Helping my best friend find a nursery for her LO.
She really liked one but there are at present only 4 permanent staff and the rest agency. When she did a headcount she worked out that there must have been about 7 agency staff there and apparently this is a daily thing.
Is this a widespread issue or normal? My kids are a bit older but it was only really on the very odd occasion that their nursery used agency staff.
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Nurseries
Agency staff
WhenTheNightFalls · 27/04/2022 18:42
WhenTheNightFalls · 29/04/2022 19:17
It seems to have been a long term thing for this nursery. The same agency staff seem to have been there a while and persuambly, are not qualified.
I know you get the odd agency staff member in but surely the idea is that it is short term. I wouldn't be happy if my child was being looked after everyday by temps who had no real qualifications or training.
Friend has decided against this nursery and I don't blame her.
Ricardothesnowman · 30/04/2022 07:21
As an aside, the difficulty in finding qualified staff is why the government want to change ratios.
They want to allow these hard working, low paid staff to look after more children each, making them work even harder for the same low wage.
And making the children just a little less safe, cared for and educated, as one person can only stretch so far.
Even the most qualified person only has 2 arms and eyes, so can't watch, feed, interact, nappy change, play with, etc too many babies at once.
FinallyHere · 30/04/2022 08:10
about 7 agency staff there and apparently this is a daily thing.
How do the terms of the contract the staff have with the nursery impact your child's experience of the service ?
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WhenTheNightFalls · 30/04/2022 15:17
It's not my kids that are going, it's my friends.
The agency staff are different most days and many are not qualified. When you have 7 or more agency staff per day that is an issue especially when different people. Not only that but it does seem an excessive number.
I'm not sure what the answer is though. Increasing the ratio of kids to adult will just overwork nursery staff even more and surely will make more leave the profession.
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