2yr Olds In Preschool

[hopeytg]

Hi

 

The preschool I work at are registered to accept 2yr olds but never have. We now have a few parents asking if

they can send their 2 yr olds - a compliment but unchartered territory for us. We understand the ratio's but are a bit

confused on what happens when the 2yr olds are in the same room as the 3-4yr olds. If we have 2 - 2yr olds in

the room with 11 3-4 yr olds how many staff will we need - do we still have to allocate 1 member to the 2 2yr olds??

Also do you have any advice on how best to manage the room with such a mixed age group? - We are still only in

the thought stages - need to work out if it is financially viable etc etc but any help would be gratefully received!!!!!

[kristina]

Hi

 

We are a Pre-School that takes 2 year olds in as well. Basicaly with regards the ratios 2 year olds are 1:4 however if you have two 2 year olds you can also have two 3 year olds allocated for that member of staff. If there are 2 year olds you can mix & match the ratio as long as you dont exceed 4 children for that member of staff.

Our 2 year olds are in the same room as our 3 & 4 year olds and we evaluate the resources and activities for all the age groups supporting more or less and adding and removing resources so that all ages can participate.

We are a new setting that only opened in September and have just recently had our Ofsted, the Inspector was quite happy with how this all worked as she could see that we took all the children's ages & abilities into account.

Hope this makes sense!!

 

Kris

[hopeytg]

Thanks so much for your speedy reply - your explanation of the ratio's is brilliant - I now know where

I'm going.

[Guest]

If you go for 2 and a half year olds you are less likely to have to get into changing nappies, etc. They also seem to be at the right age to mix well with the older ones and are less likely to need naps, etc.. Just a thought. We take children from this age and it works really well for us.

[blondie]

we atke two year olds and have found this no problem - in fact a lot of our older ones love the little ones - helpingthem, showing them how to do things etc

[thumperrabbit]

We take 2 year olds, we wouldn't exist if we didn't as they all leave at 3 to go to school nursery.

It works ok, the only thing we struggle with is if we are trying to do a group circle time as the little ones just can't deal with sitting, even just listening to a story is hard for them. So perhaps try to think how you could handle different groups at certain times of the session.

[Guest]

I appreciate some settings prefer to take children from 2.5 years and that a lot is said about them being less work due to being toilet trained. However in our area we often get children because we take them at 2 and in nappies while the local competition doesn't take them until 2.5 years and they have to be toilet trained (don't even go there - I've tried to explain over and over!). If it is a business decision it might be worth considering how you could manage with 2 year olds as you might catch children before they go elsewhere.

[diesel10]

Hi

 

If you have spaces, go for it.

 

When I started at my setting we had 2/3 year olds in the afternoon and 3 /4 year olds in the morning. This worked ok but gave no parent choice. I have mixed the ages and its fine.

[Guest]

Forgot to add that we have no problems with mixed ages. We only have intakes in September and January and at these times we are perhaps more cautious about the resources we have out, etc but by summer term they are all mixing well together and playing happily. The caution about the resources might just as easily occur if we had an older child with additional needs so we don't see the problem to be honest.

[hopeytg]

Thanks for all your input - Committee have agreed to 2 1/2 yr olds on a terms trial! -