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What training can you actually fit into an INSET day?

Most maintained schools have five non pupil days across the year, and they are the only time the whole staff is in the building without children.

Allergy awareness, fire safety and mental health awareness all fit comfortably.

First aid qualifications fit too, but only for 12 people per trainer, which is the constraint that catches most schools out.

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How many INSET days does a school have?

Five, for maintained schools. Teachers are directed to work 195 days a year, of which 190 are days pupils attend, leaving five for training and preparation (Legislation.gov.uk).

Academies and free schools set their own calendars and are not bound by the same regulations, though most keep to a similar pattern.

Check your own trust's arrangements rather than assuming.

Which training fits into a single day?

Four things fit a full non pupil day, and one does not.

Emergency First Aid at Work. One day exactly, certificate valid three years.
Blended Paediatric First Aid. 12 hours total, with the eLearning completed before the day and the classroom element on the day itself.
Fire Marshal Training. One full day.
Allergy Awareness Training. One hour, so it sits inside a day alongside other sessions.

First Aid at Work does not fit. It runs over three consecutive days, so it cannot be delivered on a single INSET day and cannot be split across three separate ones.

Schools needing it usually train a small number of staff on open course dates instead.

Why can't you train the whole staff in first aid on one day?

Because the trainer to delegate ratio is 1:12, set by the awarding body so every delegate is assessed individually on the practical skills.

A school with 60 staff cannot put all of them through a first aid qualification on one INSET day with one trainer. The arithmetic is worth doing before you book.

Sixty staff needs five trainers on the day, or the same trainer across five separate dates.

Most schools do neither, and instead train a defined group of first aiders while giving the wider staff awareness training that has no ratio cap.

Allergy Awareness Training takes up to 30 delegates in one session, which is why it works as whole-staff INSET where a first aid qualification does not.

What has to happen this year rather than next?

Allergy training, for schools in England.

New statutory guidance on allergy safety applies from the start of the 2026/27 academic year, and it expects allergy awareness training for all staff, a whole-school allergy policy, spare adrenaline auto-injectors held on site, and Individual Healthcare Plans for pupils with allergies (Department for Education).

All staff means all staff. Caretakers, lunchtime supervisors, minibus drivers and regular supply staff are inside the scope, not only teaching staff.

That is a whole school training requirement, and an INSET day is the obvious place for it.

DfE's own position is that first aid training is not sufficient on its own for allergy awareness.

An EFAW course covers anaphylaxis as one of several medical conditions; it is not a substitute for dedicated allergy training.

What about paediatric first aid for reception staff?

Reception classes sit inside the Early Years Foundation Stage, so the paediatric first aid requirement applies to staff working with those children.

The criteria are set out in Annex A of the EYFS statutory framework, and the certificate lasts three years (Department of Education).

Ofsted does not approve courses. It inspects settings and checks that staff hold valid paediatric first aid certificates covering the Annex A content.

The eLearning element makes this one fit an INSET day well. Staff complete it in advance, so the day itself covers the practical skills and the assessment rather than the theory.

How far ahead should you book?

Earlier than you would expect, and for a reason that has nothing to do with how busy any one provider is. INSET days cluster nationally.

The first days of September, the first day of January and the days either side of half term are the same days for thousands of schools at once, so trainer availability on those specific dates is genuinely finite.

A school asking in late August for the first Monday of September is competing with every other school in the country.

Schools that book the autumn INSET in the spring get the date they want.

How is INSET day training priced?

Per group rather than per delegate, because the trainer travels to you. In-house delivery covers up to 12 delegates on one date.

Where a school needs more than one session on the same day, each session is a separate group. That is worth pricing properly at the enquiry stage rather than discovering it later.

What should you put in the day? A workable shape for a full non-pupil day, for a school with a defined first aid team and a larger general staff:

Morning. Allergy Awareness Training for all staff, one hour, up to 30 per session. Two sessions cover 60 people.
Rest of the day. Emergency First Aid at Work for the 12 staff who will hold the first aider role, running in a separate room.
Separate date. Blended Paediatric First Aid for reception and nursery staff, with eLearning completed beforehand.

That gets statutory allergy training across the whole staff and a qualified first aid team out of a single day, which is the most either can realistically deliver.