WOOSH is committed to building a ‘culture of safety’ in which the children in our care are protected from abuse, harm and radicalisation.

The Club will respond promptly and appropriately to all incidents or concerns regarding the safety of a child that may occur. The Club’s child protection procedures comply with all relevant legislation and with guidance issued by the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

There is a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) available at all times while the Club is in session. The DSL coordinates safeguarding and child protection issues and liaises with external agencies (eg Social Care and Ofsted). The Club’s DSL is Solar Richmond. The Deputy / on-call DSL is Rebecca Nicholson.

The Club has detailed procedures for suitability checking for new recruits.  These procedures are within our Safe Recruitment Policy and all staff responsible for recruitment ensure safe and robust recruitment practice is followed at all times.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined by:

• Providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge.
• Protecting children from Maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online.
• Preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health and development.
• Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
• Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Child abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Child abuse is any form of physical, emotional or sexual mistreatment or lack of care that leads to injury or harm. An individual may abuse or neglect a child directly, or by failing to protect them from harm. Some forms of child abuse and neglect are listed below.

• Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child so as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve making the child feel that they are worthless, unloved, or inadequate. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.
• Physical abuse can involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may be also caused when a parent or carer feigns the symptoms of, or deliberately causes, ill health to a child.
• Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. This can involve physical contact, or non-contact activities such as showing children sexual activities or encouraging them to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.
• Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and emotional needs. It can involve a failure to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter, to protect a child from physical and emotional harm, to ensure adequate supervision or to allow access to medical treatment.
• Domestic Abuse: psychological, physical, sexual, financial and emotional.

Signs of child abuse and neglect

Signs of possible abuse and neglect may include:

• significant changes in a child's behaviour
• deterioration in a child’s general well-being
• unexplained bruising or marks
• comments made by a child which give cause for concern
• inappropriate behaviour displayed by a member of staff, or any other person. For example, inappropriate sexual comments, excessive one-to-one attention beyond the requirements of their role, or inappropriate sharing of images.

If abuse is suspected or disclosed

When a child makes a disclosure to a member of staff, that member of staff will:

• reassure the child that they were not to blame and were right to speak out
• listen to the child but not question them
• give reassurance that the staff member will take action
• record the incident as soon as possible (see Logging an incident below).

If a member of staff witnesses or suspects abuse, they will record the matter straightaway using the Cause for Concern form. If a third party expresses concern that a child is being abused, we will encourage them to contact Social Care directly. If they will not do so, we will explain that the Club is obliged to and the incident will be logged accordingly.

All staff recognise that children may not feel ready or know how to tell someone that they are being abused, exploited or neglected and/or they may not recognise their experiences as harmful.  This could be due to their vulnerability, disability or language barriers.  They may also feel embarrassed, humiliated or are being threatened.  Our staff recognise this and where they have concerns about a child they will raise these with the designated safeguarding Lead (DSL) without unreasonable delay.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM is an illegal, and extremely harmful practice and a form of child abuse and violence against women and girls.  FGM is therefore dealt with as part of our existing safeguarding procedures.  All our staff receive training in how to recognizes when girls are at risk of FGM or may have been subject to it. 

If FGM is suspected or disclosed

We will follow the same procedure as set out above for responding to child abuse and will make a report of Children’s Social Care directly and in line with existing safeguarding procedures and in line with our mandatory reporting duty.  We will make a report to the police calling 101, the single non-emergency number, if it has been disclosed that either:

A girl under 18 that an act of FGM has been carried out on her: or

Observe physical signs which appear to show that an act of FGM has been carried out on a girl under 18 and they have no reason to believe that an act was necessary for the girl’s physical or mental health or for the purposes connected with labour or birth.

Child-on-child abuse

Children are vulnerable to abuse by their peers. Child-on-child abuse is taken seriously by staff and will be subject to the same child protection procedures as other forms of abuse. Staff are aware of the potential uses of information technology for bullying and abusive behaviour between young people.  Staff will not dismiss abusive behaviour as normal between young people. The presence of one or more of the following in relationships between children should always trigger concern about the possibility of peer-on-peer abuse:

• Sexual activity (in primary school-aged children) of any kind, including sexting
• One of the children is significantly more dominant than the other (e.g. much older)
• One of the children is significantly more vulnerable than the other (e.g. in terms of disability, confidence, physical strength)
• There has been some use of threats, bribes or coercion to ensure compliance or secrecy.

If child-on-child abuse is suspected or disclosed

We will follow the same procedures as set out above for responding to child abuse.

