Nursery lost child procedure policy

At The University of Dundee Nursery Ltd we are committed to promoting children’s safety and welfare. In the unlikely event of a child going missing within/from the nursery, we have the following procedure which will be implemented 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 nursery manager will be informed immediately, and all staff present will be informed. Some staff will be deployed to start an immediate thorough search of the nursery, followed by a search of the surrounding area, whilst ensuring that some staff remain with the other children, so they remain supervised, calm, and supported throughout
• The manager will call the police as soon as they believe the child is missing and follow police guidance. The parents of the missing child will also be contacted as will one of the nursery directors
• A second search of the area will be carried out
• During this period, available staff will be continually searching for the missing child, whilst other staff maintain as near to normal routine as possible for the rest of the children in the nursery
• The manager will meet the police and parents
• The manager will then await instructions from the police
• In the unlikely event that the child is not found the nursery will follow the local authority and police procedure
• 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
• 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.
• A full investigation will be undertaken with a focus on why and how the event was able to happen

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