EYFS Staff Ratio for Under 2's

[RachyB86]

Hi all ,

I would really appreciate any help here - do 'possible sleeping children' allow an under 2's room to be over ratio?

I visited a new nursery that I absolutely adore, however at one of the visits there were 7 children with 2 staff. On the board, there were 3 children's names written under 1 member of staff, then 4 children written under the other. I queried with the manager and she said usually one child would be asleep so its ok. I said but they're all awake right now? She said the staff know to ring through to her if they are ever off ratio and she will pop in as she is counted in the ratio even though shes in the office.

Is this correct? I have read EYFS guidelines saying 1-3 but I've also read 'unofficially' that as long as the ratio is correct across the entire building meaning staff can move around if necessary then its ok.

Many thanks in advance!! Rachel x

Sleeping has no relevance to ratios (unless it’s the staff who are doing the sleeping!)

You are correct that the ratio for under 2s in a nursery should be 3:1.

Ofsted seemingly assess the ratios across the entire building rather than within each individual room at any one time. Strictly speaking, they don’t even need the manager to leave the office, ever, but they appear to have put that procedure in place as part of their own individual risk assessment process.

TBH, if they did it the other way, they’d probably need more staff than children in order to manage things like nappy changing.

Ratios are across the building not individual rooms so as long as they are meeting the ratios then yes, they can do this