My job, as head teacher, is to ensure all children are safe. It’s a crucial part of my role’ –Rebecca Keen, Hurst Hill Primary School.
We must take reasonable steps to protect children from serious harm, but the risk-assessment process can seem complicated. During the various lockdowns, many of us struggled to keep up with the everchanging policies.
Two key terms, ‘hazard’ and ‘risk,’ can cause particular confusion. They are often used interchangeably, but they refer to two very different concepts.
A hazard is something that might cause harm. We tend to think of more obvious examples like an uncovered pond or trailing cables, but behaviours like bullying or neglect can also be classed as hazards.
Risk, on the other hand, is about probability and consequence – it’s the chance, high or low, that someone will actually be harmed by a hazard. My son, a learner driver, told me that the hazard perception test requires decisions on what could be a ‘developing hazard’. For example, a cyclist is not a hazard but a cyclist who is swerving is likely to be at risk of harm. Our dynamic, in-the-moment risk assessment will highlight those developing hazards.
I once watched a child gingerly step onto a vulnerable-looking loose-parts construction. He leaned forward to put more weight on his front foot then changed his mind and started to crawl across. Children need to constantly test their physical and emotional limits.
For this reason, the aim shouldn’t be to create a risk-free environment – in any case, we could never identify every single risk in a given moment of time. As the Health and Safety Executive states, ‘the goal is not to eliminate risk but to weigh up the risks and benefits. No child will learn about risk if they are wrapped up in cotton wool.’
In order to build children’s independence, many early years settings now use a risk/benefit analysis, considering the benefits associated with an activity or aspect of the environment alongside the risks.
Sometimes, there are non-advantageous hazards that have no benefit to children. I run an outdoor play company and remove cigarette butts and litter while I carry out my site checks. The HSE’s hazard-spotting list includes broken paving, trailing cables and bin bags left in walkways. There should be clear, non-negotiable rules around these high-risk/no-benefit hazards.
Moving beyond these hazards, we know that activities like climbing, tool use and fire have a higher level of risk but help children learn about their environment and their own capabilities. The risk of serious injury is evident, but the benefits are also clear. As long as there are clearly explained safety rules, modelling and supervision, children can be fully involved. Many potentially hazardous activities have multiple benefits and are low-risk if they are well controlled.
PERCEPTIONS OF RISK
However, studies show that, just like children, we all perceive risk in a different way. We can only make methodical risk-assessment decisions if we are honest about the things that prompt that ‘tightening of the chest’ anxiety. Some years ago, I visited the fortified town of Cittadella in Italy with my husband and children. We were walking along the 50ft-high wall surrounding the town when suddenly, my husband shouted: ‘Don’t!’ He had sensed that our eldest son was considering jumping from the wall to a tree branch – a death-defying leap. I still feel sick thinking about this situation, whereas my husband feels confident that it was under control.
Some indicators of developing hazards where we need to quickly assess the level of risk include a child struggling physically and/or emotionally, movingin a new way, using new equipment, or experimenting with manipulating objects – in short, ways to learn how to be in the world. I once observed a child completely absorbed, examining every part of a smooth pebble. All of a sudden, he threw it, perhaps to see how it moved through the air. He managed to slightly injure his friend and was inconsolable. Eventually his friend cuddled him and said, ‘I’m OK and you’ve learned a lesson!’
We can’t avoid our subconscious bias around risk but we can bring in different perspectives. ‘Our risk assessments always involve at least three members of staff,’ says head teacher Rebecca Keen. ‘Different people consider different hazards and scenarios – the more considered, the better.’
Communication is key to successful risk mitigation – making sure all stakeholders, including children, are clear on your ethos. Earthtime (see case study opposite) has clearly defined values and expectations that staff, children, parents and carers understand. Safety is prioritised but the responsibility for safety is shared – children are supported to learn to take care of themselves, their peers and their environment. It’s all about balance, and local agencies have noted the children’s unusually high levels of resilience, problem-solving skills and physical dexterity.
