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Rebecca Hobbs

Unit 8 Caring for Children

When working with children, the practitioner has a vital role and holds a number of responsibilities, most
importantly, the practitioner must provide a high standard of physical, emotional, social and intellectual care for
children
...
During their training, practitioners learn about laws and legislations concerning the care of children- such
as The Childcare Act 2006
...
All childcare settings have a carefully
constructed set of policies and procedure which the practitioner must work in compliance with
...
In all childcare settings, the practitioner will need to plan the care of a child, this
requires some practical skills; the practitioner must be competent at record keeping, presentation and planning
...
Communication skills
are also essential for building and maintaining relationships with parents and carers, this is important when
caring for children as the parent is usually the primary care giver and know about the child’s needs
...

When working with children I make sure that I set a good example with everything that I do, I ensure that my
speech is clear, smiling while I speak to show my emotion and that I’m only saying words that I’d be happy with
the children using
...
When working with large
groups of children, I make sure to include everyone and make every child feel valued without bias against any
child due to factors such as their family background, religion, race etc
...
I listen to instructions given to me by
my supervisor and take on any role given to me even though it may not be directly related to my role as a
practitioner
...
Working well
with other adults, such as parents, is important for the children to see and this sets a standard for how they
should treat others, I use my manners, show positive body language and engage in structured conversation, not
talking over the other person
...

Childcare comes in a lot of different forms dependant on the needs of the child; children of different ages and
abilities, children with special needs, and family needs require different kinds of care
...
Each type of setting must conform to adult: child ratios and any laws and legislations in force over
them
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Some settings such as Sure Start groups and preschools prepare children for school life and communicate
the child’s development stage with their new school to allow for an easier transition, a lot of preschool setting
include a lot of learning through play and have adequate outside areas
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Settings such as Sure Start
centre cater for not only the child but also the family, offering ante natal support and advice, jobcentre help and
baby classes
...
In the case of Brownies groups, such as the one in
Cotgrave, the charity they’re provided by is ‘Girl Guiding’
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Throughout their time at
Brownies the girls learn new hobbies, play music, learn about the outdoors and other cultures and work towards
badges such as: Computer, Communicator, Environment, Sports, World Issues and others
...
The groups help to build
each girls confidence and raise their aspirations at the same time as them having a good time and meeting new
people
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The group meeting are generally in the evenings in the week thus lending a
hand to parents who work in the evening and require childcare
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The Wishing Well Day Nursery, Ladybay, comes under this sector
...
The nursery boasts that it offers small class sizes with a substantial amount of staff to aid the learning
of all children, this is something parent favour when choosing a nursery and parents have confidence in having
given their child a good education
...

The final sector is the Statutory Sector
...
This is mainly due to legislation being passed on a child’s right to an education
in Article 28 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) which states that:
“parties recognize the right of the child to education… they shall, in particular:
(a) make primary education compulsory and available free to all” UNICEF
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Available from: www
...
org
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The centre is open to all parents, carers and children offering help and
advice with the core purpose of the centres being said to be:
“to improve outcomes for young children and their families, with particular focus on the most disadvantaged, so
children are equipped for life and ready for school, no matter what their background or family circumstances”
Name unavailable (2012) Core Purpose of Sure Start Children’s Centres
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education
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uk/childrenandyoungpeople/earlylearningandchildcare/a00191780/core-purpose-of-surestart-childrens-centres (accessed October 3rd 2013)
They support children and parents in a range of ways including assessing a child needs and interests, doing this
early on in their life allows them to address any issues and cater for needs before they start school allowing for

Rebecca Hobbs

them to be ready to start at the compulsory age
...
The centres provide opportunities to learn
and develop in the three prime areas outlined by the EYFS (introduced by The Childcare Act 2006), these being:
communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development
...
Due to EYFS rules, parents are
kept closely involved and informed with the progress of their child and centres respect views and wishes of
parents in regards to how the services are delivered to their child
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Legislations regarding children are put into place in the UK to set guidelines for all those in contact with children
whether in or out of the childcare setting
...
The Children Act 2004
This act not only supports children but their parents and carers
...
The act sets out five outcomes
for children, these being:







