First aid requirements for schools

We work with manay schools and help them to successfully navigate their first aid requirements and make sure that their staff have appropriate first aid training and thei HSE and EYFS guidelines are met.

Schools operate as businesses, and as such are governed by the HSE Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 and schools with nurseries and reception classes are also subject to Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Ofsted regulations.

Under current rules, early years providers must have at least one 12 Hour paediatric first aid course Level 3 qualified available on each premise at all times. From September 2016—new legislation came into effect requiring all new recruits to have a paediatric first aid qualification; meaning that a nursery recruiting a level 2 or level 3 member of staff who had newly completed their early years/childcare qualification must have an emergency paediatric first aid (1 Day 6hr) or a full paediatric first aid certificate (12 Hours), in order to count towards the staff/qualification ratios under the EYFS (DfE, 2015a; 2016).

The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families requires that from September 2008 there is a statutory duty that all schools with Year R classes must have at least one person who has a current paediatric first aid certificate on the premises at all times.

The two key documents are the Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage and the Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The requirement for paediatric first aid is documented on page 26 of the Statutory Framework document, where it states that “at least one person who has a current paediatric first aid certificate must be on the premises at all times when children are present. There must be at least one person on outings who has a current paediatric first aid certificate”. Download EYFS Statutory Framework

The paediatric first aid course is a 12 hour course normally carried out over two days. The criteria for this training is contained in the Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Appendix 1 on page 23. Download EYFS Practice Guidance

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