My second piece of evidence in a Fire evacuation procedure, this clearly shows step by step instructions about what to do if a fire occurs; these are placed all over the school in case of a fire. It is the role of the practitioner to create and put up these instructions all over the school to protect the children in case there is a fire, practitioners must also have regular fire drills and tests to ensure that all the alarms work correctly and teach every child how to line up and evacuate the building without panicking or getting upset. In my placement the teachers also arranged a visit from the local fire fighting team to come and give and talk about their job and the dangers of fire, they had a quiet chat with a particular young girl how was very scared of fire and this helped her emotional well-being as it put her mind at rest.
My third piece of evidence is a Health and Safety Policy which “Aims to provide a safe and healthy environment for children, teaching and non-teaching staff and all other people who come onto the premises of our school” According to the Health and Safety Policy. This document clearly states many aim, principles and responsibilities that a parent must read and sign for their child to enter the school as a student. This policy will create a safe and secure environment for all children to protect them from all dangers and hazards. It states many policies and procedures to keep each child intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically safe from all hazards. It is the role of the practitioner to write these policies and ensure they are put into practise by safeguarding each and every child.
My fourth piece of evidence is a risk assessment taken from my setting when we were conducting a school trip to the local village, every member of staff on the trip would read and sign the document to accept legal responsibility. The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 means that I must legally provide clean water, nutritious food and a safe environment for the children in my setting, to do this I must carry out many risk assessments of the environment to ensure the setting is safe for every child to attend. During school trips, indoor and outdoor play, practitioners must always conduct risk assessments to ensure that the environment with be as safe as possible for every child. Practitioners must fulfil the children’s right to be healthy by providing them with healthy food, physical exercise and a happy environment. Practitioners must take steps to keeping children safe e.g. risk assessments and ensure that children can enjoy and achieve by providing them with fun and stimulating activities to develop and reach their full potential in life. There are many risk assessments carried out to manage every risk to provide a healthy environment to challenge each child. Safety procedures are carried out regularly such as first aid and fire drills and there should always be the correct staff to children ratio. According to the EYFS Practise Card 3.3 the Learning Environment, “Help children to understand how to behave outdoors and inside by talking about personal safety, risks and the safety of others. Ensure safety without stopping reasonable risk-taking.”
My final piece of evidence is an accident report taken from my setting. At my setting, there are many policies and procedures that must be followed by all staff members if a child has an accident. Each child has their own “Safeguarding: Accident Log” which should always be filled in for minor accident and injuries. Every time a child has an injury the Date, Time, Place of accident, Circumstances, Nature and Treatment must be recorded and then the Supervisor, Manager, Witnesses and parents must all sign the log to prove that they have all been notified. The accident must then be given a number and that number must be placed on a diagram to show where the child has hurt themselves, it is the role of the practitioner to fill out all these forms and record each accident. After every accident the manager must be informed about all the details and then must sign the accident log to prove that they have been informed. If a child's injury gets worse than an “Injury Monitoring Log” must be filled in and the child's health must be recorded every 30 minutes, this is for things such as concussions where the parents of the child must be contacted as soon as possible. Confidentially must be maintained at all times throughout a child’s accident, for example a supervisor cannot disclose any information to a parent about any other child other than their own.
As a practitioner it is my role to promote this healthy lifestyle by following legislation and acting as a role model, by eating and providing a variety of healthy food and snacks with the children so they can choose which ones they prefer as every child is different and would have a different opinion. As a practitioner I must follow initiatives such as the 5-a-day scheme which states that a child should have at least 5 fruits or vegetables a day to keep healthy. As a practitioner it is my role to ensure that I encourage children to clean their teeth and go to the dentist and doctors regularly and to produce hygiene routines such as hand washing or teeth brushing before or after lunch, this will become a habit to children and they will continue to do this throughout their life. The Children Act 2004 promotes the five outcomes of the Every Child Matters (ECM) legislation, one of these outcomes is ‘be healthy’ and this ensures that every child has the right to have all of their dietary and nutritional needs met while at the setting, it is the role of the practitioner to ensure that each child gets the nutrients they need.
