Health and Children Essay

Submitted By Jade-Higgins
Words: 4661
Pages: 19

CYP 3.4: Support Children and Young People’s Health and Safety

1.1
When planning activities for children and young people both indoor and outside it is important to take into consideration their individual age, developmental abilities and needs. It is important to do so because it allows room for development and progression at their own rate. For Example: When planning activities outside for children who either cant walk or are just learning them getting climbing out is not only innapropriate for their age but for their level of development as they are not going to be able to participate. Whereas getting walkers and body boards out on the playground are going to aid their movement and learning

The environment is a huge factor for considerations when planning for children and young people. We need to assess the space, furniture, light, noise and much more. When planning activities to try and aid children in the development of their language skills, doing so in a noisy environment or surrounding will only hinder their thought process and ability to express them. Whereas in a soothing, quiet, spacious room children are more inclined to engage in an activity and feel stable/comfortable with learning and taking in information.

Us as carers have a specific duty to provide a safe and secure environment whether it is inside or outside. When planning activities we need to ensure we make children or young people’s safety a main priority and take into consideration the type of activity and what environment it would be safest to execute in. For example: planning and carrying out a movement activity on a climbing frame over concrete floor is likely to result in a lot if injuries and will put children at risk whereas carrying the activity out over tarmac with sponge mats on the floor will provide extra padding and barriers should they fall off.

1.2
Health and safety are rules, regulations and policies put into place at work in order to keep the children and staff safe and to prevent accidents or injuries from happening. Every member of staff had to read the companies health and safety policy and sign to say that they have read/understood and abide by these policies at all times. In my work place we have a Health and Safety officer who is the nursery manager. It is her job to make sure the nursery is safe and secure, that we have fire drills, extinguishers checked and renewed

Health and Safety also applies to the cleanliness and sterilisation of a setting involving the care of children and young people. We have cleaning and sterilising rotas that have to be completed and signed off each week to ensure a clean environment. We also have a deep clean once a month that is used to focus on the proper cleaning not surface cleaning of the nursery. This also controls the spread of viruses and bugs. Should there happen to be a bug in the nursery such as chicken pox or conjunctivitis the managers will send an email to all parents to let them know and we will also put a notice on each room door to make sure all parents are aware of the symptoms and what action they should take if they felt their child had possibly contracted it. We have wet floor signs and other signs that we use to advise other staff members that there is a potential hazard and they either need to avoid it or take care and precaution then approaching. It is very important that all staff members know their environment. All staff have to complete a health and safety quiz which contains a floor plan print out of the whole nursery, they then have to go to each room and mark down break glass points, fire extinguishers, fire exits, first aid boxes and much more.

1.3
There are many placed you can get information on healthy and safe environments both internally and externally. We have health and safety policies located within the staff handbook that contains information on manual handling, chemicals etc. all staff have to read and sign to say they have understood and will abide