At Deerhurst we work with children, parents, external agencies and the community to ensure the welfare and safety of children and to give them the very best start in life. Children have the right to be treated with respect, be helped to thrive and to be safe from any abuse in whatever form.

We support the children within our care, protect them from maltreatment and have robust procedures in place to prevent the impairment of children’s health and development. In our setting we strive to protect children from the risk of radicalisation and we promote acceptance and tolerance of other beliefs and cultures (please refer to our inclusion and equality policy for further information). Safeguarding is a much wider subject than the elements covered within this single policy, therefore this document should be used in conjunction with the nursery’s other policies and procedures. Safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility. At Deerhurst all staff and students are made aware of and adhere to, the policy.

The nursery aims to:

• Keep the child at the centre of all we do, providing sensitive interactions that develops builds children’s well-being, confidence and resilience. We will support children to develop an awareness of how to keep themselves safe, healthy and develop positive relationships.
• Ensure staff are trained right from induction to understand the child protection and safeguarding policy and procedures, are alert to identify possible signs of abuse (including the signs known as softer signs of abuse), understand what is meant by child protection and are aware of the different ways in which children can be harmed, including by other children (peer on peer) through bullying or discriminatory behaviour
• Be aware of the increased vulnerability of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), isolated families and vulnerabilities in families; including the impact of toxic trio on children and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s).
• Ensure that all staff feel confident and supported to act in the best interest of the child; maintaining professional curiosity around welfare of children and share information, and seek the help that the child may need at the earliest opportunity.
• Ensure that all staff are familiar and updated regularly with child protection training and procedures and kept informed of changes to local/national procedures, including thorough annual safeguarding newsletters and updates
• Make any child protection referrals in a timely way, sharing relevant information as necessary in line with procedures set out by the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership
• Ensure that information is shared only with those people who need to know in order to protect the child and act in their best interest
• Keep the setting safe online using appropriate filters, checks and safeguards, monitoring access at all times and maintaining safeguards around the use of technology by staff, parents and visitors in the setting.
• Ensure that children are never placed at risk while in the charge of nursery staff
• Identify changes in staff behaviour and act on these as per the Staff Behaviour Policy
• Take any appropriate action relating to allegations of serious harm or abuse against any person working with children or living or working on the nursery premises including reporting such allegations to Ofsted and other relevant authorities including the local authority.
• Ensure parents are fully aware of child protection policies and procedures when they register with the nursery and are kept informed of all updates when they occur 
• Regularly review and update this policy with staff and parents where appropriate and make sure it complies with any legal requirements and any guidance or procedures issued by the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership

Designated Safeguarding Lead

We have named persons within the nursery who take lead responsibility for safeguarding and co-ordinate child protection and welfare issues, known as the Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL), there is always at least one designated person on duty during the opening hours of the setting. The designated persons will receive comprehensive training at least every two years and update their knowledge on an ongoing basis, but at least once a year.

The nursery DSL’s liaise with the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership, Family Front Door team, undertake specific training, including a child protection training course, and receives regular updates to developments within this field. They in turn support the ongoing development and knowledge of the staff team with regular safeguarding updates.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) at the nursery is: Rebecca Harris.

The deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads’ are; Lesley Jackson and Sarah Pritchard

Contact telephone numbers

Family Front Door   01905 822666

Family Front Door (out of hours) 01905 768020

Local authority Designated Officers (LADO’s) 01905 752800

Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) 01905 752803

NSPCC 0808 800 5000

Ofsted 0300 123 1231

Emergency police 999

Non-emergency police 101

Government helpline for extremism concerns 020 7340 7264

Child exploitation and Online protection command (CEOP) https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/