Health and Safety in the Early Years

This course will teach you how to establish a safe and secure environment for children using risk assessments to raise everybody's awareness of potential dangers. Look at ways in which leaders maintain a healthy, safe, and secure environment for children and, in particular, look at hygiene practices. Learn how to supervise procedures for accidents, injuries, illnesses, and other emergencies.

You do not need to be working in a managerial role to complete this course, but should be working in a childcare setting.

Learning outcomes

You will learn the skills required to support children’s health and safety
You will learn that a key factor in protecting children from accidents and injury is to understand what the risks might be
You will learn the importance of encouraging children to manage risk for themselves, and the impact of this on their future well-being

Advantages of this course

All schools and Ofsted registered early years settings have to meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). One of the guiding themes of the EYFS is the importance of an ‘enabling environment’ and the safety and security of an educational space is central to this. Every child has a right to feel safe in their learning environment and this course will outline how you can ensure that they do, from planning a safe educational visit to keeping a record of accidents and injuries.
Should a child become ill at the setting, it is imperative that staff working there can identify the common signs and symptoms of illness and take action to promote recovery. Illness and injury is covered in the first section of the course, and ways to minimise the risk of illness, such as basic hygiene, is explored in the reading section.
As a practitioner, it is your responsibility to protect children from accidents and if an accident and/or injury does occur, respond appropriately. In this course, you will learn how to conduct a risk assessment and the actions to take if an accident does occur.
Additional activities encourage you to reflect on your learning
There is also suggested extended reading gives both practical information and links to websites to expand knowledge