Information and advice for professionals and early years settings
Child Accident Prevention Trust Training – Tuesday 29 September 2026
While minor bumps and bruises are part of growing up, accidents are one of the leading causes of serious injury in young children. This short, interactive course from the Child Accident Prevention Trust helps you understand:
- What the most serious home accidents are for under‑5s
- The key risk factors that increase the chance of injury
- The most effective, practical steps you can take straight away to reduce these risks
- What immediate first aid to give to stop an injury from becoming more serious
The course costs £30 and you can book your place on Eventbrite
Safer Sleep
Information, links and resources to support Early Years settings with safer sleep: Visit Safer Sleep page
Health Protection in Early Years and Educational Settings
The South West Council have a selection of resources on their website designed to support early years settings with planning and preparation for winter infections and outbreaks including information on outbreak investigation and management. You can access the toolkit on the South West Council website: Early Years Winter Readiness
FREE Home Fire Safety Visits for families with children under 5 .
Avon Fire and Rescue provide a FREE home safety visit for families with children under 5. You can promote this service to families you work with. Please visit: Avon Fire and Rescue to find out more. They also provide Fire Safety Intervention Training for Practitioners. You can access the latest training dates on the Avon Fire and Rescue website: Fire Safety Training for Practitioners
North Somerset Childhood Safety Equipment Fitting Scheme
To minimise the possibility of childhood injuries in the home, North Somerset Council fund a Childhood Safety Equipment Fitting Scheme. It enables Health Visitors and staff from Family Hubs to refer families with a higher risk of a childhood injury occurring in the home, to an organisation who can fit safety equipment. The equipment fitted includes stair gates, fire guards, cupboard/drawer locks, window restrictors and blind cord cleats.
If you would like more information, including a referral form, please contact the healthy early years team on: healthy.ey@n-somerset.gov.uk
Back to School Safety
Walking to School
You may have parents question when children can safely walk to school alone.
In the UK, there isn’t a minimum legal age to walk to school alone. The age a child will be ready depends on many things such as environment, distance to school, and their confidence and maturity levels.
The Child Accident Prevention Trust‘s guide to walking to school alone helps parents and carers decide when their child might be ready and how to prepare them for the journey.
Safer Journeys by Car
For families who drive to school, the journey is another opportunity to build safer habits. Backseat Boss resources are designed to help children speak up about safer driving and encourage parents and carers to make safer choices behind the wheel.
There are free resources for schools to use with children, making them a useful addition to back-to-school safety activities.
