Helth and Saftey Childcare Assignment Essay

There are many legislations that influence healthy, safe and secure environment for early years settings. The Heath and Safety (young persons) Regulations 1997 states that ‘’Employers need to complete risk assessments for people under 18 years of age.’’ (Thornes 2008 pg84) It also states that if any hazards are the setting, then give them training that the student, trainee or work experience people may nee to do with that particular hazard. Another legislation is Health and Safety at work Act 1974. This legislation is the one that provides general guidance about all this health and safety and workers must have policies and procedures saying how the health and safety will be ensured and then follow these policies and procedures. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 1994 is also part of the legislation for a healthy, safe and secure environment and states that a risk assessment should be done on hazards and make sure to store appropri ate as the COSHH regulations are. Reporting injuries diseases and dangerous occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995. E2 Describe the producers which will keep a child safe for each accident, illness or emergency. There are many procedures which keep children safe for each accident, illness or emergency and each childcare setting will have exclusion for illness policy. In my setting the exclusion policy states that all children should be excluded if they have an illness until recovered to prevent any one else in the setting getting infected. Any illness or accident will be recorded in the accident book and they do this in my work placement by writing down all the details of the incident or emergency. The child’s medical records must be checked, and where appropriate acted upon and then parents/guardians will be contacted to pick up their child. If parents/guardians are not reached, the child’s emergency contacts will be call up. In my work placement all staff follow this by carrying it out the correct way. Afterwards the child should be regularly checked to see if any think is more serious. One record copy of the child will be taken to the doctors to make sure staff deal with  any recorded conditions and then the staff at the setting can keep a record of it and keep in contact with parents/guardians. Every childcare setting will keep a record of the child’s symptoms and the actions; regular checks on the child and each time the action was taken. The staffs at my work placement setting always have copies if an incident or accident happens and make regular checks which they keep an up to date record of the child. On discovering a fire or alarm sound, the room leader should then gather the register, visitor book and nursery contact numbers. Nursery stuff will help get the children out the setting by evacuating the building from the nearest fire doors. Once left building all staff and children line up at the assemble point and when lined up the room leader checks register to check all children are present. Afterwards the staff and children must not return to the building until the building has been declared safe by the fire brigade. Once this has been done, the children and staff can return back to the setting safely. An example of an illness would be vomiting or diarrhoea. An example of an accident would be a child bumping his/her head. An example of an emergency would be a fire. E3 Plan the appropriate care of a child aged 1 for a full day in the setting. E4 Plan the appropriate care of a child aged 3 years for a full day in the setting. E5 Describe the issues that affect the planning of a challenging environment for children. There are many issues that affect the planning of a challenging environment for children. The first issue can be identifying children’s needs as this can stop the practitioner from being able to meet their needs in planning the challenging environment for them to be able to learn in, develop and take risks. The second issue can be equipment; is it safe and suitable because this is vital for the children to be able to have in a challenging environment and age staged appropriate equipment. The third issue that affects the planning of a challenging environment may be the size or layout of the area. The Forth issue can be environmental factors such as  temperature, safety, ect†¦ It will have an effect on how effective the challenging environment is. The fifth issue can be that is there supervision and enough of it. The sixth issue that affects the planning of a challenging environment maybe type of setting. The seventh issue could be consulting children as is it developmentally appropriate. E6 Describe the initiatives which influence the provision of challenging environments for children. + C1 Evaluate how two initiatives contribute to the provision of an enabling environment for children. A national initiative which influences the provision of challenging environments for children is Swedish school as they apply the Forest education approach. This national initiative influences provisions because children are learning in a different environment which has more outdoor and physical development on the children. They aim to let children explore and understand stuff in the woods and forest such as everyday products from wood. ‘’a unique way of working with young people in a woodland setting, helping them to achieve small practicable tasks, learning about fire safety, woodland management etc. It complements the Early Years curriculum in particular but also supports the 5-16 curriculum. Disaffected children, those with emotional or behavioral difficulties or exhibiting challenging behavior are all seen to benefit and can be â€Å"turned around† by the Forest School experience. Forest School particularly suits the kinaesthetic learner (those that learn by doing) who fails to achieve in a formal school setting. These children are immediately engaged in the tasks set as they suit their way of learning.’’ (http://www.infomat.net/infomat/rd741/rd1/database/Forest_Education/index.asp) A local initiative which influences the provision of challenging environments for children is Montessori such as The Oratory Day Nursery in Burnham. This local initiative influences provisions because children learn independently through tasks to meet their skill for their age without a ‘’long-term disadvantage in their gross motor skills’’ (Thornes 2008 pg250) They aim to make children do many activities which involve the children to use their hands. The Montessori approach is use in my current setting Oratory Day Care Nursery by having set activities for the children to choose from then let children do the activity whilst the practitioners observe and only interacts in the activity to give guidance. This approach also say that ‘’First education of the senses, then education of the intellect.’’ (Thornes 2008 pg250). E7 Explain the importance of helping children to manage risk and challenge in their environment. It is important for children to be helped to learn to assess and manage risk and challenge. It will be necessary for the adult to teach the child the skills he/she will need to learn about assessing and managing risk and challenge. The child can also learn to understand consequences of the challenge and risk themselves. It also teaches them, limits and binderies that they can take with them throughout their everyday life. Most importantly it teaches to progress in their education by developing and doing these challenges and risks with the adults help. In my placement I have seen this happen by practitioners allowing for the children to explore the garden for themselves and one girl was climbing up the little hill for the first time and slipped and fell over. This was a challenge for her because she had to get up to the top and her risk was that she fell but next time she will climb up the hill, she would know the risk and what may happen next time. ‘’All children both need and want to take risk in order to explore limits, venture into new experiences and develop their capacities from a very young age and from their earliest play experiences. Children would never learn to walk, climb stairs or ride a bicycle unless they were strong motivated to respond o challenges involving risk of injuries.’’ (www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk/adventure/manage.htm) E8 show an understanding of diversity and inclusive practice. Diversity and inclusive practise need to be understood and carried out in every childcare setting. Therefore each practitioner should remember to treat every child and their families fairly without discrimination. This can  be done by for example letting all children join in an activity and not saying they can’t play because of their colour, size, shape, disability, ability in activity. They should also not stereotype both the children and families that they work with. By doing this, practitioners can meet each child’s needs as an individual and are allowing for the rights of the children and their families to take place. ‘’Childcare workers are very influential in the promotion of children’s attitude and values. Children will take their cue from adult responses and reactions. Because of their powerful role, it is important that staff take issues of equality seriously and do not ignore them.’’ (Thornes 2008 pg93) In my current setting Oratory Day Nursery, all staff carrying out and understand diversity and inclusive practice by following the equal opportunities policy and enabling that each child gets the chance to develop, learn and play as an individual in the setting with the right to be heard and valued. D1 Explain how legislation can support strategies to establish and maintain healthy, safe and secure environments in early years settings. There are many ways that legislation can support strategies to establish and maintain healthy, safe and secure environment in early years settings. The most important thing that supports a healthy, safe and secure environment is having policies and procedures as this will help everyone in the setting to keep to the same rules. Having CRB checks will also support a healthy, safe and secure environment because they help protect the setting from any vunarble adults. Another thing will be regular body inspections to ensure the setting is following the policies and procedures and working to the right standards but also to see if anything may need improvement into better or is not good practise. Staff ratios can support strategies to establish and maintain healthy, safe and secure environment as without having the right staff the setting shouldn’t open. Training for many different things such as fire procedures will allow you to be able to put your knowledge and practise into your own work to keep everyone safe and secure in the setting. Having the right/appropriate resources is another way to establish and maintain healthy, safe and secure environment. The last thing would be you the practitioner yourself as you are the person who will enforce that