Proper and effective safeguarding practices are a critical part of protecting our children’s wellbeing when enrolled at Hopscotch, both whilst at nursery but also during their home life.
Our safeguarding policies can be found in hard copy in each nursery setting, at our Head Office and are also available digitally via the Hopscotch shared folder. They are frequently reviewed and updated by our Senior Management Team, with input from other professionals like the Early Years Teams at Local Authorities, as well as seeking input from specialist consultants where needed.
As part of these procedures, we aim to always have at least one Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) on site, usually either the Nursery Manager or the Deputy Manager. If it is ever the case that the setting DSLs are not on site then they will be contactable via phone. In addition, our Managing Director and Head of Operations are the Hopscotch DSLs and they can be contacted at any time, either by telephone or email, to discuss any safeguarding matter whatsoever. A Hopscotch Safeguarding Poster is present and visible in all nurseries which summarises safeguarding information as a reminder to staff who might have a safeguarding concern. See Appendix 4: Hopscotch Safeguarding Concerns Poster for more information.
Hopscotch ensure our staff undertake frequent safeguarding training and refresher courses every 2 years in line with best practice. New starters should be enrolled on an in-person or online teacher led course within 3 months of their start date but always by the time they come towards the end of their standard probationary period i.e. 6 months.
Nursery staff should always act in accordance with Hopscotch Safeguarding Policies and wider best practice. Safeguarding concerns involving any member of staff must always be immediately raised with the Hopscotch Head of Operations (or if not available the Hopscotch Managing Director) at the earliest opportunity. A decision will then be taken by the Hopscotch Senior Management Team about how to proceed and whether a notification to the LADO is required.
As per the Hopscotch Mobile Phone, Cameras, Tablets and Video Devices Policy, mobile phones or camera devices must not be used in the nursery by staff or parents for any purpose i.e. phoning, texting, emailing or accessing the internet. Failure to do so by staff could result in disciplinary action being taken. Parents, visitors and contractors are explicitly notified about this policy on arrival at the nursery.
Staff are provided with a safe area to keep their mobile phones away from any area where children are present. This may include locked storage capability. If available, Hopscotch encourages all staff to utilise these and always lock away their phones. Failure to do so and have a mobile phone or device on your person in an area where children are present will be considered to be a breach of this policy and could result in disciplinary action being taken. Failure of this policy to be properly implemented at any nursery setting could result in more stringent protocol being implemented i.e. signing in and out process for all devices. The Hopscotch Head of Operations will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing arrangements before considering whether changes might be needed.
Further information on all Hopscotch safeguarding procedures and protocol is available in the Hopscotch Safeguarding Policy folder.
Whilst the health and safety and wellbeing of all our children is paramount, it is important to have a clear contingency plan in place for if a child should ever be lost. The scenarios where this could feasibly happen are:
- Where a child becomes lost on a nursery outing
- Where a child becomes lost or goes missing from the nursery building or garden
- Where a child is forcibly taken from the nursery setting by an unapproved adult
In such a scenario the following steps should be followed:
- Immediately alert the Nursery Management Team who will try to ascertain when the child was last seen and where
- Remember the safety of other children with regard to supervision and security
- Whilst ensuring that the remaining children are sufficiently supervised and secure, one or more members of staff should search the building, garden and immediate vicinity, as appropriate
- Notify Hopscotch Head Office to discuss any further action
- If the child cannot be found within 15 minutes then the Police and parents and any other relevant organisations must be informed
- Nursery staff should continue to search, widening the area, whilst also ensuring the safety of the nursery setting is not compromised.
Our full safeguarding policies are available here: