Safeguarding at Banana Moon Day Tunbridge Wells
 
What does safeguarding mean to us?
 
First and foremost, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. At Banana Moon Tunbridge Wells, we aim to keep children healthy, safe, and secure. We aim to support each child to meet their individual needs, and create positive relationships with the adults caring for them.
Everyone who works with children needs to understand how to recognize the signs and symptoms that could indicate a child is being abused, but also how to respond and make child protection referrals.

The government guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) and What to Do if You’re Worried a Child Is Being Abused (2015) provides a national framework for all that provide care to and work with children to join in partnership to safeguard children effectively.
All childcare providers need to consider this guidance and implement robust safeguarding policies and procedures for their setting, which outline how to respond to and record concerns about children and vulnerable adults. All providers should ensure their policies align with the safeguarding policies of their local children’s safeguarding board. All Early Years' providers in England follow the mandatory framework detailed in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and here are our most frequently asked questions:

How do you make sure that you have “suitable people” working in the nursery?
 
At Banana Moon Tunbridge Wells we have a very rigorous “safer recruitment” checklist, that all prospective early-year practitioners (EYP) must sign off on. Every EYP and member of staff working in the building will have an enhanced DBS check (which includes criminal records checks and barred list checks) when starting here at Banana Moon the EYP is asked to join the update system to ensure that we can check all DBS’S every 2 months to ensure the safety of everyone in the building.

Full references are verified before anyone can start work and there must be no unexplained gaps in employment. Qualifications are also checked to ensure they are appropriate and genuine, using the gov. uk qualification checker. We have an extensive 12-week induction programme which of course covers safeguarding training but also covers all our policies and procedures, training on child protection and health and safety as well as full training on the Banana Moon Learning and Development Programme.
 
What other safeguarding measures do you have in the nursery?
We have Designated Safeguarding leads at our nursery. Those are the nursery manager, deputy manager, and the directors.  All of them have attended the Designated Safeguarding Lead training run by the KCC (Kent County Council) and attend regular refresher sessions on safeguarding matters such as FGM, child sexual exploitation, forced marriage, domestic abuse, etc.  We also have our internal policies and procedures, so all the staff know how to report any concerns they may have.

For the protection of our practitioners and children, we do not have lone working, and children are always within sight and sound – including when they are sleeping, and the children are physically checked every five minutes. In addition to this, we have our physical safeguarding measures – almost 40 CCTV cameras in the building covering, not just the main rooms, but all areas the children use such as the garden. the baby's sleep room, the buggy shed, the sensory room, and the meeting room. 
All parents and carers who may collect children are authorized with their pictures, contact details, and a password. Each authorized parent will have their finger scanned for our biometric entry at the front of the nursery. Any visitors to our building are signed in and supervised throughout their whole visit. We also have a no mobile phone use policy in the building. So, all practitioners' phones are left in the manager’s office when they arrive and are signed out when they use them.

Every child is assigned a key person, to ensure that their individual needs are met and are specific to that unique child, but also to build a relationship with parents and be their first point of contact. We have regular team meetings and staff supervision, and safeguarding is always at the top of the agenda. We use safeguarding quizzes, and we create an environment where everyone feels confident that they can raise their concerns or ask questions.
 
Where do safeguarding concerns get escalated to?
 
Our local authority is Kent, and they have a Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) who is the contact for allegations made against staff and volunteers working with children. If there are concerns regarding a child that do not include any allegations against staff and volunteers working with children, then these are referred to the Integrated Front Door (IFD).
County LADO Service (CLS) Enquiries Process
The CLS has developed a new app to allow you to make an inquiry relating to a concern raised about a member of the children's workforce and whether a LADO referral should be submitted.  An inquiry is not a referral, and if you have immediate safeguarding concerns you must refer, as usual, to the police or Front Door Service.

Please see below for further details

https://www.kscmp.org.uk/procedures/local-authority-designated-officer-lado 

https://www.kelsi.org.uk/special-education-needs/integrated-childrens-services/front-door