Health and safety at Pied Piper

Policy

The protection of each child is our first priority and fully support every child has the right to be protected from all types of harm and abuse regardless of age, special needs, racial/cultural heritage, religious belief or sexual orientation.

All staff can play a vital role in safeguarding children. All Pied Piper staff should be aware of “Child Abuse”, the causes and what Pied Piper Management will do if we suspect a child in Pied Piper care is suffering. Procedures will be followed promptly, sensitively but absolutely. Our loyalty in such circumstances remains with the child.

Pied Piper’s Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) are Charlotte Gill and Sam O’Connor who coordinate child protection issues and liaise with Social Care, Front Door for Families, MASH, LSCP, OFSTED and other agencies.

This policy is in accordance with Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, The Children Act 1989 & 2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022.

Pied Piper recognises and acts upon the legal duties set out in these statutes, regulations and guidance to protect the children at its settings (and staff) from harm, and to co-operate with other agencies specifically LSCP (Local Safeguarding Children Partnership).

The purpose of the policy is:

• To provide protection for the children and young people who receive Pied Piper’s service.
• To provide staff and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt in the event that they suspect a child or young person may be experiencing, or be at risk of, harm.
• To provide staff with guidance on children at risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child trafficking, grooming, child on child abuse, modern slavery, online abuse, child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation
• To provide staff with guidance on identifying children at risk of radicalisation

This policy applies to all members of staff and volunteers at Pied Piper. Adherence to this Policy is mandatory for all staff and volunteers and its use is not subject to discretion.

Procedure

We will seek to safeguard children by:

• valuing them, listening to and respecting them regardless of race, religion, faith and beliefs (British Values)
• adopting child protection guidelines through procedures and a code of conduct for staff and volunteers
• recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
• sharing information about child protection and good practice with children, parents, staff and volunteers
• sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving parents and children appropriately
• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support and training and ensure that staff do not, through their actions, place children at risk of harm, or themselves at risk from an allegation of harm
• reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

Pied Piper recognises that safeguarding covers much more than child protection and so this Policy will operate in conjunction with other related policies and procedures:

• Staff Recruitment, Induction & Staff Conduct
• Staff training
• Parental Involvement
• Bullying
• Managing Behaviour
• Health & Safety
• Information Sharing and Consent

Identifying Abuse

Pied Piper staff are particularly well placed to observe outward signs of abuse such as changes in behaviour. A child protection concern may come to the attention of a staff member or volunteer in a variety of ways, such as pupil disclosure, third party disclosure or staff suspicion. Any suspicion, allegation or incident of abuse must be reported to the Team Captain immediately.

It is not the responsibility of Pied Piper to investigate suspected or alleged abuse; this is the role of the Police and Social Services.

What is Child Abuse?

Someone may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm in the following four categories:

Physical abuse	may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.
Emotional abuse	persistent emotional ill-treatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on a child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or unvalued. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on a child, or causing children to feel frightened or in danger
Sexual abuse	involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is fully aware of what is happening and whether or not such an act was consensual. It may involve physical contact and/or non-contact activities such as involving children in looking at or the production of pornographic material, watching sexual activity or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse
Neglect	the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical, emotional and/or psychological needs likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failing to protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision, or failing to ensure access to appropriate medical care of treatment. It can also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs.

Who are the Abusers?

Abusers can be parents or carers, siblings or members of the extended family, neighbours, teachers, strangers or other pupils; in short, an abuser could be anyone.

Signs Of Abuse Or Neglect

These are only possible signs of abuse and it is important NOT to jump to conclusions too quickly, as there may be reasonable explanations. This is also not an exhaustive list and if you have any concerns, you should ALWAYS report it.

Physical abuse	Unexplained injuries/ burns, Untreated injuries, Bruises/ abrasion around the face Bi-lateral injuries e.g., 2 bruised eyes, Bite marks, Bruising abrasions to lips, cheeks, outer ear
Emotional abuse	Excessive overreaction to mistakes, Continual self-deprecation, Excessive rocking, thumb sucking, hair twisting, Extreme compliance/aggression – particularly behaviour changes, Significant peer relationship difficulties
Sexual abuse	Sexual awareness inappropriate to child’s age, including provocative sexual behaviour Self-harm, sexually transmitted diseases, Sudden changes in behaviour, Fear of undressing
Neglect	Constant hunger, tiredness and/or poor personal hygiene, may wear ill kept, ill-fitting clothes, Untreated medical problems, Destructive tendencies, social isolation Poor self-esteem and/or relationship with peers, Excessive rocking, hair twisting, thumb sucking

If any member of staff has a concern that a child may be suffering abuse, they should alert the Team Captain. In all instances an Incident Report Form should be completed with the Team Captain following the steps detailed below.

There is probably nothing as difficult for a child as disclosing information about abuse. Care must be taken of the child and any personal view put aside.

You Are Important. The child has chosen to disclose information to you about something that is very difficult. The following must be followed to make it easier for the child:

1. STAY CALM – you need to remain composed and in control to help the child.
2. LISTEN & BELIEVE the child
3. DO NOT PUT WORDS INTO THE CHILD’S MOUTH – ask open non-leading questions such as “tell me some more, tell me when this happened”
4. NOTE THE MAIN POINTS calmly and accurately (If possible, get someone else to record what the child says).
5. REPEAT ONLY WHAT THE CHILD HAS SAID
6. CLARIFY to make sure you have understood the child correctly.
7. TELL & SHOW the child that:
   • You are sorry it happened
   • It is not the child’s fault, whatever the child has said or done
   • It is right to tell you
   • You are glad that he/she has told you
   • Things like this DO happen to other children
   • You will do what you can to protect, help and support the child

8. NEVER PROMISE to keep the disclosure a secret. You must say “I am sorry that this has happened and you need some help and I know somebody who can help”
9. PRAISE & HELP the child to feel strong. Say “You did this well”, “You were very brave to tell me” etc
10. TELL the child you will be getting other people to help. And that he/she will be asked to tell them exactly what she/he has told you”.
11. GIVE CHOICES and let the child make some decisions i.e. “Would you like to go into the Camp Office, (have some tuck) and tell the Team Captain or would you like to do that later and just go and have a drink/join in again”
12. ALWAYS tell the Team Captain what has happened as soon as possible
13. LOOK AFTER the child while arrangements are being made – keep in sight or tell them where you are going
14. MAKE THE REST OF THE DAY AS NORMAL AS POSSIBLE for everyone concerned (the child, other children and you!)
15. WRITE UP a detailed objective account at your earliest opportunity and at the very latest at the end of the day. All accounts will be kept in the strictest confidence.
16. The Team Captain is to report the incident to the Child Protection Officer (Sam O’Connor and Charlotte Gill) who will record the incident and report to Social Care the LADO when the threshold is met.
17. If child protection procedures are thought to be necessary then the staff member may be invited to attend a case conference where a report on observations will be made to other agencies concerned with the protection of children.