gthomps

Does anyone have any clarity over whether apprentices can be included in the qualified staff ratio? For context, we have two apprentices working towards a level 3 qualification but they do NOT already have a level 2 qualification. Our other staff members are level 3 qualified. It is an ongoing debate as to whether we can legally have one level 3 staff member and two apprentices working on a day with 13 children (11x 3 yrs and 2x 2 yrs). Our chairperson claims that apprentices can count as qualified at the level they are training at if deemed competent by the manager, is this correct?