This page summarises the policies of Learning Tree Pre-School (Swindon) Limited. The full documents are held in the policy folder in the entrance hall and are available to every parent and carer on request.

Our policies are reviewed annually, and sooner whenever national or local guidance changes. All staff read and sign them as part of their induction and each time they are updated.

A copy of our safeguarding children policy and procedure is always available in our folder, and our full special educational needs policy can be seen in our prospectus. If there is a policy you would like to read, please ask a member of the team.

We promote every child's right to be strong, resilient and listened to. We create an environment that encourages a positive self-image, including each child's colour and ethnicity, the languages spoken at home, religious beliefs, cultural traditions and home background.

To be strong is to be secure in loving, reliable relationships; safe and valued at home and beyond it; proud of their achievements; included equally; and part of a peer group where they learn to negotiate and respect others.

To be resilient is to be sure of their own worth, able to state their needs, to overcome difficulties, to cope with challenge and change, and to develop a sense of justice and responsibility towards themselves and others.

To be listened to means the adults around them recognise their right to express thoughts and feelings, tune in to verbal, sign and body language, respond appropriately, and involve children in decisions that affect them.

The welfare of the child is paramount. Safeguarding means protecting children from maltreatment, preventing impairment of their health and development, ensuring they grow up in safe and effective care, and acting so that every child has the best outcomes.

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. Staff stay alert to concerns at home or elsewhere, keep a child-centred approach, recognise that children with SEND are particularly vulnerable, and maintain an attitude of 'it could happen here'.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Gemma Gill and our Deputy DSL is Louise Rose; one of them is available whenever children are present. All staff complete basic awareness training and the DSL and deputy refresh theirs at least every two years.

We follow the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership and South West Child Protection Procedures. This is a statutory policy, forms part of every induction, and is reviewed and ratified annually.

Staff are alert to wider safeguarding issues: peer on peer abuse, radicalisation and extremism, female genital mutilation and other honour-based abuse, child sexual and criminal exploitation, domestic abuse, children missing education, children with a family member in prison, homelessness, private fostering, and bruising or unexplained injury in non-mobile children.

Records of any concern are made the same day, dated, signed and discussed with the DSL. Injuries are marked on a body map and never photographed. Child protection records are kept securely, separately from developmental records, and transfer to a child's new setting or school within 14 days.

Parents can read this policy here and in the policy folder in the entrance hall, and are told about it at their induction meeting. Welfare concerns are discussed openly with parents and their agreement sought before a referral, unless doing so would place the child at greater risk. A lack of agreement will not stop a referral going ahead.

Safer recruitment applies to everyone who works here: enhanced DBS checks, references taken up before interview, employment gaps explored, and no unchecked adult left alone with children. Staff must disclose anything affecting their suitability to work with children.

We are committed to equality of opportunity for all children and to helping looked after children reach their full potential. A child becomes looked after when taken into the care of, or accommodated by, the local authority.

Whatever the reason, separation from home and family disrupts a child's life and affects their emotional wellbeing. Our practice is built on attachment and resilience: secure attachments are the foundation on which a child can cope with a new environment and new expectations.

'Looked after child' describes a legal status, not the child. We never use it to set a child apart and we do not use acronyms such as LAC. We offer places to two, three and four-year-olds in care so they receive their early education entitlement, and we continue a place for any child already with us who is taken into local foster care.

The designated person is our designated child protection co-ordinator. Every looked after child has a key person, a care plan agreed at a professionals meeting covering emotional needs, identity, friendships, learning and contact arrangements, reviewed at two weeks, six weeks, three months and regularly thereafter.

If a child is not collected on time we follow an agreed procedure, and the child is cared for kindly throughout. We check the child's file for changes to the collection routine, contact parents at home or work, then contact the adults named on the registration form. A child never leaves with anyone not named there.

If no one has collected the child 30 minutes after the expected time and no named contact can be reached, we contact the Referral Team on 01793 466903, and again after a further 15 minutes. Two fully vetted staff, one of them the manager or deputy, stay with the child until they are safely collected. We never leave the premises to look for a parent. Our number is 01793 313929.

If a child goes missing on the premises, the manager is alerted immediately, the register is checked, and the building, garden, doors and gates are searched. If the child is not found the police are called at once, then the parents. On an outing, staff carry out a headcount, search the immediate area, call the police and contact the manager, who contacts the parents.

Every incident is fully investigated by the director, with written statements from all staff present, a conclusion on how the breach happened, and notification to Ofsted and our insurer. Staff keep calm, do not discuss the incident in front of the children, and are supported through what is a distressing event for everyone.