Work Matters: Management - Ratios - Feel unlucky?

Nursery owners are seeking clarification on the operation of the 1:13 adult:child ratio, which is being introduced with the Early Years Foundation Stage in September. They are warning that it could prove unsafe and unworkable.

The ratio for three- to five-year-olds, which applies to all EYFS settings between 8am and 4pm when a graduate leader is working with the children, has recently been relaxed for maintained schools.

The staffing level will not have to be adjusted when the teacher is temporarily not in the same room as the children, according to new guidance from the Department for Children, Schools and Families. Whether Ofsted inspectors will allow staff in PVI settings the same leeway is another matter.

Ofsted says its inspectors would take account of particular circumstances when looking at whether a provider meets the ratio requirements. A spokesperson said, 'We would not normally expect them to employ an additional person just to allow for times when the relevant qualified person needs to use the bathroom. However, lunch breaks and planning time can be organised in advance, and we would expect the ratios to be maintained during such times that the relevant qualified person was not working directly with the children.

'During short breaks, we would consider factors such as the location of other staff, whether they were on or off the premises, or in sight and hearing of the children. Ofsted would want to be assured that the nursery had deployed staff effectively, taking into account matters such as the size and layout of the premises, the location of the staff room and the structure of the sessions being provided, while the relevant qualified person was not working directly with the children.'

Demand for clarity

The National Day Nurseries Association is calling for clarity regarding the 1:13 ratio for three- to five-year-olds under the EYFS when a graduate leader is in place. Chief executive Purnima Tanuku says, 'The guidance states that the ratio will revert to 1:8 if the graduate is not leading the room, but NDNA would like to see further information about what this means in practice for both nurseries and inspectors, especially during break times and lunches.

'The EYFS will mean that any graduate leader will need to spend some time away planning delivery, and under the current guidance this will make employing a graduate doubly expensive, as a nursery will then either need to employ an additional graduate or have enough qualified staff to cover a 1:8 ratio. In addition, there is disparity regarding these within the PVI sectors and maintained sectors, as teachers within these settings are allowed 'non-contact' time without ratios being affected.'

At Judy's House nursery in Dorset, joint manager Haley Meredith reports it will go with the old ratio of 1:8, if not 2:8.

She says, 'A ratio of 1:13 is all right in a classroom where children are sitting, doing something structured, but it is impossible when you have children engaging in free play and quite often wanting adult interaction.'

'I think 1:13 is too high,' says Sarah Steel, proprietor of the Old Station nursery chain. 'It does not matter how well qualified you are or how thorough your planning and skills - it does not make you physically better able to cope with more children. You still only have one pair of eyes and one pair of hands.

'Three year-olds can still be in nappies, and will the Early Years Professionals not take their turns in nappy changing?'

Susan Moss-Thomas, the manager of Orchard Barns and co-owner of Blossom House nurseries near Colchester, says she wouldn't want to manage a nursery with a 1:13 ratio. 'It is totally unworkable. If you are going to operate professionally, you cannot do that with one person with a group of 13 children. You have to be able to present activities in a challenging and interesting way. You can't possibly have free flow from outdoors to indoors with one person for 13 children. It would not be safe.'

Covering absent staff

Working with current ratios while staff are absent can pose a challenge to settings.

'We arrange time off for staff in the day around those times when all the children are together,' says Haley Meredith. 'When the children are all in one room, say at lunch or during the after-lunch sleep, you can have one person overseeing the sleep room and one person clearing up from lunch while two people take a lunch break.'

Orchard Barns copes by hiring trainees who are studying for their NVQ 2, says Ms Moss-Thomas. 'We use them at lunch time or when people are off sick, or need non-contact time or time for reflective meetings.

'In our pre-school rooms we have supernumerary language and literacy co-ordinators who work from 9am to 3 pm, so our ratio in there is 1:5. Children coming for the nursery education grant entitlement have wraparound care and stay for the whole session or the whole day. We don't advertise it as just 2.5 hours. We are a rural nursery and the parents do not just want 2.5 hours - by the time they have gone home it would almost be time to come back again.'

At the Old Station nurseries, some staff work shifts so people can be switched around if there is a problem. Ms Steel says, 'We have four nurseries within about three miles of each other, so we can move staff around if people are off sick. The staff enjoy the variety. In one of our bigger nurseries, we run the pre-school rooms offering the free early education with a team of part-time term-only staff. In this way we can always keep up the ratio.'