Safeguarding

Hop, Skip and Jump regards the protection of children and vulnerable adults as a priority and is committed to safeguarding these groups.

 

Core Principles of the policy

 

v The Centre Supervisor will act as Safeguarding Officer

v The protection of children and vulnerable adults is everyone’s responsibility

v Hop, Skip and Jump will follow statutory and specialist guidelines in working with children and young people

v Hop, Skip and Jump will seek to support all those affected by abuse

v Hop, Skip and Jump will review its safeguarding policy annually

 

 

Any allegations of abuse will be reported to the Local Authority Safeguarding team (GSCB) and Hop, Skip and Jump will work in partnership with them to determine the next steps.

v The Centre Supervisor/Manager is responsible to update the Foundation Co-ordinator and staff to any alerts issued by the GSCB.

v The Centre Supervisor/Manager will sign up to the GSCB website and will have responsibility for disseminating GSCB information throughout HSJ’s workforce

v Alerts will be issued through regular Foundation staff meetings; however should this not be appropriate at the time the alerts may be issued at other times ensuring confidentiality is always maintained.

 

Hop, Skip and Jump will exercise care in the appointment of all those working /volunteering with children and young people in, working to ‘safe from harm’ principles by ensuring that everyone working with children or young people go through the same process which includes the following factors:

 

v All recruitment advertisements will include the followings statement “Recruitment is done in line with safe Recruitment Practices”

v All posts to have a job description and person specification

v Short listing to be based on formal applications forms not CV’s

v All interview questions are based on job descriptions and person specifications

v All interviews are carried out under equal opportunities principles

v No formal offer of employment is made until a Criminal Records Bureau check at an enhanced level has been applied for and two references have come back. Until a CRB has been processed and complete that member of staff will only be able to work when supervised by a member of staff with an enhanced CRB check. CRB checks will be done every three years. ( As agreed by the Foundation Co-ordinator)

v Staff/ volunteers are adequately trained and supervised

v They understands and follow the centres safeguarding policy and procedures

 

When using contractors or outside partnerships, Hop, Skip and Jump will request prior to the work being carried out proof of suitability for these persons to be on site. This would be requested by the Foundation Co-ordinator at the time of the initial enquiry.

Hop Skip and Jump will also have in place arrangements to ensure best practice is maintained at all times. This will be monitored by the Centre Manager working together with the contractors and having a system in place to monitor and maintain a safe working practice. All members of HSJ staff will be updated on a daily basis (whilst the contractors are on site) regarding the ongoing work and be given instructions by the Centre Supervisor/Manager as to what their individual responsibility would be. When possible we will have work done when children are not on site.

 

The Policy fulfils the requirements of:

 

The Care Standards Act 2000

The Children Act 1989

The Protection of Children Act 1999

The Human Rights Act 1998

Working together to safeguard Children (Home Office, Department of Health, Department of Education and Employment 1999)