AIBU to want nurseries to change

[Anythingbutordinary]

I personally didn’t realise that it’s perfectly acceptable to have nursery children in a room with only one qualified early years worker in, and any remaining unqualified staff like 2 apprentices or lunch cover - as long as the ratios are met… 1 adult to 3 babies 😮 (changing one and two are crying?!), 1 adult to 5 children who are age two, 1 adult to 8 age 3 and up unless you are a qualified teacher when you can have 13.

And that “From 1st September 2025, all early years providers must have at least one staff member with current paediatric first aid (PFA) certification on-site at all times when children are present.”
It’s fine to have only one first aider on site with all these preschoolers, toddlers and babies in multiple rooms…. It’s shocking.
It’s so scary thinking about choking and there potentially being only one certified first aider on site, let alone any other emergency… I don’t know how this is allowed.

Look at it from a different perspective, people are struggling to afford at the current standards, increase the costs to the nurseries will increase the cost to you. I have paediatric first aid and 80% of the course was common sense, 10% was stuff I knew from raising kids (with Sen) and I did learn paediatric cpr so that’s your 10% I learned

Pfb?

How many fully trained paediatric first aiders do you have at home?

If a 1:3 ratio isn't good enough, you need a Nanny or SAHP.

Both of which could also have multiple children.

Use a childminder instead.

Most nursery workers have paediatric first aid training as standard it is a day course, having one permanent registered first aider is fine, as for the ratio this is also.fine and manageable, fwiw children /babies cry regardless of ratios a nanny or childminder would probably suit you better put your mind at ease.

Maybe nursery care is not for you, if this is the usual offer.

You could look for alternative childcare, but I think you need to be realistic.

The chances of more than one child in a single nursery setting needing simultaneous first aid is very low so I don’t see the issue with one first aider on site at all times.

Also don’t really see the issue with those ratios or apprentices etc. Mostly the babies and toddlers are just playing and require supervision which is common sense and not requiring early years qualifications. Of course when assessing their milestones and progress etc that will be done by someone qualified but you don’t need a early years qualification to play with a tray of dinosaurs in yoghurt (recently done at my DD’s nursery!) or to dance to a few nursery rhymes.

Also, most of the time the staff who aren’t yet qualified are working towards a qualification so aren’t just random unqualified people - they have to learn somewhere.

Nursery would be even more prohibitively expensive than it is now if every baby had one on one or every staff member fully qualified in early years and first aid!

Or for the SAHP role to be valued by government equally so parents have a choice depending on what suits their circumstances

Apprentices are also supervised.

Babies and toddlers need interaction not just supervision.supervision is the bare minimum .

Agreed

1 adult to 3 babies 😮 (changing one and two are crying?!)

Then the two crying have to wait - if you don't think that's acceptable then the only childcare that will work for you is a nanny (and make sure you don't have any more children yourself!)

Those recommending childminders... they can have 6 children under eight, of which 3/4 can be below school age. The ratio isn't any better!

And an apprentice is usually very capable of playing with children as well as supervising them.

They are meeting the legal requirements - I am not sure what else you expect them to do? They are under huge pressure and face massive funding struggles to meet rising costs - they do not have the money to employ more staff and they've just had to suck up the national insurance changes earlier this year.

YANBU to want to nurseries to change. I don't think anyone really believes that the current state of nurseries in this country is beyond improvement. As multiple other posters have said though it's not achievable with the current level of funding/fee that nursery get/charge.

Look into a nanny, nanny-share or childminder.

I'll probably get flamed for this, but I don't believe babies should be in nursery at all, they need one to one care from a consistent caregiver for their well being and development. It's no wonder we have a mental health crisis amongst young people in this country and others like the states, where babies are put in group childcare.

They are only beneficial for children from age around 3. I think parents should be supported to have someone at home with their babies until that age. Whether it's mum, dad, a grandparent, aunt, nanny etc

What would you do at home OP while you were changing your baby and your toddler starts crying and screaming?

Childminders have a ratio of 3:1 for under school age as well.

If you want your nursery fees to sky rocket then keep campaigning for lower ratios. It wasn't that long ago that the tory government wanted to increase ratios so the funding wasn't so poor for nurseries!

Do you have a certified first aider in your home all the time?

My friend managed to raise her triplets to adulthood with that ratio for all the hours her dh was at work.

There were two other sets of triplets at junior school with my dc, so it isn't all that rare.
Plus all the people who have twins + another sibling.

But you have a ratio of 1:1 at home.

No, but you have a ratio of 1:1.

My parents had a friend who had twins, then about 18 months later another child then 2 years later an unexpected and unplanned pregnancy. Which turned out to be triplets.

They were eventually given a home-help but even with triplets who are with their mum, she can only change one nappy at a time.

Childminder or nanny or be a SAHP is the answer if you don't like it.

Children can choke, have a seizure, stop breathing or suffer a serious accident in a one to one setting too. Most childhood accidents happen in the home.

A nanny share might get OP a 'better' ratio than a nursery - though not 1:1 - but a childminder wouldn't.

I do think it's worth noting that our childcare ratios are the lowest in Europe- I can't find an example of a country that stipulates a lower ratio.

A childminder might, they don't all work to capacity.