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GUIDE · SCHOOLS
Reviewed 23 Oct 2026 · Next review Apr 2027 · Northlight Training
QUICK ANSWER
There’s no published ratio, so plan cover for pupils as well as staff
We haven’t found any Northern Ireland law or published guidance that sets a number of first-aiders for a school, or a ratio of first-aiders to pupils.
The first aid regulations cover your staff. Pupils come under the employer’s wider health and safety duty and the governors’ welfare duty, and the HSE guidance HSENI follows strongly recommends including them in your needs assessment.
So your provision comes from your own assessment: people trained to respond to children wherever and whenever pupils are, including break times, sport and trips, with enough trained to cover absence.
For training, that usually means Emergency First Aid at Work or First Aid at Work for the staff you name as workplace first-aiders, and training built around children for the staff who respond to pupils. For nursery units, we recommend paediatric first aid.
Medicines are separate. Giving them is voluntary for staff, needs parental consent and a plan, and for some conditions needs training from health services, which a first aid course doesn’t replace.
DUTY HOLDERS
Who’s responsible for first aid in your school?
Start with who employs your staff, because the employer carries overall legal accountability for health and safety, and HSENI says that can’t be delegated. In Northern Ireland, the employer depends on the type of school.
| School type | Employs teachers | Employs support staff |
|---|---|---|
| Controlled | Education Authority (EA) | EA |
| Catholic maintained | Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) | EA |
| Other maintained, including Irish-medium | Board of Governors | EA |
| Voluntary grammar | Board of Governors | Board of Governors |
| Grant-maintained integrated | Board of Governors | Board of Governors |
- School type
- Controlled
- Employs teachers
- Education Authority (EA)
- Employs support staff
- EA
- School type
- Catholic maintained
- Employs teachers
- Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS)
- Employs support staff
- EA
- School type
- Other maintained, including Irish-medium
- Employs teachers
- Board of Governors
- Employs support staff
- EA
- School type
- Voluntary grammar
- Employs teachers
- Board of Governors
- Employs support staff
- Board of Governors
- School type
- Grant-maintained integrated
- Employs teachers
- Board of Governors
- Employs support staff
- Board of Governors
Source: Department of Education (DE), Every School a Good School: The Governors’ Role, paragraphs 9.1 and 9.21; HSENI, Education.
Whatever the school type, the Board of Governors has duties of its own. It must safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils whenever they’re on the premises or in the charge of a member of staff, and it is responsible for health and safety on the premises it controls, following any directions from the employing authority. In a voluntary grammar or grant-maintained integrated school, the governors are also the employer, so the needs assessment and the procedures are theirs too.
Day to day, the principal normally runs the arrangements within the employer’s procedures and the policies the governors approve. Where the employer has its own first aid, accident reporting or visits procedures, follow them. This guide sets out the published Northern Ireland position alongside them, not instead of them.
TWO DUTIES
Staff and pupils: two duties, one plan
The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982 require an employer to provide adequate and appropriate first aid for its employees. Pupils aren’t employees, so the regulations don’t require provision for them.
That doesn’t mean a school can leave pupils out. The Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 requires every employer to make sure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that people who aren’t its employees aren’t exposed to risks to their health or safety. The governors’ welfare duty applies whenever pupils are in staff charge. And HSE’s guidance on the first aid regulations, which HSENI has adopted, strongly recommends including non-employees in the assessment, naming schools as an example. It says this may mean training beyond the legal minimum, “for example, additional training in paediatric first aid if operating in a school”.
What none of these sources gives you is a number. HSE’s suggested staffing levels, explained in how many first-aiders do I need?, are for employees. Don’t add 300 pupils to your staff headcount and read off a row. Use the table for your staff, then ask a separate question: with this many children, of these ages, in these places, who will reach an injured pupil quickly, at any point in the school day?
That second question is why we don’t think an appointed person on their own suits a school. An appointed person looks after the arrangements and calls for help, but needs no first aid training. HSENI allows one as the minimum for employees, and as emergency cover when a first-aider is unexpectedly absent. With a school full of children, you need trained people as well.
England’s Department for Education (DfE) guidance on first aid in schools, which often comes up first in a search, applies to England only. We haven’t found a Northern Ireland equivalent.