all these legislations are done to protect the children, parents, staff and other professionals as well the setting. D2 Explain how establishing a safe environment can support the procedures necessary for accidents, illness and emergencies. Establishing a safe environment, should support the procedures necessary for accidents, illnesses and emergencies. Accidents, illnesses and emergencies cannot be totally predictable or happen through a risk or harm in an event. Many accidents occur in a work place and the main victim is a child. This is due to risks of injury and illness through lack of cleanliness, another sick child in the group, etc†¦ Injuries in a group can occur from the children not bringing adequate protection and not using the equipment the correct way. It can also be due to the work place itself because their many be mislabelled equipment, unsafe condition, faulty or broken equipment. However the accidents and illness can be due to the adult because he/she may have failure to follow the procedures, lack of tanning or worker error. Therefore all this needs to be followed the correct way in order to prevent any of this happening. It can be done by making sure everyone in the setting implements and understands the policies such as Health and Safety Work act 1974 or RIDDOR and procedure of the setting, make sure all illnesses and emergency are written, carry out risk assessments regularly, sterilise the equipment, throw away any broken or faulty equipment,, looking after children’s hygiene and insure the children know the rules. This will then creat and establish a safe environment which is safe and less of a risk for everyone in the setting. B1 Consider possible ways to maintain the safety and privacy of children and to respect their wishes. Ensuring a safe environment that allows children to have safety and privacy with respecting their wishes can be done in many possible ways. One example can be going to the toilet as this can make the child feel uncomfortable to go in front of his/her friends and having small toilets with cubicles will make them feel safe and give them privacy. The practitioner however should check to see if there is anything that can put the child at danger when going to the toilet such as chemical produces. When doing all this it allows  the staff in the setting to see over the chid and maintain the safety. In my setting I have seen this happen because when a child goes to the toilet there are small cubicles that adults can see child at any time and keep the safety and privacy that is recurred in any childcare setting. Another example can be when protecting the child such as child’s welfare. This would mean having all practitioners, other professionals, parents and students to be aware that they most not discuss any thing that is not relevant to others and keep any paper work confidential. I have seen practitioners in my setting maintain the safety and privacy of children and respect their wish by listening to them, valuing them as an individual, following the policies on safety, Every Child Matters and the CACHE Statements of Values to best practise. A Discuss the effect on practitioners of meeting the care needs of children. There are many ways of how and why practitioners may be affected when meeting the care needs of children and the support available. Practitioners may feel unhappy to see a child leave after a long time of care for them, grief if child in care dies or is badly injured, feel terrible if they do not get on with a child or the child is not progressing and have a sense of failure. They may also feel anxiety when having to tell a parent bad news or anxiety when a child has to have the social care services involved with them. There can be support given for all these things that a practitioner may be affected by to meet the care needs of children. One way can be by leading the practitioner the right way. Local education authorities can also give support by helping the setting out and working with them to help and develop the child at the best interest to. Another way can be by getting advice from support advisors. The last way they can be supported is by other colleagues and work together to improve the outcome and met the care of the Child’s needs more effectively. This will therefore result in making the child feel happy and enjoy activities or coming to the setting. It will also make child want to work with the practitioner and gain a better relationship. It can not only have an result on the children but also on the practitioner themselves because will feel happy or overwhelmed they are able to work with the child to meet their care needs and then have a better  positive communicating relationship with parents about their child to fit the care needs of that child. In my current placement, I have seen practitioners have an effect when meeting the needs of children and one example of this was the practitioner feeling upset, frustrated because this 4 year old boy who was unable to count his number after having taught him many different ways such as having him sing a song to learn to count as this was some think the boy liked doing. Reference: * Beaver. M, et al (2008) Childcare and education Cache level 3 Cheltenham: Nelson Thorns * www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk/adventure/manage.htm 26th October 2011 * http://www.infomat.net/infomat/rd741/rd1/database/Forest_Education/index.asp 26th October 2011 * http://www.extension.org/pages/25767/preventing-injuries-in-child-care 1st December 2011