Ratios. And other stuff.

[Chinateacup]

Had a show-round yesterday, and DH and I are sure the manager said 1:6 in babies. Is this allowed? I thought it was 1:3 max. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue?
She also referenced child protection cases in terms of certain activities that are done to get the children to open up. Is this standard practise, or should I be alerted by the fact she needed to mention it ( I mean in terms of client base )?
Last one - they have free flow every session. Is this more or less unusual than having free flow once or twice a week, and other sessions being more structured?
Ofsted report is good but I only have experience if one other nursery so not sure how to benchmark.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

*of one other

Under twos it is 1:3 ratio.
Bit odd she mentioned child protection cases/activities.
Yes should be free flow every session (but not the whole session)
our under twos access whichever toys are there but they also do a couple of planned activities, such as playdough or sand play or painting etc also singing they need a routine to learn what is coming next.
Hope that helps.

Usually 1:3 with babies, maybe she had too much going through her mind.

Free flow play is more encouraged now, with some structure such as song time, story time etc. Although every nursery I've worked in in 20 years has had free flow play as the main focus.

It has to be 1:3 with under 2s.

Free flow definitely normal in my experience, with a few structured times each day (e.g. story time) and some adult led small group activities e.g. crafts.
The child protection thing sounds very strange- what does she mean by getting the children to 'open up'? If a nursery worker suspected a cp issue, the last thing they should do would be to start asking questions of the children- they could do a lot of damage. Standard procedure would be to record the concerns and report to ss if they were considered serious.

I agree with pozzled.
Maybe she meant thatthey have a maximum of 6 babies in the baby room? It will say on the ofsted website how many under 2's they are registered for.
The child protection thing sounds very strange. I have no idea what she meant. The thought of planning activities so that children 'open up' is not standard practice and as pozzled points out, completely the opposite of current advice.
Freeflow is standard and children should have access to most activities so they can choose what to do- the staff should enhance the areas according to children's individual needs and interests.

I would guess it is a slip of the tongue, the ratio is 1:3, however you would never have just one member of staff so the ratio is really going to be 6:2.

A good nursery will offer free flow every session, exceptions for extreme conditions. (Not just a bit of rain)

Were the children in the room doing a game relating to child protection while you were on your visit. As this might explain why she said this. We do lots of games and activities which help children with all sorts, single parent homes, 2 dads/mums, all help to ensure that the children feel their family unit is 'normal'.

It depends how long ago your last nursery experience was, as the Early Years Foundation Stage is only a few years old, and this has meant a shake up of the way in which Nurseries are ran.

Thankyou for the info i will follow up today.