scotland) and the CSSIW (Wales).
All children deserve the opportunity to achieve their full potential. We follow the framework of the Every Child Matters government green paper which is structured around five outcomes which are key to a child’s well-being. In England, these form part of the statutory regulations; however the principles behind the outcomes are also consistent with the standards in Scotland and Wales.
The five outcomes are:
- stay safe – looking after the children’s welfare and ensuring a safe environment
- be healthy – safeguarding and promoting children’s health and well-being
- enjoy and achieve – supporting the children in their learning and development
- make a positive contribution - working together with parents and encouraging children to play a beneficial part in their nursery and wider community
- organisation – ensuring all government policies, procedures and practices are strictly followed
stay safe
Effective child protection is essential to Asquith. The welfare of every child we look after is paramount and everyone (including all staff, students, volunteers and visitors) has a responsibility to ensure that any areas of concern involving a child who may be at risk of harm, are recognised and dealt with immediately.
As a childcare provider, we have a moral duty of care to ensure that any concerns or incidents of suspected abuse or harm are reported to the relevant Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) without delay.
Parents will be notified of all concerns and referrals unless we are advised differently by the LSCB.
We ensure the safety and security of the premises and equipment by the following means:
- High security fencing around the premises and secure external doors.
- Strict entry procedures using gated intercom systems with CCTV cameras.
- All equipment used is suitable and safe for the children. For instance, chairs with metal legs have been replaced throughout with wooden ones.
- All toys and equipment are checked regularly for safety.
- All electrical equipment is checked biannually.
- Before opening, the nursery is checked every day by management for potential safety issues.
- A fire risk assessment is completed every quarter for each setting.
- A risk assessment for all new and current activities is carried out by nursery staff. They will balance educational gains of an activity against any potential risks.
The safety of the children is maintained in the following ways:
- All children must be signed in and out of the nursery.
- Children are checked in and out for outdoor play which ensures that a child is never left unattended.
- We have developed a proprietary electronic in-house accident reporting system to deliver real-time information. This enables us to monitor and ensure every accident is reported accurately thus improving any future processes.
- We also carry out an annual health and safety audit process as well as spontaneous checks by support staff. Every nursery has a health and safety monitoring board which is checked daily.
- We ban the use of mobile phones in our nursery rooms and only non-camera models are allowed for outside activities and emergencies.
be healthy
- We have strict guidelines to control the administration of medication.
- A minimum of three staff at each nursery are trained in paediatric first aid in addition to general first-aid trained staff.
- Infection control measures are in place including no outdoor shoes in baby rooms and stringent hand-washing procedures in all areas using gels and foams.
enjoy and achieve
We create an environment that is conducive to learning and each child is assigned a Key Person. We support the children in their learning through active play and exploration by observing and assessing them and encouraging their creative thinking.
make a positive contribution
We work together with parents to ensure children’s individual needs are met.
Social inclusion is promoted and children are encouraged to behave in a respectful way to others around them.
organisation
We control the suitability of people within the nursery by adhering to these policies:
- All Asquith personnel have an enhanced CRB check. This is currently the highest level of checking available. We will introduce the new ISA reference in line with their timescales over the next two years.
- All new staff must have two employment references checked before starting at the nursery. We may ask for an additional education reference where applicable.
- New staff require a current CRB certificate before they are allowed to interact with children without supervision.
- All adults collecting children from the nurseries will have to be nominated and identified beforehand and will need to quote an agreed password.
- All external nursery doors are secure with CCTV at the entrances to identify visitors before entry is allowed.
- Visitors are checked into and out of the nursery.
- Any contractual staff have to be from an approved contractor list and must have a permit to work.
All documentation relating to policies and procedures can be viewed on request at all our nurseries. Summaries of these policies are displayed on parents’ notice boards.
