Child Protection & Safeguarding

CHILD PROTECTION

At Sunny Days we believe it is unacceptable for any child or young person to experience abuse of any kind. Staff recognise that we hold a responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people. Our practices, policies and procedures demonstrate our commitment to protect children.

We recognise that:

• The welfare of all children/young person is paramount

• All children have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse

• Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

The purpose of our safeguarding policy is:

• To provide protection for the children and young people who receive Sunny Days services, including the children of adult members or users.

• To provide staff and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt in the event they suspect an individual may be experiencing, or be at risk of harm.

We will seek to safeguard children and young people by:

• Valuing them, listening to and respecting them

• Adopting child protection guidelines through policy and procedures for staff and volunteers

• Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made in line with our recruitment procedure

• Sharing information about child protection and good practices with children, parents, staff and volunteers

• Sharing information regarding concerns with relevant agencies, and involving parents and children appropriately

• Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through induction, supervision, support and training.

We are committed to ensuring that children are protected from harm and develop in a safe and secure environment. All of our staff are trained and certified by the SSCB, in addition to this our Designated safeguarding Lead and Deputy have enhanced Training to undertake this senior role. Out Manager Clare is trained and endorsed by SSCB after undertaking additional training and offers training to local nurseries in the community demonstrating a personal and professional commitment to others in teh community.

Prevent Duty (2015)

Settings and staff Responsibilities:

From 1 July 2015 all schools, registered early years childcare providers and registered later years childcare providers are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent duty. (The Prevent Duty, 2015).

The statutory guidance makes clear that schools and childcare providers are expected to assess the risk of children being drawn into terrorism, including support for extremist ideas that are part of terrorist ideology. This means being able to demonstrate both a general understanding of the risks affecting children and young people in the area and a specific understanding of how to identify individual children who may be at risk of radicalisation and what to do to support them. If staff have a concern about a particular child they should follow the school’s normal safeguarding

procedures, including discussing with the school’s designated safeguarding lead, and where deemed necessary, with children’s social care.