Safeguarding Policy

Safeguarding Policy

Raising Explorers Nursery is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in our care. We recognise our responsibility to create a safe, nurturing, and inclusive environment, and to ensure all staff, volunteers, and visitors share this commitment. We will take all necessary steps to protect children from harm, abuse, neglect, and exploitation and will work in partnership with parents, carers, and external agencies to achieve this.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead at Raising Explorers Nursery is Serish Hussain. The DSL is the first point of contact for external agencies that are pursuing Child Protection investigations. When an individual concern/incident is brought to the notice of the Designated Safeguarding Lead, they will be responsible for deciding upon whether or not this should be reported to the other agencies as a safeguarding issue. They are responsible for liaising with Social Care, the Local Children’s Safeguarding Board and Ofsted in any child protection matter. The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for Bradford can be reached on 01274 435600. For the Leeds branch, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for Leeds can be reached on 0113 37 89687.

Types of Abuse As defined in Working Together to Safeguard Children and EYFS:

Child abuse is any form of physical, emotional or sexual mistreatment or lack of care that leads to injury or harm. An individual may abuse or neglect a child directly, or by failing to protect them from harm. Some forms of child abuse and neglect are listed below.

Physical abuse – Causing physical harm to a child (e.g., hitting, shaking, poisoning, burning, or otherwise causing physical injury).

Emotional abuse – Persistent emotional maltreatment that harms a child’s emotional development (e.g., humiliation, intimidation, isolation, or making a child feel unloved).

Sexual abuse – Forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not they understand what is happening (includes contact and non-contact abuse).

Neglect – Persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical or psychological needs, likely to result in harm to their health or development.

Procedures for Reporting Concerns

  • Immediate Action – If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
  • Recording – Use the nursery’s safeguarding concern form to record facts (not opinions).
  • Reporting – Pass the form to the DSL immediately.
  • DSL Action – The DSL will assess and decide on next steps, which may include contacting the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), children’s social care, or police.
  • Confidentiality – Only those who need to know will be informed.

Staff Training

  • Induction safeguarding training for all new staff before unsupervised work with children.
  • Annual refresher training for all staff.
  • Termly safeguarding updates from the DSL.

Allegations Against Staff

  • Any allegation against a staff member will be taken seriously and reported to the DSL, who will contact the LADO immediately.
  • The nursery will follow local authority procedures to ensure a fair, transparent process.

DSL Responsibilities:

  • Lead on child protection concerns.
  • Liaise with local authority children’s services and safeguarding partners.
  • Maintain and manage confidential safeguarding records.
  • Provide safeguarding training and updates to all staff.

All Staff Responsibilities:

  • Be alert to signs of abuse, neglect, or risk of harm.
  • Record and report concerns immediately to the DSL.
  • Maintain professional boundaries and follow the Code of Conduct.
  • Complete safeguarding training at induction and refresher updates annually.

Safer Recruitment

Raising Explorers Nursery follows safer recruitment practices including:

  • Enhanced DBS checks for all staff and volunteers.
  • Identity, reference, and employment history checks.
  • Verification of qualifications.
  • Induction on safeguarding responsibilities before starting work.

We follow strengthened safer recruitment requirements:

  • At least one reference must be obtained before employment starts and must include safeguarding-related information, not just generic statements.
  • Enhanced DBS checks, identity checks, qualification verification, and employment history checks are mandatory.

Attendance & Absence Monitoring

At Raising Explorers Nursery we record and monitor daily attendance. For unexplained absences, staff will:
  • Attempt immediate contact with parents/carers.
  • If no contact, use all provided emergency contacts (minimum of two).
  • If concerns remain, escalate to the DSL who may contact children’s services.

Paediatric First Aid

Students 17 + and apprentices 16 + must hold a valid PFA certificate to be counted in staff-to-child ratios. During all meal and snack times, at least one PFA-qualified staff member must be present.

Safer Eating & Choking Prevention

  • Children are supervised so staff can both see and hear them while eating.
  • Allergy and dietary needs are recorded and displayed discreetly for staff reference.
  • Foods are prepared to minimise choking risks (e.g., grapes halved lengthways).
  • Any incidents are recorded and reviewed for future risk reduction.

Privacy During Intimate Care

  • Children’s privacy is respected during nappy changing and toileting.
  • Staff maintain supervision while using strategies such as body positioning or privacy screens.
  • All intimate care routines follow written procedures to ensure dignity and safeguarding.

Whistleblowing

Staff at Raising Explorers Nursery are encouraged to raise concerns about poor or unsafe practice via the nursery’s whistleblowing policy or directly to the LADO/Ofsted. No staff member will face victimisation for reporting genuine concerns.

Staff have a duty to raise concerns about unsafe practices or the NSPCC Whistleblowing Advice Line (0800 028 0285).

Record Keeping

  • Safeguarding records are kept securely and separately from other records.
  • Records are retained and transferred in line with statutory requirements.
Report your concerns to the settings Safeguarding Officer and in their absence the deputy Safeguarding Office. Primarily a referral form must be completed and emailed to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). The LADO can be contacted at the Local Safeguarding Children Board to confirm where to email referral forms within 1 day of the allegation being made. However, if a referral is made by telephone in the first instance, referrals must be emailed within 1 day. OFSTED must also be informed. Referral forms can be obtained by logging onto the Local Safeguarding Children Board website. The child’s parents/carers must be informed of the situation. This must be dealt with in a calm and sensitive manner, ensuring confidentiality at all times. It is important that any conversations with professionals and the child and/or its parents/carers are documented within the communication book which is kept within the office. Under no circumstances should the setting carry out its own investigation before contacting the LADO.

Once the referral has been received it is the responsibility of the LADO to contact the referrer to discuss the allegation. If the evaluation decides that no offence has been committed, the company disciplinary procedures will also be followed. (Please refer to Disciplinary Procedures). If a staff member is thought to have caused distress or harm in any way to a child, it is important that they are not left unsupervised at any time until advice is sought from the LADO. 

Contact Telephone numbers:
Bradford: 01274 434343 (Duty LADO)
If an allegation of abuse is made against a member of staff, volunteer or supply worker the setting will notify the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and OFSTED and follow the setting’s allegations procedure if they have:

  • Behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child
  • Possibly committed a criminal offence against, or related to, a child
  • Behaved towards a child (ren) in a way that indicates s/he is unsuitable to work with children
The LADO will record the allegation on to Part A of an agency referral from and send it to the  Child Protection Unit within 1 working day of the allegation being made.  The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and Ofsted will then be informed immediately in order for this to be investigated by the appropriate bodies promptly:
The LADO will be informed immediately for advice and guidance. If as an individual you feel this will not be taken seriously or are worried about the allegation getting back to the person in question then it is your duty to inform the LADO yourself directly. A full investigation will be carried out by the appropriate professionals (LADO, Ofsted) to determine how this will be handled. The nursery will follow all instructions from the LADO and Ofsted and ask all staff members to do the same and co-operate where required. Support will be provided to all those involved in an allegation throughout the external investigation in line with LADO support and advice. The nursery reserves the right to suspend any member of staff during an investigation. All enquiries/external investigations/interviews will be documented and kept in a locked file for access by the relevant authorities. The nursery will also notify the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to ensure their records are updated. The nursery retains the right to dismiss any member of staff in connection with founded allegations following an inquiry  Counselling will be available for any member of the nursery who is affected by an allegation, their colleagues in the nursery and the parents.