The Early Years Alliance is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. All staff are expected to share this commitment and follow the policy and procedures to continuously promote a culture of safety.  

Aim  

The Alliance has four key commitments that provide a consistent and coherent strategy for safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults in all services provided by or affiliated to the Alliance.  

The Alliance commits to:  

1. empower children, young people, and vulnerable adults, promoting their right to be strong, resilient, actively listened to, and heard.  

2.  uphold a culture of safety in which children, young people and vulnerable adults are protected from abuse and harm in all areas of its curriculum and service delivery.  

3.  prevent harm and respond promptly and appropriately to all incidents or concerns of abuse that may occur, working with statutory agencies to achieve the best possible outcomes for every child, young person, or vulnerable adult.  

4.  increase safeguarding confidence, knowledge and good practice throughout its training and learning programmes for adults, advocating support and representation for those in greatest need.  

 What is safeguarding and child protection?  

Safeguarding is the steps we take to keep children, young people, and vulnerable adults safe on a day-to-day basis and the actions we take when we are worried about a person or the conduct of a colleague. 

Child protection is the protection put in place for a child who is, or is likely to, suffer significant harm. Significant harm is defined in Section 47 of the Children Act.  

How we keep children, young people, and vulnerable adults safe  

Safeguarding is of paramount importance within the Alliance and is embedded in our leadership structure, led by our Safeguarding Champion, and overseen by our Safeguarding Policy Group.  

• We actively listen to and observe babies and children and through our curriculum promote their right to be strong, resilient, listened to and heard.  

• We increase children’s understanding of how to stay safe and support parents to increase their knowledge by sharing information and resources.  

• There are clear policies and procedures in place for reporting, recording, and managing any concerns about children, young people, or vulnerable adults. All of which adhere to the Early Years Foundation Stage Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements and relevant legislation.  

• All staff are trained in and understand their safeguarding responsibilities.  

• Every service has a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) responsible for safeguarding and child protection. This includes ensuring that staff, volunteers, agency workers and students know the signs of abuse, are trained, understand, and follow Alliance policy and procedures.  

• There are procedures in place for working in partnership with agencies involving a child, young person, or vulnerable adult. These procedures also take account of working with families with a ‘child in need’ and with families in need of early help.  

• There is a robust Health and Safety Policy supported by clear procedures.  

• Staff and volunteers are recruited following the Alliance’s Safer Recruitment Policy. This includes robust recruitment checks, designated staff and volunteers having a DBS and six-month probationary period.  

• There are procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse against a member of staff, or any other person undertaking work whether paid or unpaid for the organisation.  

• Families are encouraged to raise concerns through a clear complaints policy and procedure.  

• There are robust whistleblowing procedures in place for all staff, volunteers, and students.  

• Safeguarding incidents are reviewed and reflected upon so that learning can be shared across the organisation.