Nursery lost child procedure from outings policy

At The University of Dundee Nursery Ltd we are committed to promoting children’s safety and welfare. This includes when children are on outings and visits. We carry out regular head counts of children (please refer to “Supervision, Headcount & Ratio Policy and Procedure”) throughout any outing or visit.  In the unlikely event of a child going missing whilst on an outing we have the following procedure which we implement immediately:

• All staff will be aware of the procedure when a child goes missing and supply information to support the search, e.g. a recent photograph and a detailed description of clothing
• The organiser will be informed immediately, and all staff present will be informed. Some staff will be deployed to start an immediate thorough search of the area, ensuring that all other children remain supervised, calm, and supported throughout
• If appropriate, on-site security will also be informed and a description given
• The designated person in charge will immediately inform the police
• The designated person in charge will then inform the nursery who will contact the child’s parents giving details of what has happened. If the whole nursery is on an outing, all contact details will be taken on the trip by the person in charge. Nursery management will also advise one of the nursery directors
• During this period, staff will be continually searching for the missing child, whilst other staff maintain the safety and welfare of the remaining children
• It will be the designated person in charge or the manager’s responsibility to ensure that there are adequate staff to care for the children and get them back safe, a member of staff to meet the police and someone to continue the search (this may mean contacting relief staff)
• Any incidents must be recorded in writing as soon as practicably possible including the outcome, who was lost, time identified, notification to police and findings
• In the unlikely event that the child is not found the nursery will follow the local authority and police procedure
• The Care Inspectorate must be contacted and informed of any incidents
• With incidents of this nature parents, carers, children, and staff may require support and reassurance following the traumatic experience, management will provide this or seek further support where necessary
• In any cases with media attention, staff will not speak to any media representatives
• Post-incident risk assessments will be conducted following any incident of this nature to limit any chance of recurrence.

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