2.1 – Critically examine how children can be kept safe and protected within the early years setting.
It is vital for children to be kept safe in the early years setting, it is possible for them for to be at risk for example if there was not enough staff in their setting, if the staff were not police checked or the environment / equipment is not safe.
As a Childcare provider you would need to carry out risk assessments to identify what risks there are to children and what measures can be put in place to ensure that the risk is reduced. The registered person has a responsibility to ensure that the policies are in place, that staff and parents adhere to them and have the opportunity to contribute to them. As mentioned previously, it is
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Before you can allow a child to play you need to ensure that the area is safe for them to do so and you are aware of where the emergency exits are. Check around for any unsuitable items that can harm a child such as sharp objects, pens & pencils, plastic bags or toys that contain small parts and can be swallowed.
Children need to be allowed to explore and try new things and sometimes adults need to stand back and watch from a distance. An example of this is a climbing frame where a child is in danger of falling, a child can climb up and an adult can guide them back down safely instead of carrying them down. This will help increase a child’s confidence. Children can never be 100% safe but they are curious and need to be allowed to discover new things.
When you are in the room with a child you need to keep your attention on what children are doing, If you need to leave the child or become distracted you must put any dangerous item out of reach such as cleaning products or if in a foundation class where there are more than one child ensure that there are other suitable adults there. When you put items out of a child’s reach you need to ensure that there are no leads hanging down that a child could pull down and injure them self if its a heavy object or put them in their mouth and get a shock.
Children need to be taught about danger and stranger danger from an early age.
It emphasises the important principles to be followed when working with children and young people: settings must provide a safe and secure environment, if any children are identified as suffering from abuse or likely to suffer the appropriate action must be taken.
Also it is important that children have the opportunities to experience risk and challenge play as this is important for children's and young people's play and learning. It is important that children and young people are given the opportunities for risk and challenge play as it will help give children a better understanding of what is safe and unsafe such as if they was to touch something hot they will know not to do it again because they will know they will burn them self. Some parents do not let their children take risk and challenges as they think its to dangerous for the children. When practitioners provide opportunities for risk and challenge play it is important that it is taken place in a safe environment. Also when risk and challenge
Children Act 1989 – Determines the duty of early year’s practitioners to identify and meet the separate and distinctive needs of children and to keep them safe. It initiated the belief that the child ought to be at the centre of planning and that a child’s well-being and safety are vital when judgements are made concerning them. This act also recognises the accountabilities of parents in keeping their offspring safe. In this act there are two particular segments that relate to the duty of local authority with concern to child protection, these are-
The Children Act 1989 – Places a duty on all child care practitioners within a setting to not only identify but also to meet the needs of every individual child as well as keeping them safe. The Act introduced the idea of child led planning, placing the child at the center of any planning made regarding their own learning and development. The act also specifies the responsibility of the parent in keeping their own child safe and free from harm.
Practitioners have to put the needs of children first because this will help keep children safe and encourages children to be independent. It’s important to show
It is everybody’s responsibility to safeguard children – This means every single staff member within a setting; irrelevant of what role they may have there. This also includes non-staff members, such as volunteers, student’s third-party companies (visitors, service providers etc). Each setting should therefore adopt their own safeguarding policy, of which has to be kept up to date and followed at all times.
Ensuring children and young people’s safety and welfare in the work setting is an essential part of safeguarding. While children are at school, practitioners act in ‘loco parentis’ while their parents are away. As part of their legal and professional obligations, practitioners hold positions of trust and a duty of care to the children in their school, and therefore should always act in their best interests and ensure their safety – the welfare of the child is paramount (Children Act 1989). The Children Act 2004 came in with the Every Child Matters (ECM) guidelines and greatly impacted the way schools look at the care and welfare of pupils. Children and young people should be helped to learn and thrive and be given the opportunity to
A significant element of a practitioner’s role in protecting themselves would be to read policies and procedures that are put in place to safeguard them and children or young people in their care. In a care setting a professional can protect themselves by:
As a level 3 practitioner it is important to take a balanced approach to risk management so that children are able to learn and develop. Practitioners need to be aware of the risks, however “if the activity is well planned and organised, with thought given to possible risks, the likelihood of an accident or injury should be minimal” (Tassoni et al, 2010, p144). Practitioners working with children have a duty of care towards the children and must make sure that they are safe at all times. They should plan the play environment and activity which is safe for the child, but there also needs to be a balance between the risks a child is able take. Children should be allowed to take risk they think they are able to achieve with adult support but not too much intervention, If they are not allowed to take risk they will not be able to develop the skills required to deal with risks and make judgement about their own strengths and skills which may affect their development, self-esteem and confidence. Avoiding risks and challenges may result in a very timid adult lacking in every day skills and abilities. Children can take risks in all different areas by following the seven areas of development which was introduced by the foundation phase, these areas are as follow:-
|As adults in positions of responsibility it is important to be aware of the importance of protecting children and young people from harm. While |
Risk assessments should be carried out regularly to make sure that there are no safe guard threats towards the children in the setting. Childcare settings need risk assessing for example is there entrances and exits to the building that an unauthorised person could use? Could a child leave the setting without anyone noticing? Could a child get seriously hurt due to a broken piece of equipment?
xxxx takes all safeguarding issues very importantly. Whilst we may focus on vulnerable adults we do have young member of staff who would still be classed as children for Safeguarding purposes. We also have children who visit the home. We adhere that all staff on the premises are adequately checked at employment and we risk assess the adults who live within the home to the impact that they may pose to children on the premises. Sxxxxxx adheres to the 4LSCB procedures and we have a policy in place for the staff members to follow should they be worried about any child on the premises. A child’s safety is paramount and we have a duty to protect that child. Our staff members understand abuse, signs and
It is very important to let children asses’ danger for themselves in a secure environment. It is not good for them to be cooped up and have somebody tell them that one thing is bad and will hurt them and another will keep them safe they need to identify these things for themselves to enable them to live a positive life as an adult and to gain confidence in themselves and their own abilities. At the same time the children need to be given this chance in a safe and secure place whereby I as the carer know they will not come into any danger.
Meeting the child's needs: Helping the child to feel safe and secure and to reassure them that their parent will come back for them.
At my daughter’s school, I notice the children developing strong social and emotional skills as they are given more freedom to consider their own risks. Studies have shown that children that are exposed to risks cope with change, frustration and the unexpected (DEEWR, 2009). Children’s social and emotional development strengthens when they are provided opportunities to take risks. I found The National Law and Regulations Act interesting as it does not require children services to eliminate all risks from children’s play environments (VSGET, 2010). The Act ensures each child’s safety, but understands the importance of risk taking for a child’s