Late yesterday afternoon the phone rang and someone with links to our company was at the other end to say they had just seen a physical attack on a child by a parent as they waited for their own child to finish at School for the day. They got out of the car they were waiting in and challenged the parent who was punching the toddler. The result was they ended up being attacked, both verbally and physically by the same person who was clearly intoxicated and out of control. The police were called and the child and the parent were being interviewed. Once the person who rang us had recovered and got cleaned up, they eventually took themselves off to A&E to deal with their own physical injuries and one can only hope that they were seen quickly. Although none of us had seen the attack, the news of what had happened led those of us who had been told to feel shocked and disturbed. It was only late last night that the words of our safeguarding policy began to unpack themselves in my mind. Up until last night they had been important words, but not ones we have needed to act upon. The fact that we had been made aware of this attack places a responsibility on us to ensure that such a terrible incident is acted upon. One assumes that it will be and our report to the County Council Duty and Assessment team that we are concerned that a child or young person is at significant risk of harm will be surplus to requirements. However the need to protect one child this Christmas is at least as important as anything else we might have achieved yesterday!