Vertical ratios and family grouping

[Guest Nuby]

How do you find vertical ratios work in your setting? Do you think they are more challenging for staff with having different age groups or more enriching?

[Guest]

How do you find vertical ratios work in your setting? Do you think they are more challenging for staff with having different age groups or more enriching?

Hi Nuby,

 

What is vertical ratios? Sorry!!

 

Lisiloo

[Mouseketeer]

Sometimes wish a couple of my staff were a bit more vertical than horizontal ;-p

[Guest]

 

 

Sometimes wish a couple of my staff were a bit more vertical than horizontal ;-p

 

Ok am feeling really thick today!! Is your phrase directed at staff involvement. Forgive me its Sunday and I have been awake since 6:30:(

[woodlands1997]

I'm lost on the vertical ratios too!!!

[Mouseketeer]

Lol yes Lisiloo, they're not actually laid down, just half asleep sometimes...I really have no idea what 'vertical ratio's' mean, we need Nuby to come back and tell us , I'll try googling

 

Googling didn't help either......it brought me back to this thread

Edited June 15, 2014 by Mouseketeer

[Cait]

Looking at the title I think she may mean mixed ages within a key group, but not convinced.

[catma]

I had vertical grouping when I was teaching Yr1 and 2. It was great as when the year 2s went to Yr 3 I had half a trained class to mentor the new ones!

I think it can help as you have different levels of need and not all the same things at the same time!

not done it with nursery reception tho, although I've seen it done - same benefits reported.

Cx

[Guest]

I had vertical grouping when I was teaching Yr1 and 2. It was great as when the year 2s went to Yr 3 I had half a trained class to mentor the new ones!

I think it can help as you have different levels of need and not all the same things at the same time!

not done it with nursery reception tho, although I've seen it done - same benefits reported.

Cx

Sorry still none the wiser!!

[Cait]

It's just where you use the skills of your older children to help the younger ones. So your older ones know where we sit for story, and take a newbie to sit with them, they buddy up a young child and help to take a bit of responsibility, so for instance they might call out 'Stanley wants to paint, I have put his apron on and got him some paper, but there's no more green!'

[Guest]

It's just where you use the skills of your older children to help the younger ones. So your older ones know where we sit for story, and take a newbie to sit with them, they buddy up a young child and help to take a bit of responsibility, so for instance they might call out 'Stanley wants to paint, I have put his apron on and got him some paper, but there's no more green!'

Oh ok, thanks for enlightening me, have got it now!! yeap we do that some times, just makes the older ones feel a little bit more important and to boost confidence in the one hat lack it. Thank u soo much Cait

[woodlands1997]

It's just the ratios bit I was confused about!?x

[Mouseketeer]

Well in that case ....Yes, vertical ratios work very well in my setting.....and have only ever worked this way, just didn't realise it had a technical name, think I may just need to add the term to my SEF

[catma]

I would imagine that in this context it means you have a key group of differently aged children vertically through the ages you have so a mix of 2,s 3,s and 4,s.

Vertical grouping is what it would be called in schools, where you have mixed year groups in the same class.

Cx

[Wildflowers]

For the sake of ratios and legalities, can a level 3 qualified member of staff supervise a group of 2 two-year-olds and 3 three/four-year-olds, or 1 two-year-old and 4 three/four-year-olds; with the other staff and children being busy within sight/hearing or indoors/outdoors of the building?

[bubblejack]

This is the way I have always worked in pre-school. This is the benefit of mixed age groups. Regarding ratios I am sure that as long as your overall ratio is correct you are fine. When we are completely full at this time of the year we divide our groups for various mixed age activities. We do not count exactly how many children we have. It really depends on the children.. At the moment our 4 year olds seem more challenging than our 2year olds!!

[Fredbear]

Yes we are mixed age range from 2 to four. We love watching our four year olds at this time of year, when they now have the skills in place to enable them to share with our youngest.

Lots of lovely empathy, independence and showing this is how "I " do it scenarios happening now.

[Guest]

At the moment our 4 year olds seem more challenging than our 2year olds!! YES!! School visits are the culprit here!

 

we call it a buddy system or role modelling and it works well - it's not a fixed/overall way of working though but we do it for specific reasons

[Guest Nuby]

Sorry I did a disappearing act! My mum's coming to visit and had to dig up the hoover from under all that dust!!! Thankyou for the replies, sounds like its all positive with the mixed age groups and ratios! x We might consider it!