9 replies to this topic

[**trisha**]

I am interested to know how other settings organise children's sleeping.

What I mean is, the children who sleep on rest mats. Once they are all asleep, does a member of staff stay in the room to supervise, or do you use a listening monitor or do you just check on them from time to time?

[hali]

when i was working in a day nursery they were supervised at all times - we are talking 7 years ago now though

[jojom]

We stay in the room with the children to keep to the proper staffing ratio. The children use sleep mats and each child has their own sheet and blanket labelled with their name they are washed at the end of the week or in between if necessary. We also keep a sleep rota with times of the childrens naps and any comforters they need.

[Dawn]

Our babies sleep in cots in the baby room
Toddlers sleep on sleep mats
Tweenies sleep using their own pillow from home (washable cover) and a nursery blanaket.

Pillow cases, sheets and blankets are washed weekly.

In baby room once babies are asleep we use a baby monitor to listen in and the baby room staff will tidy kitchen or supervisie in another room whilst someone else does kitchen, but essentially babies are left alone (with the monitor on) and checked regularily.
Toddler room children are left in the room with one member of staff (whilst they are all sleeping) and tweenie room children are left with one member of staff. occasionally the staff member out of tweenies or toddlers will leave the room to get the mop, or toys etc, but when they do that they pin the interlinking door open and the other staff member stands between the rooms (this is for only a moment as resources are being fetched.

Dawn

jojom, on Jan 7 2007, 17:00, said:

We stay in the room with the children to keep to the proper staffing ratio.

How does this work for staff going on their lunches?, do you have extra cover at lunchtime?

Dawn

[Clare]

Our babies all sleep in cots in a seperate sleep room, which is checked every 30 mins and a signature of the person doing the checking is recorded. We have a monitor on in the sleep room, which transmits to both the baby and toddler rooms.

Toddlers sleep on mats in the room, we are fortunate enough to have dividers so can section off the room when some are sleeping and others are playing. One member of staff is always present with the children who are asleep in the room, as unlike the babies, they could get up at anytime and roam around the room.

Bed linen is washed twice a week for both babies and toddlers and it is all provided by the nursery. We don't have a tumble drier so you can imagine how much fun it is trying to dry all the washing!

Children's sleep times are recorded on a sleep chart, along with the initials of the staff member who put them down to sleep. This is displayed on the parent notice board. We have separate charts for the two rooms.

So in answer to your question, we basically do all three! The children sleeping in the room are never left and those in the baby room are listened to on a monitor and checked every 30 mins.

Sleep time over staff lunches is also covered by at least one member of staff and we are fortunate in that we have a lovely lady who comes in to cover during this time.

Edited by Clare, 07 January 2007 - 05:54 PM.

[**trisha**]

hmm, thank you for prompt answers. You have answered some of my queries.

My concern is the room I work in. They go down for a sleep after dinner, my children vary in age between 16months and 2 years. They are joined by a few toddlers and sometimes one child from pre-school. They all sleep in my room on mats. But there is no staff present, they are checked every 15 minutes. I have expressed my concerns about the situation but to no avail, especially as the girl from preschool is also epileptic.

Sometimes I'm sure you get the situation where 1 child wakes up and walks around disturbing the others. A couple of them have been known to do that.

[hali]

have you expressed your concerns?

[jojom]

yes Dawn we do we are lucky enough to have a lunchtime helper and a very helpful boss who covers too i dont suppose you really need to keep the correct ammount of staff in a room once the children are all sleeping but i do feel someone should be in the room with them

[Running Bunny]

Clare, on Jan 7 2007, 17:52, said:

Our babies all sleep in cots in a seperate sleep room, which is checked every 30 mins and a signature of the person doing the checking is recorded. We have a monitor on in the sleep room, which transmits to both the baby and toddler rooms.

I'm not in a nursery any longer, but work in a local authority as a development officer - we would recommend that sleeping children are checked every 10-15 minutes. 30 minutes just seems a little long for me (personally speaking)

Is this advice that you have got from Ofsted or you LA advisor? What do other settings do for checks? I know that the QA schemes we provide mentoring for recommend 'regular' checks (that's helpful :D ) but the assessment reports often come back stating that checks should be carried out at least every 15 minutes. It would be nice to hear what the 'norm' is so that we are providing consistent information for our settings!

As far as staff ratios are concerned, this is still one (of many) of Ofsted's grey areas - my understanding is that as long as ratios are maintained in the nursery building i.e. staff can be in the staff room or office and can be called upon if required, Ofsted are happy with this. The issue for me arises if you have some sleeping and some mobile children - there should be at least two staff in the room to deal with those that are mobile and be there for those that are waking up or get distressed.

[Rea]

All the nurseries I've been to have sleep folders where 10 minute checks are recorded (5 MINS IN THE CASE OF CHILDREN KNOWN TO HAVE SLEEP DISORDERS) The amount of detail recorded varies from the staff member signiature to whether the child was comfortable on tummy or talking in sleep. I've never seen children left while they sleep but I've seen ratios completley thrown out and personally was in a room alone with 22 children, 3 of whom wouldnt sleep.