Staffing ratios

[negrilbaby]

I know the ratio for under 2's is 1:3. Does the nursery have to provide this at all times? I'm particularly worried about the first and last hour (only 2 staff on) and when the girls take their breaks.

they do have to remain in ratio but many dont at say lunchtime if all children are sleeping but with awake children you have to remain in ratio

The nursery has 4 staff employed in the baby room. They work in pairs either 8-5 or 9-6. When I drop my son off in the morning, depending which staff are on, it is sometimes manic. He is still really unsettled and so I have to pass him to someone - I can't just pop him down and leave him to play. The staff just don't seem able to cope. It took 20 minutes one morning for me to be able to pass him over. It just makes for a really unsettled start. Lots of babies crying and no one to comfort them. I will have to speak to the manager - I just wanted to be sure of the regulations.

The trouble with ratios is that although there should be X number of staff available to work directly with the children, in reality ratios can be counted across the nursery building as a whole rather than in each individual room. And staff popping off to do things like heat up milk, take a child to the toilet, etc are still counted within the ratio as well. In a ideal world nurseries have extra staff "floating" and the manager, etc available to help at particularly busy times but this isn't always possible due to cost. If it's impacting on the care of the children, definitely raise it as an issue but just as a warning ratios can be tricky to enforce in a "regulatory" way. Hopefully if the management are good they'll be able to address the issue though.