At YMCA Day Nursery our prime responsibility is the welfare, safety and well being of all children who attend the setting. All staff have a duty to protect and safeguard all children.
There are many aspects to safeguarding children and the main thing many people tend to think about is making referrals to children’s services and working with social workers. As part of YMCA North Tyneside we feel that supporting families is something we should be promoting to ensure children and families are happy and safe.
There are many other aspects to safeguarding which are outlined in the settings Policies and Procedures, which all staff follow, these include:
Risk Assessments:
We have carried out risk assessments on almost everything we can think of, from paint to water play, to ensure that activities for children are safe. This is ongoing and can be updated at any time when staff think of new ideas for activities and resources.
Any items such as anti bacterial sprays and nappy sacks have also been risk assessed and are kept out of children’s reach and all cleaning substances are kept locked in our allocated COSHH cupboard.
Risk assessments of the building and outdoor area have been completed to ensure they are safe for children, staff and parents to be in. Staff also complete daily check indoors and outdoors to ensure that if any hazards occur they are dealt with quickly so that the risk is eliminated.
We also complete risk assessments when taking the children on trips and visits away from the nursery setting, to ensure the environment they are visiting is safe and how to keep the children safe. Staff also complete outings forms to ensure they know how many children they have and that they have all items such as first aid kit, drinks and the nursery mobile (a phone with no camera, so staff can contact nursery or emergency services if needed).
Health and Safety:
We take Health and Safety very seriously at YMCA North Tyneside and the nursery is no different.
Our Estates and Facilitates manager carries out regular audits of the nursery to ensure that all health and Safety legislation is being followed and implemented in the setting to provide children with a completely safe environment.
The nursery manager completes monthly audits to assess all aspects of health and safety including, fire escapes are in working order, first aid boxes are fully stocked, light and heating sources are safe and working and each room is free from hazards.
We also take fire safety into account and ensure that all fire extinguishers/fire blankets are safe and checked on a regular basis. All rooms have specific fire evaluation procedures which are displayed in the rooms, to ensure that the building can be evacuated safely.
All accidents and incidents (including at home) are recorded on specific forms to allow parents and practitioners to work together in partnership. Accidents that occur in the nursery are monitored by the manager to ensure any correlations of accidents are spotted and dealt with appropriately.
Signing in and out:
All children are signed in by their parents/carers at the beginning of each session they attend. The registers also contain a section which parents are required to fill in, to let staff know who will be collecting their child from the setting. This allows staff to know who is collecting and if someone else comes to collect, staff will maken contact with parents to make sure this person is safe to do so.
We also have a password system in place. Upon registering their child in the setting parents will choose a password for their child. They can then give this to trusted family members and friends who collect their children for the first time. This gives staff peace of mind that parents have authorized this person to collect and is an extra safeguarding procedure which we felt needs to be in place for the safety of the children.
Staff also sing in and out of the rooms to assure parents they are in the rooms. Registers are also used as a headcount when a fire evacuation takes place.
Security:
To ensure the security of children at all times we have two front doors. The main door which is accessed from the street is locked with a deadlock and is security coded. This means the door is locked at all times. Only staff have access to the key code and can access this door. The second door in the lobby is also has a security code lock which again, only staff have access to.
Parents and visitors are required to ring the doorbell situated on the main front door to gain access to the nursery.
All visitors are required to sign in and staff will ask new visitors to produce a form of ID. This is to ensure that children are safeguarded at all times.
Staff:
All staff are fully qualified with a level 3 or higher in childcare and have relevant and suitable experience of working with children. At YMCA Day Nursery we believe that this goes a long way in providing high quality care for children.
When recruiting staff we follow our staff recruitment policy and the requirements of the Early Years Statutory Framework to ensure we are recruiting new staff who are suitable to work with children. All new staff are also DBS checked to ensure they are safe to work with children and families.
The nursery manager also ensures that staff are adequately trained while working at the setting. This includes updating relevant training such as safeguarding, paediatric first aid and food hygiene. Staff also have opportunities to develop their knowledge further by attending training provided through the local authority.
CCTV:
We have CCTV in each of the rooms to ensure that children and staff are safeguarded at all times while they are in the setting. The CCTV is monitored by the nursery manager and is only accessed in the nursery office.
Mobile phones:
All staff follow the mobile phone policy.
Visitors are informed on arrival that mobile phones are not prohibited to be used within the building to ensure that all children are safeguarded.
Staff sign in their mobile phones at the start of their shift and keep them in the nursery office. They only have access to their mobiles during breaks and understand the areas their phones can only be used in the staff room or offsite.