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTIONS OF RISK
Hazards are part of life, and The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) suggests that we need to teach even the youngest children to assess risks to keep themselves and others safe. RoSPA has found that educators generally focus more on teaching children to stay safe in specific situations rather than preparing children for unanticipated, unfamiliar situations. The children in my class were distressed one day to find a dead hedgehog tangled in some camouflaged netting outdoors. This prompted a discussion about the hazardous nature of the netting. After some thoughtful discussion, a child suggested putting the netting indoors each evening to prevent any more harm to hedgehogs. Here was successful planning and risk mitigation. Even very young children can analytically consider ‘what could happen?’ and ‘what can we do?’.
We have established that risk perception is subjective, and this means that parents and carers may disagree with your judgements. A nursery manager who wishes to remain anonymous comments, ‘At the height of the pandemic, I was reading so much government guidance and changing my risk assessments continually. It was stressful to then be challenged by parents who didn’t agree with my approach.’
It is worth remembering that parents want the best for their children and, when their behaviour seems unreasonable, they are often just acting as powerful advocates for their child. Simply dismissing a parent’s fears is counterproductive, just as it is harmful to reply to an anxious child climbing a tree: ‘No, you’re not scared!’ After all, it’s a parent’s job to protect their children from harm.
Relationships are key and I found, as head of school, that putting time and effort into building strong, trusting relationships with parents meant that they felt able to make useful suggestions about safety or seek clarification if they felt anxious about something. Partnership is about more than maintaining the equilibrium, and sometimes parents prompted me to look at issues in a completely different way. It’s good to give time and space to parents’ opinions, but you do need to be clear on the values underpinning your risk assessment strategies. Parents appreciate clear communication and are usually satisfied when they understand that safety is the priority, alongside providing challenging opportunities for children to develop physically, mentally and emotionally.
Sarah Watkins was a primary teacher and head and is now associate lecturer at the University of Worcester. She is the author of two educational books published by Routledge and runs her own Forest School-style play company called Dandy Lions.
Tips for risk management that builds independence and responsibility
- Ensure everyone in the setting understands the ethos and is on board.
- Be aware of your own bias. What makes you feel uncomfortable?
- Get multiple perspectives on hazards.
- Consider your context and the needs of particular children. Off-the-peg assessments must be adapted.
- Start with the benefits, then move onto the risks. Are the risks justified by the potential benefits?
- Avoid immediately stepping in to help. Trust that children will meet your expectations.
- Build situational awareness through discussion and joint exploration.
- Draw attention to hazards such as a pond or a slippery path and discuss what could happen and the best ways to avoid serious consequences.
- Use positive language that builds children’s confidence and ability to make informed choices.
- Extend problem-solving opportunities.
- Review assessments regularly and keep stakeholders informed. Risk assessment and policies should be dynamic.
CASE STUDY: Sarah Collins (on behalf of the team), Clifton Village Nursery, Clifton, West Yorkshire
We follow a child-inspired approach to learning; closely following the interests, ideas, creative and critical thinking of the children. This can lead to very spontaneous opportunities where equipment and resources are utilised in new, different or unfamiliar ways. Staff need to assess the risk ‘in the moment’, and by knowing the children and having set boundaries when the children first start with us, we are able to ascertain their capabilities such as whether they are physically able to lift or move pallets, crates and cable reels; if they are capable of listening to and following verbal instructions or if actions need to be modelled by staff; and whether the children’s own confidence with risk-taking allows them to participate safely, e.g. turn-taking or jumping from heights.
One example from both indoors and outdoor play is building obstacle courses. Indoors, the children use the large blocks, foam bricks and wood slices to make pathways. The children, under the watchful eye of a practitioner, learn from each other that the blocks and bricks all respond differently when stepped upon. Staff model language to make children aware of potential hazards they may encounter, and the children can quickly be heard repeating this to their peers.
