Silkysteps early years forum - planning ideas for play - cyp core 3.3

1.3 Analyse how national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding affect day to day work with children and young people

As well as every school having a safeguarding policy of their own, every Borough should also have their own policies and procedures for safeguarding children. I am aware that London Borough of Redbridge has its own local safeguarding policy (LSCB). This board is a legal body that was established by Redbridge council as a children’s services authority under the children act 2004.
The LSCB is responsible for ensuring that all agencies and departments that work with children and young people in the Borough , work in unity to support the welfare and safety of children in that area.. To ensure that work is carried out in an effective manner the LSCB coordinate the work of local agencies to provide a more optimistic outcome in regards to children’s safeguarding. Redbridge works 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
Achieve economic well being
The LSCB also works hand in hand with local agencies to produce policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare and safety of children in London Borough of Redbridge.
Raise awareness of safeguarding issues in the community by conducting seminars with a designated safeguarding officer in all Redbridge schools.
Monitor the success of the work that is 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.
To identify multi agency success where there are concerns with regards to safeguarding issues.
To assist with the recognition of training needs and requirements across the children’s workforce.

In order to protect and keep children and young people safe from harm and abuse, each Borough in London has its own safeguarding management team which is responsible for promoting good practice and developing links in all areas regarding the safety and well being of children and young people.

I am also aware of my own school safeguarding policy that was developed in agreement with the values that were established by the Children Act 1989 and 2004. These are the policies and procedures we need to follow whilst working with children within our school setting;

 Within childcare practice we must be aware that we have a clear and defined role in relation to child protection. Professionals working with children/young people i.e. teaching assistants, volunteers, outside agencies are CRB checked (criminal records bureau). Adults working with children should also be fully trained in safeguarding children by a nominated safeguarding adviser and have the opportunity to receive training in order to develop their understanding of the signs and indicators of abuse or neglect, this training is offered every 3 years. In order for child protection to work effectively we must ensure we have good inter relationships with other agencies and good cooperation from professionals that are competent in responding to child protection situations.
 A procedure for recording concerns and incidents if a child discloses information that concerns his/her welfare; we must make a record of exactly what the child has said in their words and report it to a safeguarding officer, ensuring that these records are kept confidentially and separated from pupils records.
 Guidance on confidentiality and sharing; the head teacher or safeguarding officer will only disclose personal information concerning a child to other members of staff on a need to know basis, however all staff must be aware that they have a responsibility to share information with other agencies. If a child or young person does disclose information to a member of staff and ask that that information remains ‘a secret’, it is vital that the member of staff tells the child/young person sensitively that they have a duty to transfer information to the appropriate agencies in order for other children to be safeguarded.

Children and young people attend school expecting to be nurtured and taught by people who are both paid and unpaid, these adults will provide children and young adults with opportunities to learn and gain knowledge of a range of subjects. All adults have a special responsibility to the children we work with; a code of conduct provides us with a clear guideline on the types of practice that will meet these responsibilities. Good conduct not only prevents incidents and allegations that we find ourselves being an element of, but will also help to highlight any conduct (by other people) that is unsafe and unprofessional.

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