Creating a safe learning environment


To help children to feel safe and be safe in your learning environment, you should provide well-managed opportunities for exploration and risk-taking, and remove hazards that are not easy for children to identify. 

These general steps will help you to assess the risks of your indoor and outdoor learning environment, activities and resources:

  1. Identify any hazards. (What is it? Where is it?)
  2. Decide who might be harmed and how.
  3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions. (Can I get rid of the risks altogether? If not, how can I control them?)
  4. Record your findings and implement them.
  5. Monitor and review. (Are my actions working well? If not, what is the best new solution?)


Possible hazards and risks will be specific to your individual setting. However, the list below provides general guidance on some of the things you should consider alongside your whole-setting safety policy. 

Consideration

Questions

Adult awareness

  Adult caring for a child

  • Do all adults working with your children know about their special needs and medical conditions, and how to manage these?
  • Do all adults working with your children know where the first-aid kit is stored, and your setting’s policies and procedures for giving first aid?

Learning environment

  Example learning environment

  • Is your usual learning environment age-appropriate and well-maintained? For example:
      • Do you have low, open shelving to reduce the risk of resources falling on children?
      • Are resources stored in small, light boxes that children can move without physical strain?
  • Is there adequate space for children to play and use resources without risk of injury to themselves or others? 
  • Can children walk between different areas of the learning environment safely? For example:
      • Have you planned your space so that there are clear walkways between different areas?
      • Do you monitor walkways throughout the day in case of spills and dropped objects?
  • Are areas that you use for group physical activities safe from hazards? For example:
      • Will furniture present hazards for children when they are moving around freely?
      • Do you check for spills and floor damage in indoor areas, especially when children have bare feet?
      • Do you check for uneven or slippery surfaces in outdoor areas?

Resources

  Clean learning resources

  • Are all your resources non-toxic and age-appropriate? For example: 
      • Are your paints and glues non-toxic?
      • Do your scissors have blunt tips?
      • When re-using everyday materials or collecting materials from nature, do you avoid materials that are sharp, or could be contaminated or toxic?
  • Are your resources well-maintained? Do you regularly check that they are still safe after repeated use and exploration?
  • Do your digital resources model eSafety? For example:
      • Do you avoid:
          • cables that can be accidently pulled, tripped over or trodden on
          • overloaded plug sockets, even in situations where a single workstation contains several components (computer, screen, printer) that require a power source?
      • Do you provide:
          • seating that enables comfortable and safe use of the particular digital devices?

Activities and opportunities

  Child balancing

  • Are your activities and opportunities age-appropriate?
  • Do you give careful instructions, modelling and practice before children participate in activities and opportunities that have a new element of risk?
  • Do you take appropriate safety precautions? For example:
      • Can children easily wash their hands during and after messy activities?
      • Do you include warm-up and cool-down routines in adult-led physical activities?
      • Do you ensure soft-landing materials beneath climbing and balancing equipment?
  • Do you plan your adult support carefully? For example:
      • Are all children visible by an adult at all times, so you can monitor children’s safety? 
      • Do you ensure that activities involving more hazardous resources (e.g, small resources that present choking hazards, woodworking tools) are more closely supervised?