OFSTED regulations for the Early Years
Ofsted are the regulating body for Early Years and Childcare. The documents they produce are available on their website. Some of the most useful ones are linked below:
Ofsted documents
Food Allergies and Intolerances
The Food Standards Agency have Allergen guidance for food businesses | Food Standards Agency which provides advice on how to give allergen information to the consumer for both prepacked and non-prepacked food and drink; and how to handle and manage food allergens effectively in food preparation.
The Department for Education have published Early Years Foundation Stage nutrition - GOV.UK to help early years providers offer healthy, balanced and nutritious food.
The NHS has information on food allergies in babies and young children, including how to recognise symptoms and how to react.
The Food Standards Agency has free food allergy training and an allergen checklist with tips on food allergy best-practice.
BSACI has an BSACI Allergy Action Plan template.
Prevent Duty and Protective Security
The Prevent duty requires all education providers ‘to help prevent the risk of people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism’. This includes safeguarding learners from extremist ideologies and radicalisation.
Most importantly, providers should consider the needs of children, young people and adult learners at each stage of the safeguarding process. Providers should consider radicalisation concerns in line with their existing safeguarding processes, skills and experience.
Educate Against Hate and GOV.UK Prevent duty training provide further information on extremist narratives.
Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) and See Check and Notify (SCaN) are two free awareness products that aim to equip staff and volunteers with a level of counter terrorism understanding.
ProtectUK provides free advice, guidance and learning to help businesses and communities understand protective security and improve their response to the risk of terrorism.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly referred to as Martyn’s Law, is intended to improve protective security and organisational preparedness across the UK.
The new Act requires certain premises and events to ensure steps have been taken to prepare for potential terrorist attacks and get ready to help keep people safe in the event of an attack. In addition, certain larger premises and events will be required to consider and, where appropriate, take steps to reduce their vulnerability to acts of terrorism.
Other relevant resources:
Protective security and preparedness for education settings - GOV.UK
Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings - GOV.UK
Page last reviewed: 02 June 2025
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