Child Development 0 - 19 Years Essay

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.

1, Understand the importance of promoting equality and diversity in work with children and young people.

It is important for the children at my workplace to feel safe and protected from any harm or neglect and we show that we support them though these situations.

Children and young people should feel happy, safe, respected and included in the school or early years setting environment and all staff should be proactive in promoting positive behavior in the classroom, playground and the wider community. Policies and practice which make sure the safety and wellbeing of children should already be in place and it is this legislation develop through many years and experiences, and mistakes, that underpin the working practices that are used today.

Explain how the procedures of the work setting protect both children and young people and practitioners.

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

1.3 Analyse how national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding affect day-to-day work with children and young people

3.1 Explain why it is important to ensure children and young people are protected from harm within the work setting.

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?

Unit 516 Understand Safeguarding of children and young people (for those working in the adult sector) P5

All of the staff need to make sure that confidentiality is paramount. Staff have to read and understand the Data Protection Act of 1998. We have to make sure that we are clear about our standards of conduct, that we are expected to meet. We are encouraged to use the codes of conduct to maintain our own practice

Working Together to safeguard children 2015 is a statutory guidance and says ‘’specific duties in relation to children’s need and children suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.’’ (Gov.uk)

As a childminder I have a duty of care to keep all my minded children safe, healthy and comfortable while making sure their rights are guarded. I have a duty of care to keep children from harm whether physical or psychological. I carry out risk assessments in my home and when out and about to avoid potential hazards to children. Risk assessments are reviewed every year or when accidents/incidents happen and there is a need for review. The house is equipped with safety equipment to minimise risk of injury or harm. Stair gates, plug sockets and cupboard

Working together to safeguard children 2006 sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children’s Act 1989 and the Children’s Act 2004. It is important that all practitioners within settings and environments looking and caring after children and young people must know their responsibilities and duties in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, following their legislations, policies and procedures.