Make room for an extra pair of hands

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

I am writing in response to the feature 'By appointment' (29 April), which proposed that the secret of retaining good early years staff and preventing a high staff turnover could be training. I would like to suggest another reason for a high staff turnover, particularly in the private sector of full day care. In my experience as a day nursery owner and manager, I have found it incredible that senior management seems to fail to understand the value of an extra member of staff with regard to staff:child ratios. Too many nursery owners appear to see the Ofsted guidelines for staff:child ratios as a maximum and use it as a guide to employ as few staff as possible, whereas these guidelines should be seen as a bare minimum number of staff.