Safeguarding at Freshfield

‘Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play.’

Keeping Children Safe in Education (2022)

At Freshfield Nursery School we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, in line with the duty placed on us by section 175 of the Education Act 2002. As stated in the EYFS Statutory Framework, “Children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure, when their individual needs are met, and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring for them”. This requires us to take necessary steps to safeguard and promote children’s welfare.

The Nursery staff work in partnership with parents, carers, children and other professionals from the health sector, social care, police and education in order to ensure the welfare of all the children who come to Freshfield Nursery.

We must ensure that appropriate safeguarding and child protection procedures are in place and make sure that the welfare of the child is paramount. We have a duty of care to ensure that all of our children at nursery feel cared for, respected and safe. For our children who need support to be safe from possible harm we will take appropriate action to safeguard their well-being.

We have a Safeguarding Policy and we ensure that staff have the training that they need to help do their job well. We also have members of the Senior Leadership Team who are the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) for the nursery. In line with legislation there will always be at least one DSL on site or accessible during school hours.

The DSL trained staff at Freshfield Nursery are

Katherine Muncaster our Headteacher – Designated Safeguarding Lead

Nicola Simcock our Early Years Leader – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Sophie Hewitt is our Safeguarding Governor

We ensure our children, families and staff are safeguarded by:

Our Safeguarding Policy, which is reviewed annually. Our Safeguarding Children Policy is available to view on our policies page
Staff are always aware of the most up to date guidance on Keeping Children Safe in and Working Together to Safeguard Children.
We monitor and react to notes of concerns raised by staff, parents or additional agencies
Vigorous recruitment procedures that are in place to ensure that staff employed at the Nursery have undergone Disclosure and Barring Service checks
Staff are trained on recent updates throughout the year during staff meetings and participate in Safeguarding Awareness training
Members from the Senior Leadership Team complete the Designated Safeguarding Lead training every two years and Safer Recruitment training. The SBM also completes Safer Recruitment Training
Safeguarding Audit is completed by the Nursery and actions are taken on any points highlighted within the audit
The Safeguarding Governor is kept up to date and visits the Nursery to discuss the audit and actions
We have a low-concern policy and whistleblowing policy, which all staff are aware of. These policies manage any allegations made against staff
We liaise closely with the Startwell and Health Visitor teams during our termly Team Around the Early Years meetings to discuss any families requiring additional support
We participate in Team Around the Child and Team Around the Family meetings to support our children and families
Our Positive Bheaviour and Anti-Bullying policy is clearly written on how we manage behaviour within the setting, including how to manage bullying and racist incidents
Our Intimate Care Policy is followed by all staff members
We monitor absences and liaise with families to support their child’s attendance in Nursery
We teach e-safety to children, at an appropriate level, to ensure they are aware of how to use technology safely. We support parents/carers knowledge of e-safety via our school website and we email any new issues that we are made aware of, including particular apps.
Information regarding children’s medical needs are shared with all staff in the setting and are referred to.
Staff are first aid trained to support children when they are injured.
Risk assessments are completed for the environment, visitors within the setting and trips.
Health and Safety is monitored on a daily basis and any issues are solved as quickly as possible.

Early Help Offer

Team Around the Early Years.

We are part of the Team around the Early Years

What is Team Around the Early Years (TAEY)?

As part of the development of Start Well, the TAEY approach aims to provide an improved way of working to support children in their early years to get the best start in life and become school ready. The TAEY approach brings together professionals that work in the early years and beyond, to develop a greater understanding of roles, skills and knowledge in identifying emerging need so that children achieve optimum development and make smooth transitions into school.

The Key Principles to this way of working are:

– A focus on early help and intervention to prevent escalation into statutory services or crisis intervention

– Earlier identification of emerging need through timely assessments and the provision of evidenced-based interventions and coordinated plans to support children to start school ready to learn

– Effective and appropriate information sharing between agencies to support assessment of need and risk

– Use of Early Help Assessment and Team Around the Child/Family processes to build on the strengths of the family, ensuring they receive the right package of coordinated support at the right time which is reviewed regularly

– Collaborative working and restorative approaches; working with the family to develop relationships and provide effective support, appropriate challenge and ultimately positive outcomes for the child.

How does the Team Around the Early Years work?

TAEY is a partnership between early education and childcare providers, Stockport Family and other agencies who will work together to offer support to families with children 0-5 years. The TAEY will provide a mechanism to support a shared conversation about children and families with emerging needs. The TAEY will problem solve and develop a shared understanding as to what is required to prevent the family from escalating into statutory services or crisis intervention. It is an opportunity to pool resources at a locality level to ensure children and families get the right support at the right time.

Working restoratively and holistically, Start Well locality teams (Health Visitors, Start Well Coordinator and Early Years Workers) will work closely with early education and childcare providers to identify children who may be in need of additional support to enable them to reach their full potential and become school ready.