Stay safe- focusing on keeping children safe from all types of abuse, crime and discrimination
Be healthy- This includes physically, mentally and emotionally, also including a healthy lifestyle and
keeping children from illegal drugs
Enjoy and achieve- This refers to the child’s emotional wellbeing in relation to their learning, ensuring
that they’re enjoying what they’re doing in order to be successful
Achieve economic wellbeing- This refers to the wider world in which the child lives, ensuring that they’ll
be success with everyday life including supporting the community and environment, learning to be law
abiding and dealing with changes and challenges in life
...


These outcomes are achieved when practitioners work closely with a range of other professionals through multiagency working such as the common assessment framework
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2
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This means that, in and out of the childcare
setting, children (and anybody associated with them) cannot be discriminated against on the grounds that they
possess one or more of these characteristics whether it is direct or indirect
...
Also,
teaching about and celebrating a range of religious festivals even if there aren’t children in the group who follow
that religion
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3
...

The act focuses on LEAs and all other services concerned with the care of children with SEN
...

4
...
The law sets out clear instructions on the
roles and responsibilities of both agencies and practitioners including LSCBs, stating the action to be taken to
safeguard children in their care and what actions should be taken when concerns are raised about a child
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In addition, any person who has regular, unsupervised
contact with any child must have an up to date DBS check record
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5
...
All people wishing
to be in contact with children must have an up to date DBS record check
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Two activities to promote the care of children are making fruit kebabs and dressing for different weathe5rs, the
plans for these can be found in appendices 8 and 9
...
The HM
Government (2010) have developed a document called ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to
inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children’ which states that multi professional
working is a very important aspect when working with children and parents within the childcare setting
...
It is a way of working that ensures children and
young people who need additional support have exactly the right professionals needed to support them
...
Multi-agency working provides benefits for children, young people and families
because they receive tailor-made support in the most efficient way
...

One way to contribute towards maintaining professional relationships with children and adults is the utilisation
of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), this is a key part of delivering frontline services that are

Rebecca Hobbs

integrated and focused around the needs of children and young people
...
The meetings are designed for everyone involved to talk openly
and develop a plan of support for the child
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A CAF is a standardized approach used by
practitioners to assess children's additional needs and decide how these should be met
...
It can be used by
practitioners across children’s services, as well as health care staff who may be involved in either the child or
parents care
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It is intended to provide a simple process for a holistic assessment of a child’s needs and
strengths, taking account of the role of parents, carers and environmental factors on their development
...

The CAF will also help to improve integrated working by promoting co-ordinated service provision
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Page 214
Other multi-agency teams include the Team around the Child (TAC) and Behaviour and education support teams
(BEST)
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When planning the care and education of children it’s important to be planning for a child’s ability while pushing
them to achieve higher, in order to do this, the practitioner must have a good knowledge of child development
...

When planning any type of care for children it’s important to keep the child’s development stage in mind, if an
activity is given to a child that is too easy for them, they will find it boring and not learn anything from it, a child
needs to pushed to achieve however if they’re given an activity that’s too hard for them they may give up and
this could damage their self-esteem and self-confidence
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The practitioner may record a child’s progress throughout their
development to ensure that they’re at the right stage for their age and if they’re not they can find out why not,
if they’re constantly below the recommended stage the practitioner will know that they need further help or
may find that they have additional needs that need to be taken into consideration
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Reflective practice is an effective way of improving your own performance, it allows for you to see what went
well with what you’ve done as well as parts that you may need to improve on
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If these reflective processes are kept record of, they can act as
a form of review and looked back upon to observe how your performance has changed and whether you’ve kept
up with changed you’ve previously made
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Rebecca Hobbs



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