Ratio help!

[namechanger0110]

Hi!

Can someone help me to work out ratios please?

In a large room there is 5 under 1's, 3 1-2yr olds, 4 2-3yr olds and 4 4 year olds. So 16 children overall.

It's treated like a crèche I suppose, parents are in the building at all times. It's run by volunteers ( all DBS checked) and one paid worker ( who happens to have a childcare qual but wasn't taken on for that reason)

I'm not feeling too happy with the set up at the moment and want to say something but want to get my facts right first! So some ratio ideas would be great

Thanks

You need a lot more information before you can figure this out.

Is this an Ofsted-registered childcare provision, or does it fall outside the requirements to register?

If registered, precisely what is it registered as? (eg. "Nursery")

Precisely what qualifications and experience does each of the staff hold?

Thanks @itsaboojum ,

It's not a nursery, it's hard to explain but we're a family support charity . We run a session once a week for mums with MH conditions and the idea is they go to a different room to do an activity and their children are left with a team of volunteers and one paid member of staff. That member of staff happens to have a level 2 qualification but she wasn't taken on on that basis. No other volunteer has a childcare qualification

This is the NSPCCs recommendation but it differs from ofsted legal ratios. 3 year old are 1:8 for childcare settings. 2-3 is 1:4 and under 2 is 1:3

I think Ofsted is 1:3 unless they are already 3 in which case it's 1:8?
So unless all the 2-3 are actually 3, you can't have one worker for them and the 4 yos.
And the 0 and 1 need 3 workers between them.

So I think I'm right in thinking 5 adults is enough then? 3 for the under 2's, 1 for the 2-3yrs and 1 for the 3-4 year olds?

It just feels chaotic but I think that's more to do with the fact we've got a mix of ages in one room

Legally you need 5 staff. Obviously more would be better, particularly for the under 1s. In an ideal world I'd have 1:2 in a baby room, 1:3 for 1 & 2 year olds and 1:6 for 3+ but that's more than ofsted recommends. In your situation I'd aim to have at least 6 staff, particularly as they aren't all qualified. On a different note, how many are first aid trained? For a childcare setting, it needs to be at least 50% of staff, although I'm not 100% sure of the guidance for a voluntary run creche, especially as parents will be next door.

@Myusernameismud - no one is first aid trained. We've all recently taken part in a small ( 2 hour) course but it didn't give us a certificate.

I'm going to go and talk to the manager so want to make sure I've got enough to say rather than just be a case of not feeling comfortable with it

As the parents are in the same building there's probably a different set of rules because the parent would be summoned if there was a problem

Thanks everyone

I've spoken to someone at the charity, apparently they're having a meeting later this afternoon and she's going to raise my concerns which is great

If care is for 2 hours (maybe 2.5) now the setting does not need to be registered and EYFS guidelines don't apply....good practice though. So legally they are fine....and parents are on premises.

Can you suggest first aid at least

The first thing you must do is ascertain whether you need to be registered. Since parents are on the premises, and it’s not primarily a childcare facility, there may well be no requirement to register, but you need to check with Ofsted to be sure.

If it happens that you do need to register, then having one member of the team with a level 2 qualification and nobody with first aid is going to be way short of minimum requirements.

Either way, you also need to check where you stand for insurance, safety and safeguarding liabilities within your own organisation.

Ratios are
Under 2 1-3
2 year olds 1-4
3 and over 1-8
So as you don’t specify how many of each age group, it’s impossible to say how many adults is needed

First aid is not 50% as mentioned, the legal requirement for nurseries is one member of staff to be paediatric first aid trained

I stated how many in my OP @insancerre

Wow I would have thought it would be more than one first aider !

It's not a legal requirement, but it is best practice to have 50% first aid trained.

It meets the ratios but not the qualifications for the EYFS but they may not have to legally. It sounds like a typical kind of set up you would find in a church creche.

Yes that's exactly what it's like @OddBoots !

I'm the paid worker, when I started we had 5/6 children generally aged 3-4. Between 3 of us we had a great time. Now we're looking after as many as 16!! It's chaotic and I feel anxious that an accident is waiting to happen. I feel it's the mixed ages that are the issue, so we've got non moving babies, crawlers, toddlers and pre schoolers all in the same area

Sorry that's not clear, there's now more volunteers!

Is there any way to section off the space to reduce the chaos?

5 adults required if you were a nursery. Not sure if anyone needs to be qualified in your situation but worth looking into and always good to have first aid trained staff about.

To ease the chaos can you maybe section a corner off for the under 2’s with age appropriate toys? Large Soft play blocks might be sufficient so long as they are stable.

I don’t think it’s a legal issue as you are a non ofsted regulated creche due to length of time and regularity.

However most public liability insurance will expect a risk assessment that considers the space, level of training and particular needs of the children.
I would suggest some measure taken e.g a sectioned off baby area (could be sectioned by a rug or toys and older ones taught not to run over it). Possibly more adults if you feel that is warranted. What are he risks at presents and how best do you reduce those?