Safeguarding Policy

Bright Horizons Foundation for Children Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy

The purpose of this Policy is to protect and safeguard children and young people who are beneficiaries of our Bright Space programme by:

1. providing the overarching principles which guide the Foundations’ approach to safeguarding and child protection;
2. outline staff and volunteer’s obligations under this Policy; and
3. identify the required Bright Horizons Family Solutions Limited (BH) child protection and safeguarding training that volunteers and staff must complete.

This Policy applies to all Foundation staff and volunteers.

The Foundation’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Principles

The Foundation recognises that:

• The welfare of children is paramount, as enshrined in the Children Act 1989.
• All children regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation, or identity, have a right to equal protection from all types of harm and abuse.
• Some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of their life experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.
• Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting their welfare.

The Foundation believes that keeping  children and young people safe requires:

• Valuing them, listening to and respecting them.
• Appointing a Designated Safeguarding Officer and a Lead Board Member for safeguarding.
• Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary background screening checks are completed in accordance with BH Policy.
• Providing staff and volunteers with  supervision, support, and training.
• Adopting child protection and safeguarding practices through implementing the BH Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Procedures identified below.
• Using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families, and carers as appropriate.
• Following BH Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and procedures to manage any allegations against staff or volunteers appropriately.
• Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place .

Obligations

Staff and volunteers have a duty to develop respectful, caring and professional relationships with children and young people that they may interact with during any Foundation activities.  They must comply with the following BH Safeguarding Policy and procedures:

• CPP 01 Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy
• CPPR 04 1 Staff Professional Behaviour Procedure
• CPPR 05 1 Mobile Phone & Digital Device Procedure
• CPPR 05 4 Social Networking Procedure
• CPPR 09 Respectful Interactions with Children Procedure
• CPPR 02 1 Managing Allegations Procedure

In the event of staff or volunteers  becoming aware of a safeguarding or child protection concern (as identified and defined in the BH Procedures) involving a Bright Space, any Foundation activity, or any Foundation staff or volunteer, they must immediately report the concern to the Partner Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) on the site (if relevant) and the Foundation Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO).

Staff and volunteers must also complete the following BH Training:

• BH Safeguarding E-learning Module
• Manual Handling
• Fire Safety

Foundation Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO):

The Foundation’s Bright Space Manager, Tracy Wilkes-Green, is the Foundation’s DSO and is responsible for:

• Overseeing the child protection and safeguarding within our Bright Spaces.
• Ensuring that mechanisms are in place to assist staff and volunteers to undertake their duties in relation to safeguarding and child protection.
• Supporting Bright Space settings should there be an incident which meets the threshold specified in the Safeguarding Investigation Thresholds Procedure.
• Leading any safeguarding investigation, supporting the end to end process.
• Escalating to the board member safeguarding lead if the Foundation is not satisfied with the Partner DSO response to an incident.

Foundation Contact details