Policies and Procedures
Policy 5.1 Staffing
Policy statement
We provide a staffing ratio in line with the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage to ensure that children have sufficient individual attention and to guarantee care and education of a high quality. Our staff are appropriately qualified, and we carry out checks for enhanced criminal records and barred list checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service in accordance with statutory requirements.
Procedures
To meet this aim, we use the following ratios of adult to children:
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Children aged two years: 1 adult: 4 children:
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at least one member of staff holds a full and relevant level 3 qualification; and
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at least half of all other staff hold a full and relevant level 2 qualification.
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Children aged three years and over: 1 adult: 8 children:
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at least one member of staff holds a full and relevant level 3 qualification; and
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at least half of all other staff hold a full and relevant level 2 qualification.
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We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements where a Qualified Teacher, Early Years Professional or other suitable level 6 qualified person is working directly with children aged three and over between the hours of 8am and 5pm as follows:
Only in an emergency situation would be use the ratio of 1:13
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The number of children for each key person takes into account the individual needs of the children and the capacity of the individual key person to manage their cohort.
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We only include those aged 17 years or older within our ratios. Where they are competent and responsible, we may include students on long-term placements and regular volunteers.
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A minimum of two staff/adults are on duty at any one time; one of whom is either our Manager, Deputy or director.
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Our Manager deploys our staff, students and volunteers to give adequate supervision of indoor and outdoor areas, ensuring that children are always usually within sight and hearing of staff.
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All staff are deployed according to the needs of the setting and the children attending.
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Our staff, students and volunteers inform their colleagues if they have to leave their area and tell colleagues where they are going.
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Our staff, students and volunteers always focus their attention on children and do not spend time in social conversation with colleagues while they are working with children.
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We assign each child a key person to help the child become familiar with the setting from the outset and to ensure that each child has a named member of staff with whom to form a relationship. The key person meets regularly with the family for discussion and consultation on their child's progress and offers support in guiding their development at home.
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We hold regular staff meetings to discuss children's progress, their achievements and any difficulties that may arise from time to time.
This policy was initially adopted by The Learning Meadow in October 2018 and is reviewed annually
Dawn Pirie (Owner/Manager)