The Care Inspectorate launched the SIMOA (Safety, Inspect, Monitor, Observe, Act) campaign in August 2021 to help support the sector and reduce the number of incidents of children leaving settings unaccompanied by an adult.
Following a recent increase in these incidents, we want to ask all ELC providers, including childminders and school-aged childcare, to be vigilant to children’s safety and wellbeing.
Please raise awareness of the SIMOA campaign across your setting or network as this campaign helps you consider the child’s relationships and safety. We also strongly encourage you to consider the physical environment in your setting and the supervision of children by your staff.
To assist you, we have also produced a series of practice notes to support improvement and to help ELC staff keep children safe.
Please review the SIMOA campaign tools and practice notes available on The Hub website. They will help to remind all ELC staff to be aware of how and why children could leave a setting without a responsible adult and actions to prevent these incidents from happening.
To access the SIMOA resources, please visit: bit.ly/ELCSIMOA
To access the practice notes, please visit: bit.ly/elcsafety