What's the difference between Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus?

Cyber Essentials is a verified self-assessment against five security controls. Cyber Essentials Plus tests the same controls with a hands-on technical audit by a licensed assessor. You must hold Cyber Essentials before doing Plus.

Do you do the work, or just assess us?

We do the work. Foresight runs the gap analysis, carries out hands-on remediation, prepares the evidence and liaises with the assessor, so you pass first time rather than paying to re-sit a failed audit.

How much does Cyber Essentials cost?

The IASME assessment fee is tiered by size from around £320 + VAT and includes £25,000 cyber liability insurance for eligible UK businesses. Cyber Essentials Plus is scoped to your estate, typically from around £1,380 + VAT.

Early Years

AI for Nurseries & Early Years: where can nurseries & early years use AI safely?

AI can save your team real hours — here’s where it genuinely helps nurseries & early years, where to be careful, and how to use it safely.

Book an AI Readiness Audit Call 0161 738 1399

Why Foresight

Cyber Essentials Plus certified
Microsoft CSP & Copilot specialists
Greater Manchester, since 2006
Honest advice — not licence-selling

Quick answer

Nurseries and early-years settings can use AI for admin — newsletters, policies, reports, parent communications and planning support — freeing staff for the children. Children’s and safeguarding data must stay firmly out of scope and protected, so start with non-sensitive admin, tidy permissions, and set a simple policy. Safeguarding comes first.

Where AI helps

Practical uses for nurseries & early years

Area	Where AI fits
Parent comms	Newsletters and updates — Copilot
Policies & admin	Drafting and updating — Copilot
Planning support	Activity ideas and resources — Copilot Chat (free)
Children’s & safeguarding data	Out of scope — a firm no-go

Doing it safely

Governance first

Children’s and safeguarding data must stay out of public AI tools, and safeguarding always comes first. Before rolling anything out, tidy permissions, put a simple AI usage policy in place, keep sensitive data out of public tools, and keep a human in the loop — all part of our AI Adoption service. See also AI for schools.

Free downloads

Start today with our templates

The same free, ready-to-use templates we use in our audits:

“Day in the Life” AI template

Find exactly where AI will save your team time.

Download →

AI Usage Policy template

A short, practical AI policy to keep your data safe.

Download →

FAQs

Common questions

Can nurseries use AI?

Yes — for newsletters, policies, reports, parent comms and planning support. It frees staff to spend more time with the children.

Is AI safe to use in a nursery?

For non-sensitive admin, yes — with a simple policy and tidy permissions. Children’s and safeguarding data must stay out of public AI tools.

What can AI do for an early-years setting?

Draft newsletters and parent updates, keep policies current, produce reports, and help with activity planning.

Will AI replace early-years staff?

No — it removes admin so staff can spend more time with the children, which AI can’t do.

Put AI to work — safely

Start with a fixed-fee AI Readiness Audit and get a clear, honest plan — and the licences you actually need.

See AI Adoption as a Service Call 0161 738 1399