Our local schools use CPOMS: Should we use CPOMS too?

by Catherine Lyon 24th September 2026

If the schools your children go on to use CPOMS, it might seem like the natural choice for your nursery too.

And there is a genuine advantage.

When both places use the same safeguarding system, it is easier to transfer a child’s safeguarding record. CPOMS highlights this smooth transition as one of its main benefits.

If making transfers to local schools as easy as possible is a top priority for you, CPOMS could be the right option.

But it is worth asking a few more questions before you decide.

How long will the child actually be with you?

A child may spend several years in your nursery before they move on to school.

During that time, your educators, DSLs, managers, and senior leaders will rely on your safeguarding system every day.

So there are really two separate questions:

How easily can information be transferred when the child leaves?

and

How well does the system help with safeguarding while the child is still with you?

Both questions are important.

Does your nursery need the same things as a school?

Not always.

Safeguarding in early years often begins with something very small.

A behaviour change.

A parent saying something that makes a practitioner uncomfortable.

An unexplained absence.

A mark on a child.

A family wellbeing concern.

A complaint.

A concern about another member of staff.

None of those necessarily begins as a major safeguarding incident. But recording the small things properly can help a DSL see a pattern later.

That’s one reason to look at how the system works for your early years team, instead of only thinking about what happens when the child moves on to school.

Will using a different system prevent you transferring safeguarding information?

No.

Early years settings can securely transfer safeguarding records to another provider or school even when the receiving organisation uses different software.

Using the same system can make the process easier, but it is not required for transferring safeguarding information.

So, the main question is whether the convenience at transition is more important than how the systems work while the child is with you.

When might CPOMS be the better choice?

CPOMS might be a good fit if:

Your organisation already uses CPOMS elsewhere

maintaining one system across nursery and school provision is particularly important to you

Most of your children feed into schools using CPOMS and seamless transfer is a major priority

Your team is already familiar with it and you are happy with how it supports your early years safeguarding processes

It’s perfectly reasonable to choose CPOMS for these reasons.

When might a specialist early years system be worth considering?

You might want to consider a safeguarding system designed specifically for early years if you want:

Something designed around nursery practice rather than wider education

Educators to record smaller wellbeing concerns as well as safeguarding concerns

Complaints, whistleblowing, staff wellbeing and safeguarding brought together you want workflows and terminology specifically designed around early years teams

To look at what happens after a concern is raised, including acknowledgement, action and outcome

That’s exactly what On the Button was created to support.

So, should you choose CPOMS because your local schools use it?

It’s a good reason to include CPOMS in your comparison.

But I don’t think it should be the only reason you make your decision.

By sending information that doesn't slot into CPOMS, in my view, will increast the chance of it being noticed and hopefully read.

Before choosing any safeguarding system, ask:

What will work best for our children, our educators and our DSLs during the years those children are actually with us?

Then consider how important is the way the record will transfer when they leave.

This way, you have a much better foundation for making your decision.

Already comparing safeguarding systems?

We’ve also put together a more detailed comparison to help early years settings see the differences before deciding what works best for them.

About the Author

Catherine Lyon is an early years expert with over 50 years of experience across the sector. Her professional foundation began with the NNEB and NNEB Advanced Certificate, and her career has gone on to include leading her own Outstanding and nationally award-winning nurseries, working as an Ofsted inspector, serving as an internal quality assurer for early years qualifications, and setting up a nationally award-winning CACHE Training Centre. Throughout her work, Catherine has remained focused on strengthening early years practice while keeping the child at the centre of decision-making. Her experience spans hands-on practice, leadership, inspection, quality assurance, training, mentoring and consultancy. Read more about Catherine Lyon.