Early years settings are all influenced by legislation to create strict policies and procedures to safeguard and protect their children and according to Beaver et al (2008:92) “Operating against policy will often have serious disciplinary implications for staff involved”. [E10] The ECM legislation ensures that every child matters no matter what background/ gender or belief a child has, they all must be given equal support to thrive and develop. It is the role of practitioners to never discriminate against a child because of their disability, race, gender or beliefs; they must be treated fairly and given equal opportunities to succeed. According to Tassoni P et al (2007:115) “It is an accepted view in society and the early year’s sector that every child is special and should be given opportunities to fulfil his or her potential. This is the bases on anti-discriminatory practise and focus of many laws today.” Practitioners should always challenge discrimination in practise, they must follow the settings policies and procedures to stop the abusive behaviour or language as the welfare of the child being discriminated against may be at risk, also other children will imitate this attitude and grow up to understand that everyone is different and should be valued. [E8] Every child is different and has different likes and dislikes and cultural background, this personal information can be used to help plan specific activities to keep a emotionally and intellectually healthy, for example a child who likes trains can count toy trains to develop their maths skills as every child is unique and will have different interests and will need different activities planned to help them develop.
There are many policies, procedures and legislations to ensure that inappropriate behaviour must be kept to a minimum to safeguard the children, for example EYP’s must legally undergo regular safeguarding training and Ofsted requirements to ensure they are capable to protect a child. Another example is the Children Act 1989 which explains that’s children must be protected at all times; this is the duty of a practitioner. Workers must follow many health and safety procedures to never put staff members or children at risk; they must constantly behave as professionals to safe-guard every child in a setting. For example it is the role of the practitioner to always carry a first aid kit when taking children off the premises, as children made need medication or medical assistance while they are out. In a nursery it is the role of the practitioner to suit all over the children’s care needs, for example feeding, clothing, bathing and putting them to sleep when they need it. Although this may be difficult as every child is different and may want to eat/sleep at a different time of the day.
If a child is showing signs of sickness or illness then a practitioner must follow strict policies and procedures to protect the welfare of the child. A practitioner must immediately take the child's temperature and follow a specific procedure, depending on that child's temperature. When this child’s temperature was first taken, it was above 37°C, so a “Sickness Monitoring Log” must be filled in to record the child's temperature every 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the child's temperature had risen to over 37.5°C so emergency calpol had to be administrated and her mother was called and informed, the setting then isolated the child so the infection could not spread, following their procedure for prevention of infection. The settings polices state that if the child’s temperature had rose to over 38°C then the parents would immediately have to come and collect the child and take them to the doctors. Every child has a Sickness Monitoring Log and it must be filled in every time a child is ill, a practitioner must declare the time, symptoms, the action taken, if the child's parents were informed and if they were collected early. The parents of the child, supervisor present and the manager of the setting then had to sign the log.
Another example is the Children Act 1989 which explains that’s children must be protected at all times; this is the duty of a practitioner. A worker must “Honour the confidentiality of information relating to the child and their family, unless its disclosure is required by law or is in the best interest of the child” According to CACHE. Workers must follow many health and safety procedures to never put staff members or children at risk; they must constantly behave as professionals to safe-guard every child in a setting. According to Bruce T and Meggitt C (2010:365) Practitioners, including students, should not discuss or otherwise share this information – for example, when chatting in the staffroom or with friends at the weekend. . Practitioners must understand that Settings will have strict confidentiality policies which will compel them to keep all private information about a child in a safe, secure place and only disclose this information if that specific child’s well-being is at risk. Practitioners must also understand that if this private information is revealed it may cause harm or distress to the child or family involved and the child may have problems trusting adults in the future, as staff must be aware of the importance of confidentiality in the roles of the key person as “Anyone working with your children, whether in a nursery setting, a school or in the family home, will need to practise confidentiality. Confidentiality is respect for the privacy of any information about a child and his or her family”. According to Bruce T and Meggitt C (2007:499). For example, when I carried out my dairy tasks and observations in my setting I had to sign a statement of confidentiality to ensure that I respected my settings policies of confidentiality and instead of naming the setting and the children I used names such as Child A and Adult B to refer to each child. Although I could improve my practise by keeping all my observation about the children in a safer location such as a lockable file cabinet instead of my current plastic folder.
