Staff rotas and organisation

[Rufus]

Hi all

Before I embark upon this request, i know that every setting is different and fully appreciate i have to find what works for me but I really need your help. Having never worked in a nursery before it looks like I will soon be in charge of organising the staffing of our new 'school nursery' and I really need a reference point from which to start. The whole process is baffling me and i'm hoping that you lovely people will share what works for you to help me find what works for me.

Our nursery will open 7.45am to 6.00pm. It will offer an initial 30 places.

I am employed as a teacher so will be sticking to my contracted 'contact' hours - either 4 days a week of 8.50-3.15 or 21.25 hrs.

We currently have 2 other level 3 practitioners and will probably employ another. We are aiming for all staff to be at least level 3 qualified.

Please can anyone share with me what their staff rotas look like? With regards to early/late starts etc, days off/volume of staff that they need on earlies and lates/breaks?

As I said, i know every setting is different but I am struggling to know where to start at the moment. I envisage the majority of parents will do core hours 8.30 - 3.30 but I don't know this for sure.

Thanks

[Lucy P]

Not sure how much our set up will help as a lot larger, we are open 7.30 - 6 and to ensure we can cover ratios at both ends of the day we have the following shifts:

11 x 7.30 - 4.30

2 x 7.45 - 4.45

2 x 8.00 - 5.00

2 x 8.15 - 5.15

4 x 8.30 - 5.30

4 x 9.00 - 6.00

 

All staff have one hour for lunch, either 11.00, 12.00 or 1.00 depending on what time they started.

 

We do have part time staff but they all work full days to ensure the shift system is covered.

 

I would imagine your opening hours would be impossible to cover with three staff, and still be quite difficult with four. Ideally in my opinion to cover your opening hours you would need 5 staff and do 2 x 7.45-4.45, 1 x 8-5, 2 x 9-6.

 

It would be useful to know what your children's attendance hours will be, do you know how they will be charged? If it is hourly you can base your staffing on this, however if it is a daily rate, as we are, parents are welcome to use whatever they want within the opening hours and they can change this on a daily basis.

 

Not sure if that helps?

[Guest]

We open 8-6 and our shift patterns reflect how many staff we need at what time based on how many children are in. Our management work out how many children of each age we have in that day at half hour Intervals then plan the shifts based on that.

 

Example, my last weeks hours were: 7.45-3, 9.30-4, 10-6, 10-5.30, 7.45-3.

 

A "standard shift" for us is 8 hours, but we can vary dependent on numbers.

[Rufus]

I would imagine your opening hours would be impossible to cover with three staff, and still be quite difficult with four. Ideally in my opinion to cover your opening hours you would need 5 staff and do 2 x 7.45-4.45, 1 x 8-5, 2 x 9-6.

 

It would be useful to know what your children's attendance hours will be, do you know how they will be charged? If it is hourly you can base your staffing on this, however if it is a daily rate, as we are, parents are welcome to use whatever they want within the opening hours and they can change this on a daily basis.

 

Not sure if that helps?

This is really useful Lucy, thanks. Good to get a different point of view, i agree with your idea of 5 members of staff now that you have explained. I can also see the difficulty of staffing when parents pay per day..we are going to offer them the choice of either paying per hour or by the day. What are your thoughts on this?