Key information

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safeguarding

general information

Playology Beach School & Learning Studio is committed to promoting the welfare and the safeguarding of all children.

At Playology, we regard the safeguarding of children as our main priority. We believe that we all have the fundamental right to be happy, to be safe and to learn. It is everybody’s responsibility to make this happen. We expect that the whole team, Playology parents, students and any volunteers to share this commitment. We recognise that whatever their age, gender, culture, disability, language, racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual identity, children have the right to be protected from harm.

We will ensure that:

• The welfare of the child remains paramount

• All children whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs and/ or sexual identity have the right to be protected from harm

• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately

• Everyone working at or visiting beach school has a responsibility to report concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Leads: Hannah Atkinson, Caroline Taylor-Garrett and Rachel Johnson

areas of safeguarding

Our safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures cover all areas including:

• The Playology team and visitors; ensuring they are vetted, informed and trained

• children’s behaviour; promoting healthy and safe behaviour

• parents and carers; promoting strong links & partnerships and supporting our families

• our site; keeping the premises safe and fit for purpose

• curriculum; providing positive experiences which ignite imagination, spark learning, cultivate creativity, grow hearts and celebrate nature

• our beaches; ensuring safer activities and environments outside school

team responsibilities

Everyone is responsible for ensuring that each child remains safe, however the DSL is Hannah Atkinson and the Deputy DSLs are Caroline Taylor-Garrett and Rachel Johnson

safer recruitment

Playology follows strict procedures to ensure that everyone who works with our children are vetted, keeping our children as safe as possible.  On-going checks and ‘whistle blowing’ are in line with current guidance and policy. Hannah Atkinson is responsible for recruiting staff , and is suitably trained in Safer Recruitment and has devoted time to writing policy and procedures around this.

Team training

The Playology Team are trained in child protection issues to ensure they are knowledgeable and well equipped to appropriately recognise and respond to children who may be at risk of harm, or at least vulnerable.

• The team are trained in child protection issues and they are aware of the procedures to follow

• The team work together to remain vigilant in order to maintain the safety of our children

• The team, any students, and volunteers are directed to the document ‘KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE IN EDUCATION September 2023’

The Playology team have an up-to-date understanding about safeguarding children and are confident to implement the policy and procedure appropriately, maintaining confidentiality at all times.

They are able to respond to;

• significant changes in children’s behaviour

• a deterioration in their well-being

• unexplained marks or bruising that may indicate possible abuse

• signs of neglect

• comments children make that give cause for concern

collecting your child from beach school

Please make sure that an adult always brings and collects your child and informs us via your beach school Famly app of your child’s collection details. If a different adult is collecting your child, please inform a member of the team as well as using Famly as we do not allow children to leave beach school with adults who we do not know. You will be asked to provide your security password as part of the admissions form. Any different adult collecting your child will be asked for this password.

links with other agencies

Because our first concern must always be the well-being of the child, there may be occasions when we have to consult other agencies before we contact parents and carers. The procedures we have to follow have been laid down in accordance with the local authority child protection procedures.

We reach out to a range of external agencies which can be called upon to support the work we do. These include Health Practitioners, Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Psychologist, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services, Autism Outreach, Social Services and other Specialists in supporting Special Educational Needs.

information sharing

We have an obligation to obtain necessary information from parents in advance of a child being admitted to school, including:

• emergency contact numbers

• information about parental responsibility and who has legal contact

• special dietary requirements and food allergies

• special health needs or medical conditions

• any care or court orders in place

Taking confidentiality very seriously, any information we hold is only shared on a ‘need to know’ basis.

As parents & carers, it is your responsibility to keep Playology informed of any changes to these details. 

reporting concerns or complaints

Further to the above procedures, we have in place a concerns and complaints policy. This enables children, the Playology team and carers to report anything they feel is of concern.

Concerns should be raised in the following order.

1. To the Key Person. Then, if there is no resolution;

2. To Hannah Atkinson. Then, if there is no resolution;

3. To Local Authority.

review of policy and practice

In order to ensure best practice is maintained, our polices are ‘alive’ and they are reviewed regularly to ensure that we incorporate the latest statutory guidance. If you would like more information on safeguarding, please contact us and for all of our policies available to parents and carers head to Playology Parents section on our website.

what to do if you are concerned for the safety of a child (out of school hours) 

Child abuse can have major long-term effects on all aspects of a child’s health and well-being. Children and young people are dependent on others for their survival and have a right to be protected and to have someone who will act on their behalf.

If you have a concern about a child or young person or are having difficulties in your own family, First Contact is the service to call. First Contact brings together staff from Children’s Services with partners such as Durham Constabulary and Health practitioners.

Call First Contact on 03000 26 79 79 

Remember that if you suspect a child or young person is at immediate risk of harm then phone the Police on 999.

NSPCC can also take a referral, by telephone or online.

By telephone:

• Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am – 10pm and 9am – 6pm at the weekend.

• Telephone 0808 800 5000

• NSPCC Website

special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

A child has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made that is additional to or different from that generally made for other children of the same age.