Extremism and radicalisation

All childcare settings have a legal duty to protect children from the risk of radicalisation and being drawn into extremism. There are many reasons why a child might be vulnerable to radicalisation, including:

• feeling alienated or alone
• seeking a sense of identity or individuality
• suffering from mental health issues such as depression
• desire for adventure or wanting to be part of a larger cause
• associating with others who hold extremist beliefs

Signs of radicalisation

Signs that a child might be at risk of radicalisation include:

• changes in behaviour, for example becoming withdrawn or aggressive
• claiming that terrorist attacks and violence are justified
• viewing violent extremist material online
• possessing or sharing violent extremist material

If a member of staff suspects that a child is at risk of becoming radicalised, they will record any relevant information or observations on our Cause for concern form, and refer the matter to the DSL.

All staff at Woosh are aware of the indicators of abuse, neglect, exploitation and safeguarding issues are rarely standalone issues and events.  In most cases multiple issues will overlap.  Staff recognise that children might be at risk of harm inside and outside of their time in our club/setting, inside and outside of their home and whilst online.  Our team exercise professional curiosity to help identify early signs of abuse, neglect and exploitation and act early in cases where children might need our help or protection.

All staff at Woosh are aware of indicators of abuse, neglect and understand that children can be at risk of harm inside and outside of the school/college, inside and outside of home, and online

Staff exercising professional curiosity and knowing what to look for is vital for the early identification of abuse and neglect so that staff are able to identify cases of children who may be in need of help or protection.

All staff, but especially the designated safeguard lead (and deputies) should consider whether children are at risk of abuse or exploitation in situations outside their families.  Extra familial harms take a variety of different forms and children can be vulnerable to multiple harms including (but not limited to) sexual abuse (including harassment and exploitation), domestic abuse in their own intimate relationships (teenage relationship abuse), criminal exploitation, serious youth violence, county lines and radicalization.

All staff at Woosh are aware that technology is a significant component in many safeguarding and wellbeing issues.  Children are at risk of abuse and other risks online as well as face to face.  In many cases abuse and other risks will take place concurrently both online and offline.  Children can also abuse other children online, this can take the form of abusive, harassing, and misogynistic/misandrist messages, the non-consensual sharing of indecent images, especially around chat groups, and the sharing of abusive images and pornography to those who do not want to receive such content.  In all cases, is staff are unsure, they will always speak to the designated lead or a deputy.

Logging an incident

All information about the suspected abuse or disclosure, or concern, will be recorded on the Cause for concern form as soon as possible after the event. The record should include:

• date of the disclosure, or the incident, or the observation causing concern
• date and time at which the record was made
• name and date of birth of the child involved
• a factual report of what happened. If recording a disclosure, you must use the child’s own words
• name, signature and job title of the person making the record.

The record will be given to the Club’s DSL who will decide on the appropriate course of action.

For concerns about child abuse, the DSL will contact Social Care. The DSL will follow up all referrals to Social Care in writing within 48 hours.

If a member of staff thinks that the incident has not been dealt with properly, they may contact Social Care directly.

For minor concerns regarding radicalisation, the DSL will contact North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership. For more serious concerns the DSL will contact the Police on the non-emergency number (101), or the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321. For urgent concerns the DSL will contact the Police using 999.

Allegations against staff

If anyone makes an allegation of child abuse against a member of staff:

• The allegation will be recorded on an Incident record form. Any witnesses to the incident should sign and date the entry to confirm it.
• The allegation must be reported to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and to Ofsted. The LADO will advise if other agencies (e.g. police) should be informed, and the Club will act upon their advice. Any telephone reports to the LADO will be followed up in writing within 48 hours.
• Following advice from the LADO, it may be necessary to suspend the member of staff pending full investigation of the allegation.
• If appropriate the Club will make a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Promoting awareness among staff

The Club promotes awareness of child abuse and the risk of radicalisation through its staff training. The Club ensures that:

• the designated DSL has relevant experience and receives appropriate training in safeguarding and the Prevent Duty, and is aware of the Channel Programme and how to access it
• DSLs receive Level 3 training every 2 years, with regular updates throughout this period
• Annual refresher training will be offered to all staff in the form of online training to help maintain basic skills. Staff are supported to implement learning through team meetings.
• Procedures to ensure only suitable individuals are recruited, including obtaining references before employment commences, conducting identity and qualification checks, and recording all vetting information as part of safer recruitment processes are understood and followed by all responsible for recruitment, in line with our Safer Recruitment Policy
• all staff have a copy of this Safeguarding Children policy, confirming their understanding of its contents and are vigilant to signs of abuse, neglect or radicalisation
• all staff are aware of how to respond in a timely way at the earliest opportunity
• all staff are aware of their statutory duties with regard to the disclosure or discovery of child abuse, and concerns about radicalisation
• all staff receive safeguarding training meeting the requirements of EYFS Annex C, which is refreshed at a maximum of 2 year intervals
• all staff receive basic training in the Prevent Duty
• Staff are supported to understand how to keep themselves safe and how to blow the whistle should they be concerned about another adults behaviour or practice.
• staff are familiar with the Safeguarding File which is kept in the Woosh cupboard
• the Club’s procedures are in line with the guidance in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023)’ and staff are familiar with the guidance in ‘What To Do If You’re Worried A Child Is Being Abused (2015)’.
• The DSL and DDSL’s will provide support, advice and guidance to all practitioners on an ongoing basis, and on any specific issue as required.

