Missing Child from Nursery Procedure

At Winston’s Place Day Nursery, we take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of children on the premises. We only release children into the care of individuals who have been notified to us by the parent and have safety systems in place to ensure that children do not leave the premises unsupervised through coded doors, high door handles.

This procedure forms part of the nursery’s safeguarding arrangements and is in line with the EYFS Statutory Framework and our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

In the unlikely event of a child going missing within or 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
• Any member of staff who notices that a child is missing will alert the nursery manager (or deputy in their absence) immediately and without delay
• 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
• Registers, headcounts and sign-in/sign-out records will be checked immediately to confirm the child is missing
• The nursery will follow police instructions at all times and will not delay contacting the police and parents if the child cannot be located quickly
• 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
• A full written record will be kept, including actions taken, times, staff involved and the outcomes, and stored securely in line with data protection requirements
• Ofsted will be notified as soon as reasonably practicable and within the required timescales, in line with EYFS requirements
• With incidents of this nature parents, children and staff may require support and reassurance following the traumatic experience. Management will provide this or seek further support where necessary
• The nursery will work in partnership with parents and other professionals to support the emotional wellbeing of those affected
• Any media enquiries will be directed to the nursery manager only
• Post-incident risk assessments will be conducted following any incident of this nature to enable the chance of this reoccurring being reduced.
• Any identified actions will be implemented promptly and shared with staff as part of reflective practice and ongoing safeguarding training