There are four broad areas of special educational need, these are: 

• Communication and Interaction
  This area of need includes children with Autism Spectrum Condition and those with Speech, Language and Communication Needs

• Cognition and Learning
  This includes children with Specific Learning Difficulties, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Severe Learning Difficulties and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

• Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
  This includes any pupils who have an emotional, social or mental health need that is impacting on their ability to learn

• Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties
  This area includes children with hearing impairment, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment and physical difficulties.

All children, including those with SEND have their own key person who will work to know them best and be proactive in planning for their needs, supporting their development and working closely with parents and carers.

SEND children are observed closely and their achievements are celebrated in their learning journey. This information is used to tailor the curriculum to meet their interests using methods of delivery that are appropriate to their needs.

The SENCO is responsible for initiating training that will challenge staff and enable them to provide a curriculum that ensures equality and diversity for all.

Children with SEND are supported in a variety of ways – through one to one support from a Playologist, through group activities or through key person tasks. The key person for each SEND child will decide how everyday activities and experiences within the curriculum might need to be adjusted, to ensure their child is fully involved at the appropriate level. In addition to this, we can apply for additional support from the Local Authority to ensure children with additional needs are receiving the ‘over and above’ individual support they need.

If you would like to discuss your child’s SEND requirements, please contact us and we will try our best to help you.

curriculum

Through positive relationships and enabling environments, we offer children the chance to continue to develop their powerful learning skills such as these all-important characteristics of effective learning:

playing and exploring

Finding out and exploring
• Showing curiosity about objects, events and people
• Using senses to explore the world around them
• Engaging in open-ended activity
• Showing particular interests
Playing with what they know
• Pretending objects are things from their experience
• Representing their experiences in play
• Taking on a role in their play
• Acting out experiences with other people
Being willing to “have a go”
• Initiating activities
• Seeking challenge
• Showing a “can do” attitude
• Taking a risk, engaging in new experiences, and learning by trial and error

active learning

Being involved and concentrating
• Showing a deep drive to know more about people and their world
• Maintaining focus on their activity for a period of time
• Showing high levels of involvement, energy, fascination
• Not easily distracted
• Paying attention to details

Keeping on trying
• Persisting with an activity or toward their goal when challenges occur
• Showing a belief that more effort or a different approach will pay off, and that their skills can grow and develop (growth mindset)
• Bouncing back after difficulties

Enjoying achieving what they set out to do
• Showing satisfaction in meeting their own goals (I can!)
• Being proud of how they accomplished something – not just the end result
• Enjoying meeting challenges for their own sake rather than external rewards or praise (intrinsic motivation)

thinking creatively and critically

Having their own ideas (creative thinking)
• Thinking of ideas that are new and meaningful to the child
• Playing with possibilities (what if? what else?)
• Visualising and imagining options
• Finding new ways to do things

Making links (building theories)
• Making links and noticing patterns in their experience
• Making predictions
• Testing their ideas
• Developing ideas of grouping, sequences, cause and effect

Working with ideas (critical thinking)
• Planning, making decisions about how to approach a task, solve a problem and reach a goal
• Checking how well their activities are going
• Flexibly changing strategy as needed
• Reviewing how well the approach worked

We use Birth to Five Matters guidance to support our curriculum offer;

Prime areas of development and learning lay vital foundations in the early years:

PSED

Who we are (personal), how we get along with others (social) and how we feel (emotional) are foundations that form the bedrock of our lives. As we move through life, we are continually developing our sense of self as we weave a web of relationships with self, others and with the world.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development is fundamental to all other aspects of lifelong development and learning, and is key to children’s wellbeing and resilience.  For babies and young children to flourish, we need to pay attention to how they understand and feel about themselves, and how secure they feel in close relationships: in so doing they develop their capacities to make sense of how they and other people experience the world. Children’s self-image, their emotional understanding and the quality of their relationships affect their self-confidence, their potential to experience joy, to be curious, to wonder, and to face problems, and their ability to think and learn.

A holistic, relational approach creates an environment that enables trusting relationships, so that children can do things independently and with others, forming friendships.  Early years practitioners meet the emotional needs of children by drawing on their own emotional insight, and by working in partnership with families to form mutually respectful, warm, accepting relationships with each of their key children.

Communication and Language

Young children depend on back-and-forth interactions with responsive others to develop confidence as effective communicators and language users. Communication and language development are closely intertwined with physical, social and emotional experiences.  Communication and language lay a foundation for learning and development, guiding and supporting children’s thinking while underpinning their emerging literacy.

Language is more than words. As children grow, they begin to be aware of and explore different sounds, symbols and words in their everyday worlds; a language-rich environment is crucial. A child’s first language provides the roots to learn additional languages,  and parents should be encouraged to continue to use their home languages to strengthen and support their children’s language proficiency as they join new environments.

