Guest Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 HI Im in a private day nursery, we employ 10 staff (not including manager), 2 of these part time (they work opposite each other) only 2 of the staff employed are qualified (myself and the deputy ) im in pre-school, the deputy in babies... all other staff are woking towards NVQ's 2 or 3 are we within the 'right' qualified / unqualified levels????? im not sure we are..... some days there may only be me in (when the deputy is off) that is qualified, or other days there may only be the deputy in (when im off) taht is qualified.... how will OFSTED like this? also another OFSTED question, when we have lunch breaks at work the staff are able to go off site, somedays that means that during the lunch period we may loose up to 4 staff... what would happen if there was a fire?, and we were down on our staffing numbers.... how do other nurseries deal with staffing over the lunch (staff lunches) period???? Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 You should have at least 50% of your staff qualified or working towards a qualification. So, technically you are ok as your staff are training. But I think OFSTED may make a comment if they have only been recently employed-they would expect you to be looking for qualified staff. I'm not sure how you staff your lunch breaks but it sounds as if you need to be looking to staggered lunches if you don't already do them or having lunch time staff to cover. You must be breaching the ratio requirements if they are leaving the premises and nobody covers for them. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_4495 Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 (edited) I'm not sure that working towards a qualification counts? The national standards quote: at least half of all other child care staff hold a level 2 qualification appropriate for the care or development of children; So I don't think that ratios are being met. I know of instances where a newly employed staff have taken a setting just under ratio and Ofsed have asked for an action plan of training, but I would doubt that 2 qualified staff out of 10 would be acceptable - of course, it depends on how many already hold a level 2, as you said that some are working towards level 3. Do room supervisors not have to hold at level 3 qualification as well? Lunches are one of the wonderful grey Ofsted areas - the latest (I think) is that if staff are on site, they can still be counted in ratio as they are present for emergencies. If they go off site, you should have a replacement. Edited July 7, 2006 by Running Bunny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 At the outset it was ok to have staff working towards a qualification-I suppose they would expect those staff to be qualified by now. We were in this situation a few years ago and were inspected with less than 50% qualified but had 2 members of staff on a course and the other 2 about to start. But, as I said, that was a while back. How long have they been training for? Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I've just done this new Dfes survey and the yooung gentleman doing it with me classed NVQ 3's as qualified and NVQ2's as unqualified. so I don't know where that leaves us. I would have thought that with 10 staff you should have a couple fo more NVQ 3's around and especially if they are dissappearing over lunch time. I keep my ratio's over lunch time the same as any other time of the day. it depends on the amount of children. staffing ratios are always a nightmare. we have to even worry about who goes to the toilet and whose in the kitchen because that takes our ratio's down of how many people are in the room with the children. not just in the building surely? Steph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I would have to say that whilst the ratio is 50% - I would think that they might want to see that you have a qualified member in each room. Four staff or nearly 50% being out does seems unacceptable to me for the very reasons you suggested. Does this mean that you ratios are out. Most groups stagger lunch and break times. I think that you should look very carefully at how this is managed as I believe that when Ofsted check you register for staff in and out during the day they will see that there is not enough cover at certain points during the day, couple this with the fact there is a question mark over the qualifications criteria etc then I think you may have a problem. Do the staff have mid morning breaks and afternoon breaks, if they do then what happens then, it might be that you have to split the hours break during the day to 2 x quarter hour and 1 half hour and then you can work it over the whole day. What ratios do you work to? Nikki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 As well as meeting Ofsted requirements, there is the added concern that your Insurance may be invalidated should an incident occur because it could be deemed you are not working to the national Standards at the time of the incident. Peggy As well as meeting Ofsted requirements, there is the added concern that your Insurance may be invalidated should an incident occur because it could be deemed you are not working to the national Standards at the time of the incident. Peggy just to expand: If an accident occured and you were full ratio of appropriately qualified staff, proving adequate supervision, it will be classed as 'an accident' if ratio's / qualifications are seen not to meet standards it may be classed as 'accident through malpractice / neglect of appropriate supervision' and this may not be covered by public liability insurance. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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