Acting to Safeguard Children

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirement: Child Protection Providers must have and implement a policy, and procedures, to safeguard children.

Phase Five Pre-School Policy 1.9 Dummy

Policy statement The aim of this policy is to foster an environment where all children, whatever their needs, are welcomed and have to same choices and opportunities, that enable them to reach their full potential during their time at Phase Five.

It is understood that children who attend Pre-School may still use a dummy. The Department for Children, Schools and Families have issued a document called, “Supporting children with speech, language and communication needs: Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage”, from which the following quotation can be found:

“Dummies and bottles can contribute to delayed communication development”.

Babies and young children spend lots of time making sounds and exploring their own mouths and voices before they begin to use words. In doing so they are not practicing and developing the skills needed for speech but they are also encouraging other people in the world to notice them and communicate with them. Children who suck dummies through the day make fewer sound, gain less experience of using their voices, and hear less language from adults around them.

If toddlers are allowed to continue to suck a dummy and talk with it in their mouths, there is also a risk that the child will learn distorted patterns of speech because the teat prevents normal movements at the front of their mouth. These patterns may be difficult to change later on.

Although a dummy or bottle can be a source of comfort when a child is upset, and may form part of a child’s sleep routine, parents should be encouraged to use it only at these times, and to phase out dummies and bottles as soon as possible.

Procedures: In light of this information, Phase Five Pre-School would strongly recommend that children who use a dummy refrain from using it whilst at Pre-School.

We however appreciate that your child may need their dummy as a comfort when starting Pre-School, although we will:-  Encourage children to leave their dummies in a safe place for periods of time during the Pre-School session; book bag at Abbotswood and in our dummy pots at Kelston Close.  But – we recognise that many children need their dummies for comfort and security, particularly in a new environment, and will always be sensitive to each child’s emotional needs.

 Encourage children to take dummies out of their mouths when speaking. If you would like more information or guidance on how to help your child give up a dummy, please talk to a member of staff. If your child has a special blanket or toy, it is sometimes useful if it is brought to Pre-School, even if left in your child’s bag. Please tell your keyworker where the comforter is and any special name your child has given it. Please don’t forget to take it home!

This policy was adopted at a Management Committee meeting of Phase Five Pre-School Held on Date to be reviewed (Committee) Signed on behalf of the Committee Name of signatory Role of signatory (e.g. chair, treasurer, secretary)

This policy was reviewed at a Staff Meeting held on Comments and Amendments needed

Date to be reviewed Staff Signatures