advice & information > what is safeguarding?
what is safeguarding?
an introduction to safeguarding and what it means to you
Safeguarding is an essential part of nursery life and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework requires all staff working with children to have an appropriate level of training and understanding in order to keep children safe and secure in their care.
Safeguarding children has been a key part of several Acts since 1989 including:
- The Children Act 1989
- The Children Act 2004
- The Childcare Act 2006
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
- Sexual offences Act 2003
These Acts have resulted in changes to the way we safeguard children.
Legal requirements of a nursery:
- Nurseries are legally required by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to implement an effective safeguarding policy and procedure, which must include the procedure the nursery will follow in case of an allegation made against a member of staff
- The registered provider must ensure that all staff understand the nursery’s safeguarding policy and procedure, and must engage with and provide information for parents, including all the nursery policies and procedures
- Nurseries must designate a practitioner to take lead responsibility for safeguarding children within the setting and liaising with local statutory children’s services agencies as appropriate. They must attend a child protection training course
- Providers must notify any child protection agency previously identified by the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), without delay, of any allegations of abuse
- Nurseries must inform Ofsted of:
- any allegations of serious harm or abuse by any person living, working or looking after children at the nursery (whether this is at the nursery or not)
- any other abuse alleged to have taken place at the nursery
- action taken following the above.
This should be done as promptly as possible, but no later than 14 days after the allegation is made or the registered provider will be committing an offence
(taken from page 22-23 of the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework)
- All providers must have regard to the statutory guidance in the EYFS
- All providers should follow the guidance ‘What to do if you are worried a child is being abused – Summary’.This can be found by clicking here
- All practitioners should have an up-to-date understanding of safeguarding children issues and be able to implement the safeguarding children policy and procedure appropriately
- Policies should be in line with LSCB local guidance and procedures
- Staff should be able to respond appropriately to any:
- significant changes in children’s behaviour
- deterioration in their general well-being
- unexplained bruising, marks or signs or possible abuse
- signs of neglect
- comments children make which give cause for concern.
What is an ‘effective’ safeguarding policy and procedure?
Nurseries should ensure that the safeguarding policy they have in place is not only understood by all who work in the nursery, it must also work in practice. You should review this policy and procedure at least annually, or if anything significant within the nursery changes, to ensure it is still relevant. Reviewing your policies with staff and obtaining parental involvement (such as an event to get parents’ feedback or asking parents if the terminology you use is easy to understand) will enable all voices to be heard and ensure all staff fully understand and will be able to follow this procedure should they need to.
‘Effective’ also means that this procedure is able to be followed regardless of who needs to use it, e.g. would a volunteer or parent know who the Designated Safeguarding Officer was if they had a concern to disclose?
Page 14 of the Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage provides details of what should be included in an effective safeguarding policy; you can find this by clicking here.
NDNA produces policy and procedure templates to support nurseries to meet the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. You can find more details here.
NDNA members can access this for free via the members area on the website.
You should only use this template as a starting point, ensuring any operational policy or procedure reflects the practice in the nursery and the views of the persons using it.