Outside, the obstacle course theme is extended with the large loose parts equipment. Again, staff are always nearby as ‘risk managers’ (Tok 2021) and are close enough to step in to offer a reassuring hand but are equally conscious of interfering and stopping the children managing their own risk.
Staff regularly reflect on providing risk-taking opportunities, and this shows that children are empowered to support each other by holding hands, offering encouragement or even suggesting ways of completing a tricky manoeuvre. Sometimes all a child needs is the presence of the nearby practitioner for the first attempt and their confidence visibly increases to repeat the process with whoops of delight when they manage it independently.
FURTHER RESOURCES
- Outdoor Play for Healthy Little Minds by Sarah Watkins
- Risk, Challenge and Adventure in the Early Years by Kathryn Solly
- Balanced and Barefoot by Angela Hanscom
- The Emotional Brain by Joseph LeDoux
- No Fear: Growing up in a Risk Averse Society by Tim Gill
- Marc Armitage: ‘Risky play is not a category – it’s what children DO’, https://bit.ly/3SQCG7a
- ‘Children’s play and leisure: promoting a balanced approach’, https://bit.ly/3rJyom0
- Ted Talk: https://bit.ly/3rKBwOI
CASE STUDY: Zoe Sills, manager of Earthtime Forest School Nursery, Moray, Scotland
An important part of Earthtime’s ethos is around enabling children to assess risk themselves.
We let the children take the lead and we discuss with them what they think the boundaries should be or what the limitations of a certain activity might be.
With hazards, we mainly acknowledge their presence and manage the risk they present. For example, we regularly have bees or wasps nesting on site and we simply cordon off the space and educate the children. Our boundaries depend very much on the children we have. For example, when we have a lot of new children, we put a piece of bright yellow cord around the trees to mark our boundary. However, this just serves as a reminder. You might get one child who goes one foot past it because they just want to know what you’re going to do. We know they are there, and we say ‘are you going to come back now?’ and then we do something else. They realise it’s not exciting and they come back.
Once we know the children a little better, and we’ve reinforced where the boundaries are, several trees around the perimeter might have a small piece of paracord and we might use some neon snap bands around branches. At the start of every single session, we reiterate where the boundary is. The visuals are a reminder and form part of our risk assessment – the steps we are taking to mitigate the risk. Our risk assessments list the benefits first, then the associated risks and the ways that we mitigate for those. Just like with the curriculum, we start with our rationale, our reason for doing it.
We do have barbed wire around our site, because the neighbouring land is farmland. We discuss why it is there – to keep the cows safe and stop people from walking on the crops. It’s all part of education.
Children who spend a lot of time outdoors naturally develop their physical skills and their ability to risk-assess, which in themselves are protective factors. If we coddle children and never expose them to risk then we are doing them a huge disservice and actually increasing the risk of them ultimately coming to harm, as they are less used to recognising hazards and risks. For example, a child who comes across a saw and has never seen or used one before will wave it around as soon as they get their hands on it. My daughter has had her own toolbox since she was two and it comes out when there is a job that requires those tools. She knows they have a purpose. It’s about exposure, education and taking away the excitement, the perceived mystery of the risk.
As well as the woodland, we also have a nursery based in a park. The risk assessment is very different because different spaces have different issues and different potential hazards. For example, we have found drugs paraphernalia. Part of the children’s daily routine at the park is to do the daily risk assessment with the adults and there is a discussion on what to look out for such as litter and sharp objects.
We have sharps gloves that fit the children and an appropriate tub so that if a child finds glass, they can tell an adult, pick up the glass and put it in the box. Our language, our approach, our ethos is about looking after our spaces so the children have a real sense of ownership and guardianship. One of our organisational values is love – everything is linked to this value. We talk about this every single day, about having love and respect for ourselves, others and our environment. The children in both nurseries are used to taking responsibility and they are very good at pointing things out to us if they think something is not quite right, whether it is dog mess or a broken tree branch.
