The EYFS statutory framework requires every early years provider to take all reasonable steps to ensure children are not exposed to risks and to be able to demonstrate how they manage them. In practice that means a written assessment of the setting plus a daily safety check before children arrive. Ofsted inspectors ask for both. This template covers the daily walk-round, the standing assessment of the setting, the ratio and supervision controls, and the specific high-risk activities (sleep, intimate care, food preparation, water play, outings) that the EYFS framework calls out explicitly.
The EYFS statutory framework (the 2024 update applies in England from January 2024) requires providers to ensure their premises are fit for purpose and to identify and manage risk. Unlike the wider MHSWR 1999 reg 3 wording, the EYFS framework does not mandate a written assessment in every case; instead it requires the provider to be able to demonstrate how they identify and manage risk. Ofsted's standard practice is to ask for written evidence, so a written daily risk assessment is the de facto standard.
The Childcare Act 2006 sits behind the framework as the statutory authority. Childminders, sessional providers and day nurseries are all in scope.
A pre-opening sweep covers: indoor environment (heating, electrical sockets intact and covered where age-appropriate, no choking hazards on accessible surfaces, nappy-change area clean and stocked, kitchen segregated); outdoor environment (gates and perimeter secure, no syringes / animal fouling / standing water, climbing equipment intact, surface impact-attenuating); resources (toys age-appropriate per the CE / UKCA mark and EN 71, no broken parts); and consumables (food in-date, allergen list current, medication store locked with named-child labels).
The daily sheet is dated, timed and signed. Ofsted will sample these going back at least three months — a missing day or an unsigned sheet is enough to flag the safeguarding domain.
The EYFS framework sets statutory adult-to-child ratios (broadly 1:3 under-twos, 1:4 two-year-olds, 1:8 three-year-olds and over, with caveats around qualified-teacher presence and out-of-school care). The assessment has to show how the ratios are maintained at all times including staff breaks, intimate care episodes and emergency egress. Specific activities named in the framework — sleep (safer sleep, room temperature, no top-and-tail bedding for under-twos), nappy changing and intimate care (privacy, two-staff visibility, recording), food preparation (allergen management under Natasha's Law / FIC 2014), water play (depth, immediate adult presence), and outings (separate written risk assessment per the framework) — all require specific control sections.
For outings the framework requires a written risk assessment per outing, plus a ratio risk assessment that may need to be higher than the in-setting ratio depending on the venue.
Ofsted reads the assessment alongside the safeguarding policy, the accident and incident records, and the medication and allergen registers. The most common adverse findings are: a generic template without site-specific zones; daily sheets with gaps or only the manager's signature for weeks; intimate care procedures that don't address two-staff visibility; sleep arrangements that don't follow Lullaby Trust / NHS safer sleep guidance; and outings without a per-trip written assessment.
The assessment should be updated whenever the setting layout changes, after any safeguarding incident, after any RIDDOR-reportable event, and at the framework-prescribed annual review minimum.
The numbered sections a reviewer expects to see, in order.
Setting name, Ofsted URN, registered person, designated safeguarding lead (DSL), date and review interval.
Room-by-room pre-opening checklist: temperature, electrical, choking hazards, nappy area, kitchen, medication store.
Perimeter, gates, surface, equipment, fouling / sharps check, water hazards, sun shade in summer.
How statutory ratios are maintained including breaks, intimate care, emergency egress and arrival / collection transitions.
Safer sleep practice, room temperature, named sleep checker, frequency of observation.
Privacy, two-staff visibility, recording, hygiene, soiled-clothing procedure.
Allergen list, Natasha's Law / FIC 2014 compliance, medication consent and administration log.
Per-trip written assessment, ratio assessment for the specific venue, head-count protocol, missing-child procedure.
Cross-reference to KCSIE and to the safeguarding policy — escalation route for disclosures, injury patterns, behavioural concerns.
Daily sheet retention (minimum 3 months on display), monthly manager review, annual full re-assessment.
Why a risk assessment gets sent back — these are the patterns we see most often.
The legal framework this risk assessment operates inside. Links go to the official source.
DfE EYFS framework (2024)
Sets the safeguarding and welfare requirements, ratios, and the explicit risk-assessment duty for early years providers.
2006 c.21
Primary statute — Ofsted registration, the welfare requirements and the enforcement framework.
1974 c.37
Employer duties to staff, children and visitors on the premises.
SI 2014/1855 (as amended)
Allergen-labelling duty for food prepared on the premises and supplied to children.
Lullaby Trust guidance
The standard reference for sleep arrangements for under-twos.
It does not mandate writing in every case, but it requires the provider to demonstrate how risk is identified and managed. In practice Ofsted asks for written evidence — a daily safety-check sheet is the de facto standard and most providers retain at least three months on file.
Broadly 1:3 for under-twos, 1:4 for two-year-olds (or 1:5 in some circumstances if an EYP / QTS-led setting), and 1:8 for three-year-olds and over (1:13 where a QTS / EYP is present and working directly with the children). Out-of-school clubs follow different ratios — check the current version of the framework, which is updated periodically.
Yes. The EYFS framework specifically requires that the risk assessment of outings is recorded. A standing template is acceptable as the basis but the per-trip assessment must be done on the venue, the route, the ratios for that venue, and the named lead.
A dated and timed sheet covering indoor sweep, outdoor sweep, equipment and consumables, signed by the staff member who carried out the check and counter-signed by the manager on opening. Ofsted samples these on inspection — gaps or single-signature blocks for weeks are flagged in the safeguarding domain.
Schools that include EYFS provision (reception classes, nursery classes attached to a primary school) need both: the school premises assessment under HSWA / MHSWR for the building and statutory inspections, and the EYFS-specific assessment for the daily welfare requirements, ratios, sleep, intimate care and outings.
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