YOUR ASSESSMENT
Working out your cover
Use the same method as any first aid needs assessment, with inputs that are particular to schools:
where pupils are at each point in the day, from the gates in the morning to the playground, dining hall and sports hall;
higher-hazard areas, such as science labs, technology workshops, food rooms, pitches and the pool;
how many buildings or sites you have, and how far it is to the furthest pitch;
who supervises break and lunch, when the playground is busiest and teachers are often elsewhere;
before-school, after-school and weekend activity that the school runs;
trips, fixtures and residentials, which take trained people away and leave others behind;
pupils with known conditions, such as anaphylaxis, asthma, epilepsy or diabetes.
Then think about absence. A trained member of staff on a course, off sick or leading a trip can’t help anyone at school. Northern Ireland’s medication guidance makes the same point about condition-specific training, saying “in general it is advisable to train at least two people”. That advice is about medication, not first aid numbers, but the logic carries over.
Our starting point for most schools is at least 2 people trained to respond to children on each site where pupils are, so that one absence or trip never leaves pupils without cover. Large sites, separate buildings, distant pitches and busy lunchtimes push that number up.
NORTHLIGHT TIP
Check cover against the bell schedule
For each period, break and lunch on a normal day, write down which trained person is onsite and where. Then take one out, as if they were leading a trip. Any slot left without one is your gap.
TRAINING BY ROLE
Which training for which role?
There’s no single “school first aid course” that every member of staff needs. The training should follow the role your assessment gives each person.
| Role your assessment identifies | Training we’d consider | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Workplace first-aiders for your staff | Emergency First Aid at Work for most; First Aid at Work for some | Regulated qualifications that clearly evidence the role. Neither covers child CPR. |
| Staff who respond to pupils | Emergency First Aid for Schools | Built around children, including child and adult CPR. A Northlight certificate, not a regulated qualification. |
| Nursery unit staff | Paediatric First Aid or Emergency Paediatric First Aid | Our recommendation for under-5s. We haven’t found a published NI requirement for statutory nursery units. |
| Staff who give a named pupil’s medication or a clinical procedure | Training arranged with health services for that pupil | Condition-specific. A first aid course doesn’t replace it. |
| All other staff | A short briefing | Who the first-aiders are, how to call 999, where the kit and defibrillator are, and which pupils have conditions. |
- Role your assessment identifies
- Workplace first-aiders for your staff
- Training we’d consider
- Emergency First Aid at Work for most; First Aid at Work for some
- Why
- Regulated qualifications that clearly evidence the role. Neither covers child CPR.
- Role your assessment identifies
- Staff who respond to pupils
- Training we’d consider
- Emergency First Aid for Schools
- Why
- Built around children, including child and adult CPR. A Northlight certificate, not a regulated qualification.
- Role your assessment identifies
- Nursery unit staff
- Training we’d consider
- Paediatric First Aid or Emergency Paediatric First Aid
- Why
- Our recommendation for under-5s. We haven’t found a published NI requirement for statutory nursery units.
- Role your assessment identifies
- Staff who give a named pupil’s medication or a clinical procedure
- Training we’d consider
- Training arranged with health services for that pupil
- Why
- Condition-specific. A first aid course doesn’t replace it.
- Role your assessment identifies
- All other staff
- Training we’d consider
- A short briefing
- Why
- Who the first-aiders are, how to call 999, where the kit and defibrillator are, and which pupils have conditions.
Workplace first-aiders for your staff. Where your assessment names first-aiders for employees, Emergency First Aid at Work (one day) suits most lower-hazard areas. First Aid at Work (three days) adds a wider range of injuries and illnesses, so we’d consider it for some staff based near labs, workshops, food rooms or sports facilities, not for everyone. Do I need EFAW or FAW? covers the difference. HSENI accepts “other first-aid training appropriate to the particular circumstances”, but a regulated qualification is the clearest evidence for this role.
Staff who respond to pupils. Both EFAW and FAW teach adult CPR and defibrillator use, not child CPR. Most first aid in a school is for children, so the staff who deal with pupils every day need training built around them. Our Emergency First Aid for Schools course does that in a day, onsite: child and adult CPR and choking, the defibrillator, bleeding, head injuries, bone and joint injuries, asthma, severe allergic reactions and seizures, along with the first-aider’s role and medicines in school. It isn’t a regulated qualification and doesn’t follow the full EFAW syllabus, so it sits alongside EFAW or FAW rather than replacing them for your named workplace first-aiders.
Some people need both: a classroom assistant who is also a named first-aider, for example. If they already hold EFAW or FAW, a shorter top-up may close the gap without a second full day. Our AED and CPR course adds CPR and defibrillator use for children and babies, which is usually enough for someone whose main gap is child CPR. For staff who work mainly with the youngest children, Emergency Paediatric First Aid goes further, covering the wider emergencies in babies and young children.
