Our Policies and Procedures

We maintain a large number of policies and procedures covering our business and our practice.

All policies are reviewed on an annual basis or before if there is a need to make changes.

A selection of our policies are listed and outlined below. For any enquires regarding about other policies please contact info@acornpre-school.co.uk or speak with a member of staff.

We are committed to:

1. Building a ‘culture of safety’ in which children are protected from abuse and harm in all areas of our service delivery.
2. Responding promptly and appropriately to all incidents or concerns of abuse that may occur and to work with statutory agencies in accordance with the procedures that are set down in ‘What to do if you are worried a child is being abused’ (HMG 2015)
3. Promoting awareness of child abuse issues throughout our training and learning programmes for adults. We are also committed to empowering young children, through our early childhood curriculum, promoting their right to be strong, resilient and listened to.

What it means to promote children’s rights and entitlements:

To be strong means to be

• secure in their foremost attachment relationships where they are loved and cared for, by at least one person who is able to offer consistent, positive and unconditional regard and who can be relied on
• safe and valued as individuals in their families and in relationships beyond the family, such as day care or school
• self-assured and form a positive sense of themselves – including all aspects of their identity and heritage
• included equally and belong in early years settings and in community life
• confident in abilities and proud of their achievements
• progressing optimally in all aspects of their development and learning
• to be part of a peer group in which to learn to negotiate, develop social skills and identity as global citizen, respecting the rights of others in a diverse world
• to participate and be able to represent themselves in aspects of service delivery that affects them as well as aspects of key decisions that affect their lives.

To be resilient means to

• be sure of their self worth and dignity
• be able to be assertive and state their needs effectively
• be able to overcome difficulties and problems
• be positive in their outlook on life
• be able to cope with challenge and change
• have a sense of justice towards self and others
• to develop a sense of responsibility towards self and others
• to be able to represent themselves and others in key decision making processes

To be listened to means:

• adults who are close to children recognise their need and right to express and communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas
• adults who are close to children are able to tune in to their verbal, sign and body language in order to understand and interpret what is being expressed and communicated
• adults who are close to children are able to respond appropriately and, when required, act upon their understanding of what children express and communicate
• adults respect children’s rights and facilitate children’s participation and representation in imaginative and child centres ways in all aspects of core services.