E1:
The children Act 1989 aims to protect all children whatever their circumstance. The act brings together many different legislations, for example parental responsibility and inspections of the setting. It is made very clear throughout the act that it is vital that children's views should be taken into consideration when decisions are being made about their future. "The Act came into force in 1991 and is concerned with families, fostering, child minding and day care provision," (Meggitt, 2012, p.118).
The Children Act 2004 "affects the way you should work with other professionals to benefit children and their families," (Meggitt, 2012, p.188) the act supports enquires about child protection and was used to introduced Every Child Matters. The act states that "there are four key themes and five outcomes that must be considered when working with children," (Meggitt, 2012, p118).
The Childcare Act 2006 ensures that the needs of the children and their parents are met and "that their views are heard in the planning and delivery of services which reflect the real needs of families," (Meggitt, 2012, p.199).
The Equality Act 2010 is a relatively new act that replaces many different discrimination laws and ties them all together within one law. "The Act covers nine protected characteristics which cannot be used as a reason to treat people unfairly," (Meggitt, 2012, p.119) these nine characteristics are: Age, Gender Reassignment, Disability, Marriage and Civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
The Care Standers Act 2000 brings together the EYFS and the five outcomes of ECM (Every Child Matters) but the main focus in this act is to make sure the quality of health care and safety is up to standard.
E2:
Under the Children's Act 2004 guidelines have been put into place that all settings must take steps to carry out. "The Children's Act 2004 is designed to ensure that different services for children and young people work more effectively together" (Tassoni,P. 2012, p.116). It is important that settings take all the necessary steps to ensure that the settings environment is safe and appropriate for the children. The Children's Act 2004 is the act that puts the adult to child ratios into place; settings have to comply with this to ensure the safety of the children whilst in the setting. The adult to child ratios are important as they ensure that the children will get the amount of attention they require so that the practitioner has more opportunity to communicate with them and support them so that they can reach their own learning needs.
The Children Act 1889is very insistent on that children's opinions must be taken into consideration when making decisions, this is important in a setting because it means that settings must take into consideration the ability and preferences of each individual child when planning activities for them (E8). Also making sure that their welfare is the most important thing, keeping them healthy and safe and making sure there is nothing in the setting that could compromise this is vital.
The Childcare Act 2006 works alongside the EYFS which will affect practice in the setting as the EYFS affects a lot of practice within the setting. The act also affects the setting as it puts adult to child ratios into place which is the minimum suggested that you must stick to.
The Equality Act 2010 is put in place to protect all children, staff and anyone else who enters the setting, it ties in all the past acts about discrimination at work and other similar acts. It affects the setting as it means that staff are free from being discriminated against but also it ensure that parents/ carers and children are also safe from this as it can seriously hinder a child's development and ability to learn.
The care Standards Act 2000 ensures that the quality of care, health and safety in the setting is good and effective this affects practice as this is the basis of what Ofsted