Nursery units. Statutory nursery schools and nursery units in primary schools are part of the school system, not day care registered with a Health and Social Care Trust. The paediatric first aid requirement in the childcare Minimum Standards is written for registered settings, and we haven’t found a published Northern Ireland rule that sets one for nursery units. Our recommendation, not a legal requirement, is that the staff who work in the nursery school or unit hold Paediatric First Aid, or Emergency Paediatric First Aid as a one-day alternative. Both are built for young children, the training HSE’s guidance points to for schools. Check your employing authority’s procedures too. Breakfast and after-school clubs registered with a Trust follow the childcare standards instead, covered in our childcare settings guide.
MEDICINES IN SCHOOL
Medicines, adrenaline pens and inhalers: where first aid stops
A first aid qualification doesn’t authorise anyone to give medicines. HSE’s guidance says first aid at work doesn’t include giving tablets or medicines to treat illness, which is also why medicines don’t belong in first aid kits. In schools, medicines are governed by DE and the Department of Health’s guidance, Supporting Pupils with Medication Needs. Its key points are:
there’s no legal duty on school staff to give medication; it’s voluntary, and staff can be asked but not directed;
giving medication remains the parents’ responsibility, and the school acts with their written agreement and the pupil’s medication plan;
the employer indemnifies employees who give medication or carry out procedures in the course of their work, provided they follow the guidance, the school policy and the pupil’s plan or training;
the principal runs the school’s medicines policy, including back-up cover when trained staff are absent and briefing supply staff;
schools shouldn’t routinely give aspirin or ibuprofen unless under clear medical guidance.
Spare adrenaline pens. Since 1 Oct 2017, schools may buy adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) without a prescription for emergency use. It’s optional. The Northern Ireland guidance says a spare AAI may only be used for pupils known to be at risk of anaphylaxis, with medical authorisation and written parental consent, or where a pupil’s own device can’t be used correctly without delay. A school that holds one should have a protocol covering the register, consent, storage, training and records.
Whether or not you hold a spare, the guidance says: “Schools must arrange specialist anaphylaxis training, provided by local health services, for staff where a pupil in the school has been diagnosed as being at risk of anaphylaxis.” First aid training adds recognising a severe reaction, calling 999 and starting CPR. It doesn’t replace that specialist training.
Spare inhalers. Since 1 Oct 2014, schools may keep a salbutamol inhaler for emergency use. That’s optional too, and the guidance suggests a similar protocol. The guidance says all staff, particularly PE teachers, should have training or information about asthma once a year.
Supporting Pupils with Medication Needs dates from 2008 and the AAI guidance from 2018, so check DE’s website for updates.
THREE DIFFERENT THINGS
First aid is the immediate response to injury or illness until help arrives. Medication support is giving a pupil’s prescribed medicine under a plan, by staff who volunteer. Clinical procedures, such as tube feeding or emergency seizure medication, are trained and signed off by health professionals for named pupils. Being a first-aider doesn’t make someone responsible for, or trained in, the other two.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Three schools, three decisions
These examples are illustrations, not real schools. Each shows a different part of the reasoning.
A small rural primary with a nursery unit
Suppose a controlled primary school has 9 staff onsite and about 110 pupils, 26 of them in its nursery unit. It has 1 building, 1 lunchtime supervisor and 1 pupil on the anaphylaxis register.
For 9 staff in a lower-hazard setting, HSE’s suggested staffing levels point to an appointed person, so the staff alone don’t call for EFAW. The 110 children change the picture.
We’d start with 4 trained people, and each one is there for a reason:
1 class-based member of staff and the lunchtime supervisor, trained in Emergency First Aid for Schools. HSE’s guidance, which HSENI follows, strongly recommends planning first aid for pupils and points to training for children in schools. The lunchtime supervisor is included because lunch is when the playground is busiest and most teachers are on their break, so they’re often the adult nearest an injured child.
The nursery teacher and classroom assistant, with paediatric training. The youngest children are in the nursery unit, and paediatric first aid is the example HSE’s guidance gives for schools. We recommend it there; we haven’t found a rule that requires it.
That means at least 2 people trained to respond to children are available at any point in the day, even with one away. Northern Ireland’s medication guidance gives the same reason for training at least two people for each pupil’s needs. Paediatric training covers older children too, so the nursery staff can help elsewhere in the building when they’re free. One of the 4 can also act as appointed person for staff.
