Protecting children

Settings need to make sure that the welfare of each child is paramount at all times. Your Development Officer (DO) can help you develop policies and practices to ensure that all the children in your setting are kept safe at all times and protected from harm. DOs can help you with health and safety in your setting including risk assessments.

Ofsted has produced a very useful document which can help you review the measures you have in place to promote children’s welfare in your setting and offers examples of practice (Enter the Ofsted website using the link on this page and type in Safe and Sound in the search area). You can also find extracts from local Ofsted reports showing how providers have achieved ‘outstanding’ for their provision in this outcome by following the link to the document listed in the publications section of this page (outstanding-outcomes.pdf).

If you feel that a child is at risk from harm then you should follow Shropshire Safeguarding Children Board’s procedures and guidelines. You can find these procedures by following the link on this page. You will also find a link through to the DfES publication ‘What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused’.

Sometimes you may feel that a child is not thriving although they are not at risk of immediate harm. One way of sharing your concerns is through the Information, Sharing and Assessment process.