zigzag Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Please help..In September my group will only be left with two qualified members of staff. I am the manager and I have a deputy and we are both level 3's, I work every morning with the children and my deputy works four mornings. We have two assistants and one of them works two mornings and one of them works three mornings but neither of them is qualified. AHHHH.....We have asked one of them too train to a level 2 and have found a company that will come to the setting and do the training that way; and she is considering it. Obviously if she will not train we need to employ someone ASAP who is qualified. My question is... If she does train will that be sufficient to cover the qualification and ratio requirements for our group? and will it count while she is training or not? I hope that makes sense, I am having a melt down here!! My next step if you lovely people cannot help me is too ring OFSTED!!(but will they know) Just for the record the group is covered at the moment as we have a level 3 one to one worker every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbat Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I can only go on what I was told by ofsted in a similar situation and that was that you cannot be counted in the qualified staff ratio if you are training. Also if you have a 1:1 they also cannot be counted in ratio because they are there for 1 child......... It needs to be 50% of staff at every session must be qualified. I would contact ofsted for clarification but to be honest I have never got a straight answer out of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanne123 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Hi, I was told by Ofsted that they cannot be counted until completely qualified and 50% of staff must be qualified plus the manager. Joanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 In the revised EYFS standards it says: manager must hold level 3 and at least half of all other staff must hold at least a level 2.( Which we know but woops about key worker not counting) It also say: Students on long term placement and volunteers (aged over 17) May be included in the ratio if the provider is satisfied that they are competent and responsible. So if only 3 of us are working everyday and myself and deputy are level 2 are we ok (except one morning). I am unsure if it is half the rest off the staff working that morning that need the qualification or is it half the total staff that are employed in the setting?? I am really panicking now. We have visits throughout the year from the childrens centre teacher and I have had my registered person interview with the inspecter and they were both aware of our staffing and qualification levels and nothing has been said. If the key worker is not included in the other half of staff am I running illegally??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanne123 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 When EY adviser checked a few months ago, I had to give a breakdown of each session to show all sessions legal! Joanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anju Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 If you are level 3 then half of the rest of the staff I.e. one person (half of the two remaining staff) needs to be level 2 - that would be covered by your deputy. I think it's at all times I.e. every time you're open, not just total numbers employed. That's my understanding anyway but I could be wrong of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueJ Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 You don't say how many children or what ages or how long your day is so for arguments sake: If you are open mornings only and it is you and your deputy at level 3 plus 1 other and the children are aged between 3 and 4 you can have 24 children maximum and 66.6% of your staff (e.g., over the 50%) are qualified so you are OK. However on the day that your deputy does not work if it is you with a level 3 and 2 other unqualified staff then only 33% of your staff are qualified and therefore you are not OK. Also if you have read the Nutbrown review in respect of qualifications you might want to consider whether you want your potential trainee to get a level 3 rather than a level 2 so that you can future proof yourselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 In September we will only be opening mornings and will have 4 x 2.5 year olds and the rest will be made up from 3 and 4 year olds. We are registered for 20 each session but will not be up to that amount in September, the highest number we have in September is 12 but increasing to 15 by March. The assistant if she does decide to train will only do level 2 and am I right in thinking that she will still not be included until she is qualified? Looks like we have to do some recruiting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbat Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 In September we will only be opening mornings and will have 4 x 2.5 year olds and the rest will be made up from 3 and 4 year olds. We are registered for 20 each session but will not be up to that amount in September, the highest number we have in September is 12 but increasing to 15 by March. The assistant if she does decide to train will only do level 2 and am I right in thinking that she will still not be included until she is qualified? Looks like we have to do some recruiting! You will need 1 staff for the under 3's then 1 for the over 3's and no the assistant will not be counted in the qualified ratio until she is fully qualified.Although if I am thinking along the right lines I think you may be ok because as there are only 2 staff and you are qualified then that is 50% of the staff that are qualified? not sure it works when there is only 2o of you though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyfs1966 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Does this mean that you have 3 members of staff in on 4 days and just 2 on the remaining day? What are your numbers and ages per day? If you give me those, then I can have a propper look for you. Bear in mind that you not only need to prepare for sept 12, but also think about the nutbrown implications from 2013 (50% level 3) and 2015 (70% level 3), 2022 (100% level 3). I know that nutbrown is presently only a recommendation, but if accepted by the gov, you will not have much time before the requirements toughen up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Thank you everyone for your help. We will go ahead and recruit a qualified staff member (level 3) as there really is no other option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.