Question about ratio and supervision

Hi Jess,

Welcome to the forum!

Centre Based Ratio Requirements

Minimum educator to child ratios in centre-based services (regulation 123) are calculated across the whole service, not by individual rooms. To be clear:

The number of educators required is calculated based on all children in attendance at the service regardless of grouping or room configuration.

In a mixed age group of children, an educator who is caring for one age range of children can also be counted against another age range of children, as long as the ratio for each age range is maintained and adequate supervision is maintained at all times.

The first step is to determine the number of educators needed for the youngest age range of children in the group. Once that ratio is met, an educator can also supervise children in another age range, provided the youngest age range is still maintained.

Maintaining the ratio for each age range of children in the mixed age group does not mean the educator to child ratio for the youngest age range must be applied to all children in an older age range.

By applying minimum educator to child ratios across the entire service, centre-based services can flexibly arrange educators in a way that effectively responds to the needs of all children.

For more information, please read the following: Educator to Child Ratios

Hope this helps!

,
Lorina

Thanks for welcoming me and your response Lorina!

This is a real scenario from one of my shifts. I just need an advice for this. If there are 19 preschool-aged outdoors and 5 toddlers. How many educators should be outside supervising them? I think 5 but the director thinks 3 is enough. There were three other staff on the premises. Two was indoors doing cleaning and one was the director doing administrative job.

They are all grouped together (the toddlers and preschoolers) outdoors for a significant amount of time.

Or in order for three to be enough, I think one educator can bring the 5 toddlers in another space/room and the other two staff can supervise the 19 preschoolers outside, right? . I think we are not maintaining the ratio and proper supervision by letting all be grouped outside with only three educators, right? Isn't that a breach of the ratio law?

Can a person studying cert 3 be left in room by them self

Jess2019 wrote: #43751 Thanks for welcoming me and your response Lorina!

This is a real scenario from one of my shifts. I just need an advice for this. If there are 19 preschool-aged outdoors and 5 toddlers. How many educators should be outside supervising them? I think 5 but the director thinks 3 is enough. There were three other staff on the premises. Two was indoors doing cleaning and one was the director doing administrative job.

Your director is right. The legal ratio as outlined in legislation is 1:10 for the preschool age group and 1:5 for the toddlers. You've got 2 educators for the 19 pre-schoolers as is requried and 1 educator for the 5 toddlers. Not to mention the other people in the building. Although they might be inside and not directly working with the children, they're still within the building and available i.e. not on a break, and can be called out to help if needed.

Thanks AMH!

Can I be left alone in the nursery room with four babies for the whole day without help in childcare centre? Is that legal?

Hey! Yeah, you’re totally on the right track. It can get tricky with mixed-age groups, but keeping the right ratios is super important for safety and the kids' well-being. I’d definitely stick to what you’re saying—having one person inside to clean while the director keeps an eye on things outside sounds like a smart move. Maybe you could suggest a regular check-in with your boss to go over the rules together?

Childcare ratios are non-negotiable, safety first! If your boss is ignoring the legal requirements for the youngest children, that's a serious issue. Document everything, dates, times, number of children and staff, who was present. If things don't improve, you might need to contact your regulatory body or even consider a different job.

Thank you for this interesting information!