Children’s skills develop through a series of identifiable stages which can be looked at in three aspects – Listening and Attention, Understanding, and Speaking. While not all children will follow the exact same sequence or progress at the same rate, it is important to identify children at risk of language delay or disorder as these can have an ongoing impact on wellbeing and learning across the curriculum.

Physical Development

Intricately interwoven with emotional, social, cognitive and language development, physical development underpins all other areas of a child’s learning and development.  Extensive physical experience in early childhood puts in place the neurological, sensory and motor foundations necessary for feeling good in your body and comfortable in the world.  The intimate connection between brain, body and mind must be understood; when they are viewed as one system, the impacts of active physical play, health and self-care are observed and the effects on a child’s early brain development and mental health of adverse childhood experience, including malnutrition, illness or neglect, is recognised.  Health, wellbeing and self-care are integral to physical development.  Prioritising care opportunities and a collaborative approach with young children supports development of lifelong positive attitudes to self-care and healthy decision-making.

Each child’s journey relies on whole-body physical experiences.  While biologically programmed, the unfolding of this complex, interconnected system requires repeated movement experiences that are self-initiated and wide-ranging.  Fine and gross motor control must develop together in an integrated way, so that the child can achieve what they set out to do.  We must ensure that children have movement-rich lives indoors and outdoors from birth.  This includes the role of the adult’s body as an enabling environment itself, embedding movement into everything, and encouraging each child’s own motivations for being active and interactive with others.

Specific areas of learning and development provide children with knowledge and skills to flourish in society:

Literacy

Literacy is about understanding and being understood. Early literacy skills are rooted in children’s enjoyable experiences from birth of gesturing, talking, singing, playing, reading and writing. Learning about literacy means developing the ability to interpret, create and communicate meaning through writing and reading in different media, such as picture books, logos, environmental print and digital technologies. It involves observing and joining in the diverse ways that different people and communities use literacy for different purposes. Most importantly, literacy is engaging, purposeful and creative.

Developing literacy competence and skills is a complex, challenging yet rewarding journey that requires high-quality pedagogical activities to enhance learning. Young children need to be listened to by attentive adults who recognise and value children’s choices. They need enjoyable, playful opportunities of being included and involved in the literacy practices of their home, early years setting, and community environments.  They need experiences of creating and sharing a range of texts in a variety of ways, with different media and materials, with adults and peers, both indoors and outdoors, as well as learning about using different signs and symbols, exploring sound and developing alphabetic and phonetic skills.

Mathematics

Mathematics for young children involves developing their own understanding of number, quantity, shape and space. Babies and young children have a natural interest in quantities and spatial relations – they are problem-solvers, pattern-spotters and sense-makers from birth. This curiosity and enjoyment should be nurtured through their interactions with people and the world around them, drawing on their personal and cultural knowledge. Every young child is entitled to a strong mathematical foundation which is built through playful exploration, apprenticeship and meaning-making. Children should freely explore how they represent their mathematical thinking through gesture, talk, manipulation of objects and their graphical signs and representations, supported by access to graphic tools in their pretend play.

Effective early mathematics experiences  involve seeking patterns, creating and solving mathematical problems and engaging with stories, songs, games, practical activities and imaginative play.  Plenty of time is required for children to revisit, develop and make sense for themselves. This is supported by sensitive interactions with adults who observe, listen to and value children’s mathematical ideas and build upon children’s interests, including those developed with their families. It is crucial to maintain children’s enthusiasm so they develop positive self-esteem as learners of mathematics and feel confident to express their ideas.

Understanding The World

Understanding the World provides a powerful, meaningful context for learning across the curriculum. It supports children to make sense of their expanding world and their place within it through nurturing their wonder, curiosity, agency and exploratory drive.

This development requires regular and direct contact with the natural, built and virtual environments around the child and engaging children in collaborative activities which promote inquiry, problem-solving, shared decision making and scientific approaches to understanding the world. Active involvement in local community life helps children to develop a sense of civic responsibility, a duty to care, a respect for diversity and the need to work for peaceful co-existence.

In addition, first-hand involvement in caring for wildlife and the natural world provides children with an appreciation of ecological balance, environmental care and the need to live sustainable lives. Rich play, virtual and real world experiences support learning about our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world and how to stay safe within it. They also cultivate shared meanings and lay the foundation for equitable understandings of our interconnectedness and interdependence.

Expressive Art and Design

Children and adults have the right to participate in arts and culture. Expression conveys both thinking (ideas) and feeling (emotion). Children use a variety of ways to express and communicate, through music, movement and a wide range of materials. Creative thinking involves original responses, not just copying or imitating existing artworks.

Expressive Arts and Design fosters imagination, curiosity, creativity, cognition, critical thinking and experimentation and provides opportunities to improvise, collaborate, interact and engage in sustained shared thinking.  It requires time, space and opportunities to re-visit and reflect on experiences. Multi-sensory, first-hand experiences help children to connect and enquire about the world.  Appreciating diversity and multiple perspectives enriches ways of thinking, being, and understanding. Skills are learned in the process of meaning-making, not in isolation.

For more information visit the birth to five matters website