Safeguarding Refresher (Early Years)

You already hold safeguarding training. The EYFS statutory framework now makes explicit that safeguarding training for all staff must be refreshed at least every two years. This safeguarding refresher for early years staff is built for experienced practitioners. It updates your knowledge, tests your judgement against harder scenarios and reconnects you with your own setting’s DSL, policy and reporting routes.

Why a safeguarding refresher matters

The risk for experienced staff is drift. Over time, confident practitioners stop noticing the routine things: the visitor who was never asked to sign in, the nappy-change door that now stays shut, the child whose repeated absences everyone has quietly normalised. Practitioners rarely let children down because they don’t know what abuse is. They let them down because, in the moment, they were unsure who to tell, how to record, or whether a concern was enough to raise, and that uncertainty caused delay.

The EYFS expects the two-yearly refresher to sit alongside regular updates in between, through staff meetings, supervision and safeguarding briefings. Recent reforms have also formalised the DSL role, strengthened safer recruitment and require settings to follow up prolonged or unexplained absences. Ofsted inspectors don’t only check certificates. They ask practitioners what they would do if a child made a disclosure and who their DSL is, and this course gets you ready to answer.

What’s in the course

1. Why refresh: what’s changed in safeguardingWhy knowledge drifts, the two-year expectation, and the headline changes since your last training.
2. Recognising abuse and neglectHow the four categories present in babies and under-fives, and why patterns and change matter more than single signs.
3. Responding to concerns and disclosuresStaying calm, recording the child’s exact words, thresholds, and what to do if nothing seems to happen.
4. Safer working practice and allegations against staffVisibility, intimate care and phones, low-level concerns, the LADO route and whistleblowing.
5. Online and contextual risks to young childrenImages of children, the home digital environment, domestic abuse and Prevent at awareness level.
6. Your setting’s proceduresThe five things to know cold about your own setting, and rehearsing real scenarios before they happen.
7. Assessment10 questions. Pass mark 80%. Resit as many times as you need.

What you’ll learn

• Why any bruise on a non-mobile baby needs discussing with your DSL, and which injury sites and shapes to look for in mobile children
• How neglect, the most common category nationally, hides in patterns of hunger, poor hygiene, missed sessions and unmet needs
• How to respond to a disclosure: stay calm, use open prompts such as “tell me more about that”, never promise secrecy and don’t investigate
• How to record the child’s exact words with the date, time, place and your signature, and report to your DSL the same day
• Why thresholds are your DSL’s decision, and how to escalate if a concern is not acted on, including referring to children’s social care yourself
• How low-level concerns about colleagues are shared and recorded, and when an allegation goes to the manager and then the LADO
• Why images of children are the biggest online risk for under-fives, and how domestic abuse and Prevent concerns follow the same route to your DSL
• The five things to know cold: your DSL and deputy, your policy, your recording system, your escalation route and your local thresholds document

Who this course is for

• Practitioners and room leaders whose safeguarding training is due for its two-yearly refresh
• Managers who want every team member to finish with a practical audit of their own setting’s procedures
• Childminders, who usually take on the DSL role themselves
• Experienced staff who want to check their habits against current guidance

How it works

• OnlineStudy on any device and pick up where you left off.
• 6 short lessonsAbout 45 minutes in total.
• 10-question assessmentPass mark 80%. Resit as many times as you need.
• CertificateIssued when you pass. NFAQ accredited.

Frequently asked questions