The pupil with the AAI needs named staff trained by health services, parental consent and a plan. A spare AAI is the school’s choice.
Now suppose that pupil is in P7, and P7 has a day trip to the coast. The trip now needs one of the staff trained for that pupil, the plan and the pupil’s medication, as well as someone trained to respond to children. We’d still keep someone trained at school. The pupil, not the timetable, decides who goes.
A large voluntary grammar school
Suppose a voluntary grammar school has about 1,100 pupils and 120 staff, with science labs, a technology workshop and a food room. Its pitches are 400 metres from the main building, and fixtures run after school.
The Board of Governors is the employer, so the needs assessment and procedures are the Board’s. The labs, workshop and food room could justify First Aid at Work for some staff nearby, with EFAW for the other named first-aiders. PE and pastoral staff, and whoever runs the first aid room, are good candidates for training built around children.
Headcount isn’t this school’s gap. Place and time are. A trained person in the main building is several minutes from the far pitch, and at a 4pm fixture most staff have gone home. So we’d have a trained member of PE staff at games and fixtures, with a kit and a phone. The Key Stage 3 CPR lessons pupils now receive don’t count: they teach pupils, not staff.
A special school
Suppose a special school has pupils with complex medical needs. Some care plans include emergency seizure medication, tube feeding or diabetes management, a Trust school nurse provides input, and EA transport brings many pupils in with escorts.
This is where the three layers in the box above matter most. First aid training is still needed, as in any school, but it settles only the first layer. For the other two, we’d work from each pupil’s plan: which named staff are trained by health professionals for that pupil’s procedure, and is there a second trained person for when the first is absent? A first aid course can’t authorise either.
DE and the Department of Health are developing a regional model of care for nursing in special schools, for implementation by September 2027, so expect arrangements to change.
OFF SITE
Trips, fixtures and transport
When pupils leave the site, the arrangements go with them. DE asks schools to follow their employing authority’s guidance on educational visits and carry out full risk assessments. Within that, check four things.
First, we’d plan for someone trained with the group and someone trained still at school.
Second, medication plans travel. Supporting Pupils with Medication Needs says staff supervising a visit should know any pupil’s medication needs and emergency procedures, and take a copy of the pupil’s plan. Take a suitable first aid kit too.
Third, sport has its own guidance on head injuries. The Department for Communities has endorsed the UK concussion guidelines for grassroots sport, which apply from school age: anyone with a suspected concussion is removed from play, and “if in doubt, sit them out”. DE’s Circular 2024/15 tells schools to use those guidelines with Northern Ireland routes for medical assessment, a GP or an urgent care centre within 24 hours, and to get medical clearance before a pupil returns to PE or sport. Make sure your PE and fixtures arrangements reflect it.
Fourth, transport. Supporting Pupils with Medication Needs expects school transport drivers and escorts to have basic first aid training, with escorts trained to use an AAI where appropriate.
DEFIBRILLATORS
Defibrillators in Northern Ireland schools
DE funded defibrillators for schools across Northern Ireland, and in February 2026 confirmed that every school now has one onsite.
We haven’t found any legal requirement for staff to be trained to use it, and DE set none when it supplied them. Anyone can use a defibrillator: it talks you through each step, as our article on whether you need a defibrillator at work explains. What matters is that people can find it and reach it quickly. Make sure every member of staff knows where it is, check whether it has child pads or a child setting and where they’re kept, and think about distance: a defibrillator at reception may be a long way from the far pitch.
Then check it’s registered on The Circuit, the national defibrillator network the ambulance service uses to direct 999 callers to the nearest one. The ambulance service said the DE defibrillators would be registered, and the British Heart Foundation has urged every school to register, so check yours is listed. Someone should also act as its guardian, doing the routine checks set out in looking after a workplace defibrillator.
RECORDS AND REPORTING
After an incident: hospital, records and reporting
Getting a pupil to hospital. Supporting Pupils with Medication Needs says staff should never take a pupil to hospital in their own car: call an ambulance, and a member of staff should go with the pupil. Some school policies in Northern Ireland say otherwise, so check yours, and raise any difference with your employing authority.
Recording. Record every incident fully, using your employing authority’s accident reporting procedure.
Reporting to HSENI. Most pupil injuries aren’t reportable. Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 (RIDDOR), an injury to a pupil is reportable only when both of these apply:
it arose from a work activity, such as how an activity was organised or supervised, equipment, or the condition of the premises;
the pupil died, or was taken directly from the scene to hospital for treatment.