Use of mobile phones and cameras

Photographs will only be taken of children with their parents’ permission. Only the club camera will be used to take photographs of children at the Club, except with the express permission of the manager. Neither staff nor children nor visitors may use their mobile phones or wearable technology such as smart watches to take photographs at the Club. For more details, see our Mobile Phone, Tablet Computers and Wearable Technology Policy.

Contact numbers

• Ofsted 0300 123 1231
• NY Safeguarding Children Partnership: 0300 1312131, http://www.safeguardingchildren.co.uk/contact-us.html
• NYC Social Care 0300 1312131, care@northyorks.gov.uk
• Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO):
  • During office hours – 01609 798005
  • Outside office hours: Emergency Duty Team (Evenings, weekends & Bank hols -0300 1312131
  • Email: children&families@northyorks.gov.uk
• Police: 101 (non-emergency) or 999 (emergency)
• Anti-terrorist hotline: 0800 789 321
• NSPCC: 0808 800 500 Ofsted: 0300 123 1231
• Where you have urgent concerns regarding a child or young person’s mental health, please call CAMHS crisis service. Selby and Easingwold – 0800 0516171, 7 days a week, 24 hrs a week.

Behaviour Management Policy

Woosh uses effective behaviour management strategies to promote the welfare and enjoyment of children attending the Club. Working in partnership with parents, we aim to manage behaviour using clear, consistent and positive strategies, and with adults modelling positive behaviour. The Club rules are clearly displayed at every session and are discussed regularly.

Whilst at Woosh we expect children to:

• Use socially acceptable behaviour
• Comply with the Club rules, which are compiled by the children attending the club
• Respect one another, accepting differences of race, gender, ability, age and religion
• Develop their independence by maintaining self-discipline
• Choose and participate in a variety of activities
• Ask for help if needed
• Enjoy their time at the Club.

Encouraging positive behaviour

At Woosh positive behaviour is encouraged by:

• Staff acting as positive role models
• Praising appropriate behaviour
• Sticker rewards
• Informing parents about individual achievements
• Offering a variety of play opportunities to meet the needs of children attending the Club.

It is inevitable that as children develop and learn, there are times when they need support and guidance to understand that their behaviour is not acceptable. Staff at the Club will try to determine the cause or triggers of the inappropriate behaviour to prevent the situation from recurring.

Dealing with inappropriate behaviour

• Woosh has adopted the 3 tier warning system used within the school to provide consistency when dealing with behaviour. This gives children the opportunity to realise that they are not doing something correctly and to get back on track.

Challenging behaviour will be addressed in a calm, firm and positive manner.

• In the first instance, the child will be given a verbal warning.
• The second, the child would be temporarily removed from the activity. Staff will discuss why the behaviour displayed is deemed inappropriate. Staff will give the child an opportunity to explain their behaviour, to help prevent a recurrence.
• Staff will encourage and facilitate mediation between children to try to resolve conflicts through discussion and negotiation.
• If the inappropriate behaviour appears to be as a result of boredom, staff will consult with the child to find activities that more fully engage them.

Persistent Inappropriate behaviour

• This would mean a child moves to the third tier, the red spot.
• The child will meet with a Woosh manager who will discuss with them their choices and discuss restorative practice to prevent recurrence. Staff will also speak with parents/carers to inform them of the behaviour and work with them to formulate clear strategies for dealing with persistent inappropriate behaviour.
• Staff will seek support wherever necessary from the child’s class teacher or other professional known to the family.
• If a child causes physical harm to another with intent, or is abusive, then they instantly are put on the red spot and restorative practice is used to deal with the situation by a member of staff. This type of incident is recorded by a member of staff and parents are informed, again to work in partnership and identify any triggers and support needed.
• No staff member will ever threaten any punishment that could adversely affect a child’s well-being (eg withdrawal of food or drink).

If after consultation with parents and the implementation of behaviour management strategies, a child continues to display inappropriate behaviour, the Club may decide to exclude the child in accordance with our Suspensions and Exclusions policy. The reasons and processes involved will be clearly explained to the child.

Physical intervention

Physical intervention will only be used as a last resort, when staff believe that action is necessary to prevent injury to the child or others, or to prevent significant damage to equipment or property.

If a member of staff has to physically restrain a child, the manager will be notified, and an Incident record will be completed. The incident will be discussed with the parent or carer as soon as possible. If staff are not confident about their ability to contain a situation, they should call the manager or, in extreme cases, the police.

