Lost Child Policy

Rationale

We are committed to ensuring that children enjoy regular outings whilst in our care and can experience the freedom they need to enjoy co-operative play, decision making and risk taking in their play. We aim to keep all children within sight or hearing at all times to prevent them becoming lost in accordance with our Safety on Outings Policy. In the unlikely event that a child becomes lost, I will follow the procedure below.

Procedure if a child becomes lost

We will immediately raise the alarm to all around and enlist any help available to search for the lost child giving a full description of the child and his/her clothing. We will comfort any child in our care that is distressed because of the situation and make sure the safety of other children is secure during the time we search for the lost child. If there is a lost child station or security staff station, we will alert them to the situation and follow their procedures. We will alert parents/carers and the police to the situation and follow advice given.

Actions to be taken after the event

We will record the incident, gain parent/carer’s signature and review all arrangements for keeping children safe and amend as needed. We will talk with all the children in our care about the event and improvements we could make to how we look after each other when we are out and about. We will inform Ofsted of the incident and measures taken to try and prevent further incidents.