HSENI’s guidance for schools gives examples. Medical episodes, such as an asthma attack or a seizure, aren’t reportable. Nor is the normal rough and tumble of sport, or violence between pupils, although a slippery floor or poor supervision could make an injury reportable. Incidents on overseas trips aren’t reportable to HSENI. Pupils on work placements count as employees.
The person responsible for reporting is normally the employer, and some employers report centrally while others delegate it to schools. Your employing authority’s procedure will tell you which applies. Staff injuries have their own reporting categories, which that procedure also covers.
RENEWAL AND REVIEW
Keeping it current
Emergency First Aid at Work, First Aid at Work and the paediatric qualifications last three years, and we recommend renewing our schools course on the same cycle. Diary expiry dates and book well ahead: how long does a first aid certificate last? explains the timing. HSENI strongly recommends annual refresher training for first-aiders, although it isn’t a legal requirement.
Review your arrangements whenever something changes, such as a pupil with a new condition joining or a trained member of staff leaving, and brief new and supply staff.
THE NORTHLIGHT TAKEAWAY
Is your school ready for pupils as well as staff?
01
Know your duty holders
Confirm who employs each group of staff, what your governors are responsible for and whose procedures you follow.
02
Plan for the whole school day
Check that a trained person can reach pupils at break, at lunch, on the pitches and on trips, with one person away.
03
Match training to each role
Use EFAW or FAW for named workplace first-aiders, child-focused training for staff who respond to pupils and paediatric training in the nursery unit.
04
Keep medicines separate
Run medication through your medicines policy, pupil plans and health-service training, not through your first-aiders’ certificates.
KEEP READING
Keep working through your provision
TRAINING FOR THIS TOPIC
Courses that cover this
Delivered onsite at your school, anywhere in Northern Ireland.
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Northern Ireland legislation: Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982, regulations 3 and 4, read with the Health and Safety (First-Aid) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017.
Northern Ireland legislation: Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, Article 5, duties to people other than employees.
Northern Ireland legislation: Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997, regulation 3.
Northern Ireland legislation: Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, Article 121, and Education (Curriculum Minimum Content) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2022, CPR and defibrillator awareness at Key Stage 3.
Department of Education: Every School a Good School: The Governors’ Role. Paragraphs 9.1 and 9.21 on employing authorities; chapter 13 on the governors’ welfare duty and paragraph 13.40 on medicines policy; paragraph 20.11 on health and safety.
Department of Education and Department of Health: Supporting Pupils with Medication Needs (2008). Voluntary nature of medication support, indemnity, roles, training, educational visits, transport and emergencies.
Department of Health and Department of Education: Guidance on the use of adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) in schools in Northern Ireland (updated October 2018). Executive summary and section 6, staff.
Department of Education and Department of Health: Guidance for the use of emergency salbutamol inhalers in schools (June 2015).
Department of Education: Information for Non-Statutory PSEP Providers (revised August 2025). Paragraphs 14, 15 and 17 on statutory and registered pre-school settings.
Department of Education: All schools now equipped with life-saving defibrillators (25 February 2026) and A life-saving investment: defibrillators to be provided to all schools (25 November 2024).
Department of Education: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Section 4: Operations (educational visits) and Joint Health and Education Review of Nursing Provision in Special Schools.
Department of Education: Circular 2024/15: Concussion (30 Aug 2024, revised 6 Nov 2024). Northern Ireland routes for assessment and medical clearance before returning to PE or sport.
HSENI: Incident reporting in schools, Education, First aid and First aid at work.
HSE: First aid at work: The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. Guidance on Regulations (L74), paragraphs 28 and 29 on non-employees and paragraph 42 on medicines. HSENI follows this guidance.
Safety Training Awards: STA Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work and STA Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work, qualification specifications v26.1. Adult CPR and defibrillator content.
Department for Communities: Department for Communities welcomes new Concussion Guidelines for grassroots sport in Northern Ireland (28 April 2023).
Department for Education (England): First aid in schools, early years and further education. For comparison only; it does not apply in Northern Ireland.
Reviewed
23 Oct 2026
Next review by
23 Apr 2027
Written by
Northlight Training
Review sooner if DE revises Supporting Pupils with Medication Needs or the AAI or inhaler guidance, the regional model for special school nursing is introduced, Northern Ireland’s RIDDOR regulations change, or Northlight’s schools course changes.