CHILD PROTECTION POLICY

It is the policy of Swanzy Montessori that every effort is made to ensure that the settling in period is as easy and pleasant as possible for our preschoolers and their parents.

1. It is the policy of Swanzy Montessori to ensure that children are protected and kept safe from harm while they are in our facility.

2. We do this by

a. Ensuring that management and staff are trained on safety precautions relating to children at all times;

b. Giving parents, children and workers information about what we do and what they can expect from us;

c. Making sure that our staff are carefully selected, trained and properly supervised;

d. Embracing feedback from parents on how to improve on safety standards;

e. Having reporting procedures and Head Teacher designated as the person to deal with Child Protection Concerns

f. Ensuring that all staff are informed of the Reporting Procedures

Child Protection Reporting Procedure

Steps to follow are as follows:

i. Should a child make a disclosure to a staff member we have clear guidelines as to how that staff member would respond.

ii. (Should a child disclose to a staff member/volunteer that abuse may be happening in their life, the role of the staff member/volunteer is primarily to listen, asking only open-ended questions e.g. is there anything else you want to say?

iii.The staff member/volunteer must share this information with the Head Teacher. They must never promise a child that they could keep such information to themselves, even if a child requested it.

iv.It is never the role of the staff member/volunteer to investigate or to make an assessment of the risk of abuse to a child.)

v. At the appropriate time, the staff member/volunteer will record the disclosure as it happened, quoting the words of the child

vi.Any member of staff who has a Child Protection concern will discuss their concerns with the Head Teacher

vii.The Designated Person is responsible for the recording of any such concerns.

viii. It is our policy to inform parents about any Child Protection concerns, unless doing so would put the child at further risk