Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and Procedures

Date of last Review: September 2023

Date of next Review: Sept 2024

This policy can be downloaded as a hard copy by clicking below:

Safeguarding Policy

Introduction

The governors and staff at Golborne and Maxilla Nursery School fully recognise their responsibility for safeguarding children. We recognise that all staff, including volunteers, have a full and active part to play in protecting children from harm.

The health, safety and well-being of all our children is of paramount importance to all the adults who work in the school. Our children have the right to be safe, regardless of age, gender, race, culture or disability.

The governors and staff believe that our school should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development of the individual child.

The atmosphere within the school encourages all children to make decisions for themselves. Our teaching of personal, social and emotional development helps to develop appropriate attitudes in our children and makes them aware of the impact of their decisions on others. We also teach them how to recognise different risks in different situations and how to behave in response to them.

We understand ‘Safeguarding’ to mean that we will take all reasonable measures to ensure that the risk of harm to children’s welfare is minimised. We also understand that where we have any concerns about a child’s welfare we should take all appropriate action to address those concerns by working in full partnership with other agencies. We have drawn on the experience and expertise of the school staff in shaping our safeguarding policy and will continue to provide opportunities for staff to contribute to the development of the policy.

All staff at our school believe that a range of other school policies are central to many aspects of our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, and this document should therefore be read in conjunction with our policies for: Attendance, Behaviour management, Health & safety, Complaints policy and procedures, Guiding Principles and Equalities Policy, Whistleblowing policy, Code of conduct.

Golborne and Maxilla Nursery school understand that its work in safeguarding and protecting children must have regard for the national guidance issued by the Secretary of State and should be in line with local guidance and procedures. In line with the Governments vision for all services for children and young people and the department for Education Statutory Guidance’ Keeping children Safe in Education’ September 2022. Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy has due regard to relevant legislation. We ensure that all staff have read Part 1 of the guidance and that they understand that safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is the responsibility of all staff at the school. We ensure that staff who have direct contact with children have also read Appendix A of the guidance.

We will ensure that our procedures for safeguarding children are compliant with the London Child Protection Procedures produced by the London Safeguarding Children Board. Those procedures have been adopted by the Tri-Borough Local Safeguarding Children Board and are available at https://www.londoncp.co.uk/chapters/A_contents.html

Legislation and Statutory Guidance

This policy is based on the Department for Education’s statutory guidance Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2023 and Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018), and the Governance Handbook. We comply with this guidance and the arrangements agreed and published by our 3 local safeguarding partners.

This policy is also based on the following legislation:

• Section 175 of the Education Act 2002, which places a duty on schools and local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils
• Keeping children safe in education DfE 2023
• Working Together to Safeguard Children A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children July 2018
• Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that everyone in the UK is entitled to. It incorporates the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic British law.
• Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.
• Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) The public sector equality duty ( PSED ) requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.
• UK GDPR The UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.
• The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009, which set out what must be recorded on the single central record and the requirement for at least one person on a school interview/appointment panel to be trained in safer recruitment techniques
• The Children Act 1989 (and 2004 amendment), which provides a framework for the care and protection of children
• Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage effective 4 September 2023
• Section 5B(11) of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, as inserted by section 74 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, which places a statutory duty on teachers to report to the police where they discover that female genital mutilation (FGM) appears to have been carried out on a girl under 18
• Statutory guidance on FGM, which sets out responsibilities with regards to safeguarding and supporting girls affected by FGM
• The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, which outlines when people with criminal convictions can work with children
• Schedule 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which defines what ‘regulated activity’ is in relation to children
• Statutory guidance on the Prevent duty, which explains schools’ duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 with respect to protecting people from the risk of radicalisation and extremism
• The Childcare (Disqualification) and Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (referred to in this policy as the “2018 Childcare Disqualification Regulations”) and Childcare Act 2006, which set out who is disqualified from working with children
• This policy also meets requirements relating to safeguarding and welfare in the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

This policy also meets requirements relating to safeguarding and welfare in the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage