Rules and regulations
The information below will give you an introduction to inspections and some useful links to help you make your club safe, legal and efficient, for both you and your members. It can only serve as a guide, and you should always check the specific regulations of your Local Authority, senior management team, premises and your funders.
Jump straight to the relevant area using these links:
Food Hygiene, Food Policy, First Aid, Insurance, Health and Safety, Child Protection, Good Practice
Food Hygiene
All your staff handling or preparing food should have completed a basic Food Hygiene Awareness training course.
As good practice you could also look to get one of your staff enrolled on the Foundation Food Hygiene Certificate, which is certified by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. The course is 6 hours long and can often be done over two days.
Contact your local council Environmental Health department for more information on courses and options in your area.
Information on nutritional standards can be found on the health - making sense page.
NEW! Food Policy
Schools are now subject to much more rigorous standards in the types of food and nutritional standards of food that they serve. This includes breakfast clubs. Download the latest government report published by the School Food Trust 'Guidance for food based standards for foods other than lunch' to make sure you know exactly what the standards are.
First Aid
Your school or centre should have a policy on the ratio of First Aid trained staff you must have, check this with a member of senior management. It is good practice to have at least one first aid trained adult on the premises whenever the club is running. St John’s Ambulance runs specific first aid training for those working in a school environment. Follow the link for more information.
Insurance
As a club you will require public liability insurance cover to operate legally. If your premises are local authority operated you may be covered through their insurance procedures. Again check with a member of your senior management team or your local authority study support team. Regulations may well be different for those operating as formal child care provision.
Health and Safety
You should check with senior management your specific health and safety regulations. As good practice you should:
- Contact your local Health and Safety Executive for advice
- Be fully briefed on the building fire procedure and display notices where relevant.
- Have a checked first aid box and trained first aider on site.
- Take a brief medical history from each child noting any specific allergies (especially food allergies) or conditions e.g. epilepsy or asthma
For further guidance the DfES has produced Safe keeping: A good practice guide for health and safety in study support. Follow the link for a summary and to download the report.
Child protection
You should always:
- Obtain written parental consent for the child to attend the breakfast club. This should include details of any parental responsibility e.g. transporting the child to the club safely. Contact phone numbers are useful for emergencies.
- Consider the ratio of supervisors to children. At no time should there only be one adult. If you are registered as formal childcare you can find the ratios on our childcare section.
- Ensure all staff and volunteers have been CRB checked. This can seem daunting but is worth the effort. Try and arrange for a pool of volunteers to be checked at the same time so you always have someone who is approved available to cover staff sickness or absence.
- Develop a disclosure policy with regard to information given to staff in confidence by a child. As a general rule any disclosure where the child is at risk or is at risk of harming others should be reported to a senior member of staff for action. Be upfront with members about where lines of confidentiality are drawn and consider highlighting a list of issues that you would need to discuss elsewhere e.g. risk of harm, inappropriate behaviour. Reassure them they are right to tell you if they are troubled. Take guidance from your school or organisation disclosure policy.
- Keep a daily record of attendance so you know who and how many people are attending each day.
For more information on CRB checks and disclosure information contact:
England:
Criminal Records Bureau
Tel: General Enquiries 0870 90 90 811
Scotland:
for staff checks - Disclosure Scotland
Email: info@disclosurescotland.co.uk
Tel: 0870 609 6066
and for volunteer checks - CRBS Tel: 01786 849777
Wales:
Criminal Records Bureau
Tel: Llinell Wybodaeth am Gofrestru/General Enquiries 0870 90 90 822
Northern Ireland:
Criminal Records Bureau
Tel: General Enquiries 0870 90 90 811
Good Practice Guidance
For specific reports and good practice guidance on running breakfast clubs visit the resources page.
