Health and Safety in KS1 & KS2 Curriculum

A Headteacher's Safety Management Toolkit Article -It is the Emergency Services who deal with Risk,
Health and Safety and KS1 & KS2 Curriculum.Risk Assessment, Risk Control and Risk Management
Government Actionlocally and day to day and hour by hour.
The Government determined that Health and SafetyThey are also more available to a school to a school
become part of the curriculum in 2002 and definedas a local resource.
that all pupils of should receive some 40 hours ofThe Police have long visited schools delivering talks
H&S teaching before the end of their schooling.and demonstrations for Drugs, Personal Safety and
HSE has already produced materials which are beingRoad Safety for pupils of Primary age.as have the
used to give a Basic Safety Induction to work forFire Service who are always willing to co-operate
pupils going out on Work Experience from schoolswith visits and Fire Safety presentations.
and colleges.Ambulance NHS Trusts, Red Cross and St.John's are
Safety has actually already entered the syllabus in aalso resources along with private Emergency
fairly defined way and the QCA have alreadyAmbulance firms who are often under used by
produced a statutory statement and defined NVQschools.
standards at the higher levels, which are already usedIf the Emergency Service presenters are sufficiently
for qualifying members of the HSE Inspectorate.well briefed and the pupils are appropriately prepared
DfES have also played their part through their owna community approach can be taken to risk by using
expert tem and the information delivered throughsuch resources.
Teachernet.An excellent example of this has just been released.
National Curriculum for Health and SafetyThe RNLI have a Youth Section at which gives
The QCA statutory statement with regards toaccess to a wide range of resources including
safety in the curriculum states that it :All Aboard - KS 2 Resource with poster and teacher's
"applies to science, design and technology,notes plus activities and a KS£ resource which
information and communication technology, art andmay be of use since it covers beach visits etc called
design, and physical education."Get on Board.
In brief the QCA has indicated that pupils must beThe Coastguard (Maritime Coastguard Agency -MCA)
taught the whole range of concepts surrounding riskand the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)
assessment and control including:have teamed up to make young people aware of
-Identifying Hazards and Risks.the dangers near water.
-Controlling and reducing hazards and risks.They have produced an interactive CDROM entitled
-Risk Assessment techniques .MAYDAY for KS2 pupils. This is an extensive
-To take care for their own and other's Health andresource with the CDROM as well as information,
Safety.activity cards and teacher's notes with ideas for
The QCA have also issued guidance which wasfollow up projects. MAYDAY is structured so that it
drawn up after consultation with HSE and thiscan either be used with groups or by individuals and
indicates that they have a view that RISK should behas a wide range of activities which ends in a "Round
the core of the approach and they feel that teachersBritain Yacht Race."
will have already introduced their pupils to theAs well as helping in selling the "risk" message and
concept of risk.thus linking directly to the Health and Safety
The whole thrust of QCA guidance tells the teacherCurriculum the pack is linked to KS2 in Humanities,
to ensure that pupils are taught about risk at anEnvironmental Studies, Literacy and Numeracy, ICT,
appropriate level throughout their time in school.Citizenship and PHSE.
They see this as helping to ensure that pupils areThis is a FREE resource and is divided into five
better equipped to deal with risks with situations ofsections:
uncertainty and change both in and out of school.1.Staying Safe - an ideal piece of pre visit instruction
QCA see the main objectives of the delivery of awhich helps the children to recognise risks when they
Health and Safety curriculum as being a tool toare near the sea. This part of the resource also
ensure that the pupils are able to:introduces the Beaufort Scale, Shipping Weather
-recognise the existence of hazards, risks andForecasts and the idea of maritime charts and maps.
uncertainty in a range of contexts;2.Rescue! Uses Scenarios to encourage children to
-assess their own ability, and the ability of others, touse their judgement to make risk based decisions to
deal with different situations;help other people.
-assess the consequences when dealing with hazards3.Crew - This introduces the children to the people
presented to themselves and to others (for example,who risk their lives to help others on the sea and
within school, the environment, the home);looks at how they are trained and what motivates
-seek advice from appropriate sources to minimisethem.
and manage risk;4.Safer by Design - Children find out about PPE and
-understand that rules and regulations follow from riskthe wider range of safety equipment used as control
assessment and help define individual and collectivemeasures when a calculated risk is taken by those
responsibility.who face the "angry sea" to help save lives. This
In addition already part of H&S is part of the Nationalsection also has some interesting Numeracy work
Healthy Schools initiative for Primary Schools.based on speeds of helicopters and boats in rescue
HSE and the Curriculumsituations.
HSE has set up a small Risk Education Team based in5.Round Britain Race - In this section children plan and
the Central Expertise Policy and Support Division oftake part in a race, choosing equipment, planning
the Policy Group Directorate in London .routes as well as choosing their team. This section
Their stated intention is to:supports KS2 Humanities and PHSE as well as H&S.