All serious incidents will be recorded on an Incident record and kept in the child’s file. This may be used to build a pattern of behaviour, which may indicate an underlying cause. If a pattern of incidents indicates possible abuse, we will implement child protection procedures in accordance with our Safeguarding policy.

Corporal punishment

Corporal punishment or the threat of corporal punishment will never be used at the Club. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that no child who attends our Club receives corporal punishment from any person who cares for or is in regular contact with the child, or from any other person on our premises.

Written in accordance with the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2024): introduction [3.1.3.3] and Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements: Supporting and understanding children’s behaviour [3.58.3.60] and Safeguarding Training [3.24.3.25]

We are unable to care for children who are unwell. If your child becomes unwell whilst at the Club, we will contact you and ask you to make arrangements for them to be collected. Please inform the Manager of any infectious illness your child contracts. If your child has had sickness or diarrhoea please do not send him or her to the Club for 48 hours after the illness has ceased. See our Illness and Accidents Policy for more details.

Every precaution is taken to ensure the safety of the children at all times, and the Club is fully insured. Our staff are trained in first aid and a first aid kit is kept on the premises. If your child has an accident whilst in our care, you will be informed when you collect your child. For full details see our Illness and Accidents Policy.

Please let the Manager know if your child is taking prescribed medicine. If your child needs to take medicine whilst at the Club you will need to complete a Permission to administer medication form in advance. See our Administering Medication Policy for more details.

If you have any queries, comments or need to discuss any matters concerning your child, please feel free to speak your child’s key person, the Manager, or any other member of staff. Verbal complaints will be brought to the next staff meeting for discussion and action.   All written complaints will be acknowledged within five working days of receipt and a full written response will be given within 28 days. A full copy of our Complaints Policy is available on request. 

At Woosh we respect the privacy of the children attending the Club and the privacy of their parents or carers. The personal information that we collect about you and your child is used only to provide appropriate care for them, maintain our service to you, and communicate with you effectively. Our legal basis for processing the personal information relating to you and your child is so that we can fulfil our contract with you.

Any information that you provide is kept secure. Data that is no longer required* is erased after your child has ceased attending our Club.

We will use the contact details you give us to contact you via phone and email, so that we can send you information about your child, our Club and other relevant news, and also so that we can communicate with you regarding payment of our fees.

We will only share personal information about you or your child with another organisation if we:

• have a safeguarding concern about your child
• are required to by government bodies or law enforcement agencies
• engage a supplier to process data on our behalf (e.g. to take online bookings, or to issue invoices)
• have obtained your prior permission.

You have the right to ask to see the data that we have about yourself or your child, and to ask for any errors to be corrected. We will respond to all such requests within one month. You can also ask for the data to be deleted, but note that:

• we will not be able to continue to care for your child if we do not have sufficient information about them
• even after your child has left our care, we have a statutory duty to retain some types of data for specific periods of time* so can’t delete everything immediately.

If you have a complaint about how we have kept your information secure, or how we have responded to a request to access, update or erase your data, you can refer us to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

* We do need to retain certain types of data (such as records of complaints, accidents, and attendance) for set periods of time after your child ceases to be in our care, but we delete as much personal data as we can as soon as possible.   

If the return of the parents is going to be delayed for any reason, we must be informed before the arranged return time.

If a child is not collected, and the parent or carer has not notified us that they will be delayed, we will follow the procedure set out below:

Up to 15 minutes late:

When the parent/carer arrives they will be reminded to contact Woosh to notify us if they are going to be delayed.

The parent/carer will be informed that penalty fees will have to be charged (unless the delay was genuinely unavoidable.)

Over 15 minutes late:

If a parent/carer is more than 15 minutes late in collecting their child, the manager will try and contact them using the contact details on file.

If there is no response from the parent/carer, messages will be left asking them to contact Woosh immediately.  The Manager will then try and contact the emergency contacts listed on the child’s registration form.

Will waiting to be collected, the child will remain with a member of staff.

When the parent/carer arrives they will be reminded to contact Woosh to notify us if they are going to be delayed, and that penalty fees will have to be charged (except in exceptional circumstances).

Over 30 minutes late:

If the manager is unable to contact the parents/carer after 30 minutes, the manager will contact the local Social Care team for advice.

The child will remain in the care of Woosh staff, on the Clubs premises, if possible, until collected, or until placed in the care of the Social Care team.

If it is not possible for the child to remain at the club’s premises, a note will be left on the door of the club informing parent’s/carer’s of where the child has been taken (eg. The home of at staff member or into the care of the safeguarding agency) and leaving a contact number.  A further message will be left on the parent/carer’s telephone explaining events.

Managing persistent lateness:

The manager will record incidents of late collection and will discuss them with the child’s parents/carers.  Parents and carers will be reminded that if they persistently collect their child late then they may lose their place at Woosh.