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Ratios in mixed age rooms

9 replies

53rdAndBird · 17/08/2015 12:22

Anyone know how this works? If you have a room with, eg, three 1-year-olds and ten 2-year-olds, should there be a staff ratio of 1:3 in the room to keep it right for the under-2s, or can one member of staff be watching the under-2s in a 1:3 ratio while others divide up the 2-year-olds between them in a 1:5 ratio?

Asking because it was DD's first settling in session today, and her room is temporarily mixed age with both 1-year-olds and 2-year-olds (while some kids are off on holiday). Was ok with this in itself, but am concerned that there were only 3 staff there for 13/14 kids with 1-year-olds and 2-year-olds all playing together - seems like not enough. Now worried about taking her tomorrow for first part session on her own

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HappyTalking · 17/08/2015 18:54

The ratios for each age group should be maintained. For example if there are 6 under two and 8 two year olds there should be 4 staff. Under two ratio is 1:3 and two year old ratio is 1:4 ( not 1:5 ) .

Even if they were all over two, three staff would not be ok for 14 (1:4 ratio).

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Frusso · 17/08/2015 19:07

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DeandraReynolds · 17/08/2015 19:09

3 1yos and 10 2yos need 4 staff - 1 for the 1 year olds and 3 for the 2s.

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53rdAndBird · 17/08/2015 19:41

Hmm. Is the ratio for 2-3s different in Scotland (where we are) vs rest of UK? Every nursery we looked round said it was a 1:5 ratio for that age group.

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DeandraReynolds · 17/08/2015 19:45

OK, well if the ratio is 1:5 in Scotland then 3 adults for 3x1yos and 10x2yos was correct.

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53rdAndBird · 17/08/2015 19:48

Ok, after some Googling - apparently yes it is different in Scotland! Definitely 1:5 here for 2-3 year olds.

So are they still out of ratio by not having 1:3, given that there are 1-year-olds in the room? Or is it ok to have a room ratio that's different from that in a mixed age room?

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53rdAndBird · 17/08/2015 19:51

Ok, well that's a relief.

To be honest I am kind of guessing (hoping?) that there were only 3 1-year-olds. Asked the room leader how their ratios work but she got distracted by another child mid-answer. I'll ask again and get specifics tomorrow.

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DeandraReynolds · 17/08/2015 19:52

The 1 year olds need to be in a 1:3 ratio, but the 2 year olds don't have to be in a 1:3 ratio just because there are babies present.

For example you could have a mixed group of 15 1-3 year olds with three adults if you had
3 1yos = 1 adult
4 2yos = 1 adult
8 3yos = 1 adult

However if those 15 children were 3 1yos, 8 2yos and 4 3yos you would need four adults
3 1yos = 1 adult
8 2yos = 2 adults
4 3yos = 1 adult