"influence the degree to which risk managementFurther information from Liza Linscott (RNLI)
techniques are taught in schools and other01202663217 or Julia Gosling (MCA) 020380329401
educational establishments....."Other Resources
They are developing four projects of which two areThe following organisations have produced
of interest insofar as the curriculum is concerned.information and which may be of interest and which
-They seek to raise the level f risk teaching incan also be mostly accessed form the HSE website.
schools.1.HSE has produced resources which may be
-They seek to provide risk teaching materials forintegrated directly within the curriculum e.g statistics
teachers and lecturers.and all of their resources for use in the classroom
We can see that HSE has had a part to play in all themay be found at their education site at: these include
initiatives regarding the curriculum and has alsothe HSE produced resources above and access to
addressed areas of concern, targeting primary schoolthe following.
children in three sectors where deaths have occurred.2.ROSPA have produced a FREE set of Information
Thus Farming, Railways and Construction Sites allsheets with notes and activities for Key Stages 1-4
have had curriculum materials produced highlightingon "Dangerous Substances Everywhere" and a wide
risks and unsafe behaviour and aiming to educate andrange of other resources at
modify behaviours.3.A CDROM produced by HSE for Middle and
These are looked at later in this section.Secondary Schools identified as for use with 11 -14
HSE Resources for the Primary SchoolYear olds might be of interest for more able Year 6s
The resources provided for a Safety initiative withinit is entitled "Human Torch" and is a "X Files" type
the curriculum by HSE are very well produced andinvestigation into factors surrounding a (hopefully)
should be easily integrated into any Primary Schoolhypothetical case. More information may be found at
syllabus.Curriculum and Lesson Planning
Stay Safe On the Farm, Stay Safe Railway Safety,Other ways of involving children in the safety
and Stay Safe Building Site Safety all contain, games,process and them being involved revolve around the
cartoons and puzzles to encourage children to thinkactual process itself.
about the hazards which exist in all these industries,-Learning to identify Dangers(Hazards) and
and how to avoid them.Risks(Likelihood of the Danger leading an accident)
These industries often act as a magnet to children-Learning to do Risk Assessments.
who don't understand the dangers they present and-Reviewing existing Risk Assessments.
treat them like playgrounds. This is also why special-Writing Accident Reports.
consideration needs to be given to ongoing-First Aid
construction or maintenance works taking place on-Learning to reduce and control risks - e.g Swimming
school sites.-School Council Representation on the School Safety
Stay Safe booklets have been distributed at schoolsCommittee.
across the country, and can be ordered free of-Inspections for monitoring and Audit
charge from HSE Books on but access to pdf-Setting School Safety Targets.
versions are given below.-How much does an accident really cost? Could be
-Stay Safe on the Farm - Leaflet with puzzles andadopted to form the basis of some numeracy
colouring exercise suitable for Years 4-6see.HSE Booklet in Resource
-Stay Safe Railway Safety - Stay Safe Railways aThe integrated approach suggested by the QCA in
website for Children to Learn about being safe andits Guidance may suggest ways in which some of the
keeping safe around Railwaysabove topics be introduced via the lesson planning
This is a Multimedia Game/Scenario type programprocess.
with a safety theme suitable for Years 4-6Pupils will need to learn the terms Risk, Hazard,
-Stay Safe Building Site Safety - This has a series ofControl measure as soon as possible and have a
comic strips/Posters and colouring exercises withsecure foundation as regards their definitions.
game type questions and completion exercises -This means that lesson plans need to reflect this and
suitable Years 4-6integrate safety within planning other lessons, which
-You will find other items which may be integrated inshould be seen as opportunities.
Resources in the Headteaher's SafetyAlmost any lesson or behaviour in class can be taken
In addition HSE has also produced videos aimed atfor identifying and highlighting dangers or hazards
parents, teachers and older children to raisediscussing what could happen in different
awareness.circumstances and how likely these risks are to lead
A four minute video Open Farms Healthy Children, isto an accident and what control measures need to
available on HSE's web FREE site which ensuresbe taken to reduce this risk.
parents, teachers and others are aware of theThere is no doubt that integration of safety within
hidden risks of picking up E-coli from animals.the curriculum is a valid approach and such the view
The video Safe! - Helping children to stay safe onof the value such an approach shared by HSE, the
farms, which has been distributed to all LocalGovernment and the "great and the good".
Authority education departments, also shows childrenDfES have produced a Safety Education guidance for
the hazards that exist on farms.teachers which outlines good practice, this may be
Copies of 'Safe! - Helping children to stay safe onfound and downloaded from:
farms' price £20.00 + VAT, are also available forBest advice is that the school needs to adopt a
purchase from HSE Books,"whole school approach" to Health and Safety in the
Other Resources - Emergency Services.curriculum and it will be clearly seen that this approach
Whilst HSE and DfES and others all have a centralis what the National CUrriculum already dictates.
part to play.