Safeguarding

Information and advice for early years staff on the safeguarding requirements in the EYFS.

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A child’s early years lay the foundations for lifelong learning, growth, and wellbeing. Early years practitioners and educators play an essential role in these early years, supporting early child development, ensuring children’s safety and wellbeing, and creating a setting in which they can thrive.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for all registered early years providers in England. It sets the minimum standards to ensure that children aged 0 to 5 learn and develop effectively, are kept safe and healthy, and are prepared for school. The contents covered here relates to the safeguarding and welfare section only.

Safeguarding definition

Everyone has a responsibility for protecting babies and children and for keeping them safe. No one person can have a full picture of a child’s needs and circumstances, so everyone who comes into contact with babies, children, and their families has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information, even if it’s a gut feeling, and taking prompt action. Safeguarding children is defined in working together to safeguard children as:

  • protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
  • preventing impairments of children’s health or development
  • ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
  • taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

Safeguarding expectations of providers

As a provider you have clear legal duties to keep children safe. You must ensure staff are trained and supported, having strong systems, providing early help, and working closely with families.

Early years practitioners are trained, checked and required to act quickly to keep children safe, support their wellbeing, recognise signs of possible abuse and work with parents or carers every step of the way. Safety should be part of everyday care, not just for emergencies. Passive oversight is not enough, it’s about active supervision of children and having a strong, well embedded, safeguarding culture that places children at the heart of practice.

You must have clear safeguarding systems in place, including:

  • a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) responsible for child safety, managing concerns, and ensuring a strong, well embedded, safeguarding culture
  • regular safeguarding training for all staff including how to recognise signs of harm
  • clear processes for reporting concerns and taking action, ensuring they are taken seriously and investigated
  • ensuring all staff are properly checked, including obtaining references and undertaking appropriate DBS checks

Every adult in a setting has a role in actively keeping children safe.

Staff in settings must undertake safeguarding training, that meets the criteria outlined in the EYFS, at least every two years. They need to be trained to spot signs of abuse, harm or neglect - such as unexplained bruising or changes in children’s behaviour, wellbeing, or attendance – and spotting and reporting concerns about practitioners in settings when something could be a safeguarding concern.

Even small changes in a child’s behaviour can be early warning signs.

Settings help children to feel safe and secure by:

  • building warm, trusting relationships with children, parents, and carers
  • providing a nurturing, respectful, and inclusive environment
  • teaching children simple skills like speaking up, understanding their feelings, and staying safe
  • being the voice of children when they are too young or unable to use their voice (for example, non-verbal children)

Feeling safe helps children learn, play, and develop.

Families and settings should work together to make sure every child is safe. This includes settings:

  • creating respectful two way partnerships with parents/carers – sharing information with parents and carers about children’s development and wellbeing and asking parents/carers questions about how the child has been at home
  • keeping parents and carers informed about safeguarding
  • talking to parents and carers about any concerns they have
  • providing signposting to help and support services

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the individuals and organisations who helped create these materials, including:

  • Coram PACEY
  • Early Years Alliance
  • National Day Nurseries Association
  • NSPCC
  • Ofsted
  • Sue Robb (OBE), Best Start in Life Champion