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hello all, :D

 

Just found out that church hall has put us an indoor entrance to our cupboard (only had outside doors up till now), put us a new side gate and tarmac some of the grass out the back!!!!!(so we can take the children out in the winter). :(

 

This now means that we have a secure passage to the outside area that means in reality the children could go in and out as they please during the session. xD

 

Those of you that already have this facility and use it how many staff you you have outside, as obviously there are staff inside as well. :o

 

I am concerned that i cannot only have one member of staff out!!! :(

 

thanks :)

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How brilliant Hali. We started free flow last term and there have been lots of issues to address. Staff have to be really flexible and follow the children. Play def. becomes child led and child initiated and focus activities have to be very carefully planned with some taking place outside. Staff were very concerned about maintaining ratios but after taking advice we are now more relaxed. We were told that it was the ratio overall that was significant. However we did end up taking on an additional member of staff for our peace of mind. It has not been easy getting it to work but the benefits of free flow for the children have been amazing. Good luck.

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Thank you Chill, :D see i have always been under the impression that you cannot have a member of staff alone with a group of children at any time (to protect staff and children) so how does it work?????? :o

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hi hali, i work at a playscheme so it is a little different, but still get inspected for early years provision.

At our last ofsted we were told that it is perfectly fine to have one member of staff outside with the children. I specifically brought this up as i wanted to do free flow outdoor play and we only have 2 staff at any one time.

The inspector said that it was the ratio for staff on site that mattered, but that obviously all had to be supervised.

 

We manage problems (accidents etc..) by having an SOS card both inside and out that a child can take to the other adult, meaning that everyone is still supervised.

 

laura

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Thank you Chill, :D see i have always been under the impression that you cannot have a member of staff alone with a group of children at any time (to protect staff and children) so how does it work?????? :o

 

I think that it is about getting the balance between knowing your staff, knowing the children and ensuring that all the relevant paperwork is in place as far as the old favourite risk assessments are concerned.

 

Good practice would dictate that staff were not left on their own, but with effective communication (SOS cards, walkie talkies) and a safe, secure and checked area with clear boundaries for the children, there should be no problems.

 

As others have said, the big O look for ratios on the whole provision, but perhaps for your own peace of mind, children could sign themselves out - my friend's little girl goes to nursery school with free flow and they have elastic band/bracelet thingies in a basket by the door, but they only have 8, so children can see if there is a bracelet in the basket, they can put it on and go out, but they may have to wait until someone comes in - it works really well apparently!

 

RB x

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