Type of Service:
Pembroke Montessori is a Full and Part-time Day Care in accordance with the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016. The purpose of this service is to provide a Full and Part-time Day Care for children aged 2 years and 6 months to 6 years. This service is privately owned by Sinead Coleman.
Principles
Protecting children and young people is everyone’s responsibility. The welfare of the child is paramount to us. Therefore, we want to make sure that the children in the Service are protected and kept safe from harm while they are with the staff and the students in this Service by:
· Making sure that our staff and students are carefully selected, trained and supervised.
· Having procedures to recognise, respond to and report concerns about children’s protection and welfare.
· Making sure all staff are Garda vetted prior to engagement.
· Having clear codes of behaviour for management, staff and students.
· Having a procedure to respond to accidents and incidents.
· Giving parents/guardians, children and workers information about what we do and what to expect from us.
· Letting parents/guardians and children know how to voice their concerns or complain if there is anything, they are not happy about. Having a procedure to respond to these complaints.
· We have a clear reporting procedure to be followed should a staff member have a concern about a child with regard to Children First (2017) and The Children First Act 2015
· Having a procedure to respond to allegations of abuse and neglect against staff members.
· The Child and Adult Protection policy will be reviewed annually by the Management.
Procedures
Our Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, the Children First: National Guidance and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice. In addition to the procedures listed in our risk assessment, the following procedures support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our service:
· Procedures to manage any risk identified
· Procedure for reporting harm or abuse or allegations of these to Tusla by the as provider Pembroke Montessori or member of staff (whether mandated or not)
· Procedure for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct against workers/volunteers of a child while attending our service
· Procedure for selection or recruitment of any person as a member of staff of the provider with regards to that person’s suitability to work with children
· Procedure for the provision of information and, where necessary, instruction and training to members of staff in relation to the occurrence of harm
· Procedure for maintain a list of mandated people
· Procedure for the appointment of a relevant person for the purposes of this statement who is Sinead Coleman.
Implementation
We recognise that implementation is an on-going process. Our Service is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while availing of our service. This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed every twenty-four months or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.