Hi, a warm welcome to the site. This is about talking to the children about risks so that they know what to look out for, what to do in order to stay safe yet still enjoy the experience of activities that carry risk.
If you have the
older STL handbook pages 132/3 look at this in a useful way.
If you use the
amazon 'look inside' feature, search for the words 'manage risk for themselves' and click to the poage 133
A balanced approach to risk management means:- taking into account the child or young person's age, needs and abilities.
- avoiding excessive risk taking
- not being excessively risk averse (avoiding risk)
- recognising the importance of risk and challenge to children and young people's development.
You will need to give examples from your own practice of how you have supported pupils in assessing and managing health and safety risk to themselves. This will show that you have an awareness of the kinds of situations in which you should be vigilant, but also how you are able to pass this awareness onto pupils. The more that pupils are encouraged to think about the kinds of issues which may pose a risk, the more likely they are to learn to do this. The kinds of things your school might do to encourage this include:
- signs and reminders on plugs and electrical equipment
- notices on cupboards to remind pupils about safe storage
- discussing safety issues with pupils as part of day-to-day practice
- washing hands after using the toilet or after handling animals or plants
- talking through the reasons for fire practice and other safety requirements
- reminders on outside doors to close them and fire doors to keep clear.
The case study then uses an outing to pond-dip with a group of Year 5 children as the activity to explore how an adult might support the children to assess and manage risk for themselves.
- informing the school about who is going
- safety when crossing roads
- importance of sensible behaviour
- tripping and other hazards close to the pond
- danger from poisonous plants or hazardous litter
- falling into the pond
- danger of infection from cuts if uncovered (Weil's disease)
Helping children to manage risk - Nursery World.co.uk
If you think about the variety of activities your class teacher plans for the children and consider the dangerous aspects of what that involves, consider how you share information, listen and discuss safety with the children so they can participate - gardening, cooking, trip to the park, woodworking (hot glue guns, hacksaws)
Hope this helps a little xx
