^^^^ No its not compulsary policy in our setting or others but alot of staff in our setting want someone with them because of the reasons above. The ratio is 1:8 for over 3 years olds. A staff member can be left alone with 8 children however that never happens in a pre-school. No one is ever left alone as its an open setting apart from in the bathroom.
when i worked in a nurseries with babies if i only had 3 babies they would move a staff member elsewhere and 1 staff member would be left alone all day in the room with the 3 babies........... i worked with someone for about 8 months before she 'left' and i dreading leaving the babies with her when i went home or for lunch and god knows how she treated the babies when left all day with them. she had so many complaints from parents and staff (me) that something had to be done IN THE END.........when she was on an early shift the babies would cry when the parent tried to hand the baby over to her etc i also heard her call a baby girl 'a wingy little tart' and quite ruffly put a baby in a highchair for lunch even though he had a soiled nappy and shouted 'well you can sit in that crappy nappy until after you have had lunch now' ........i looked at her....walked over took the baby out of the highchair, change his bottom and popped him back in the highchair and said there you go, nice clean nappy and now you can eat your lunch feeling comfortable. she looked at me and said 'well that got me out of changing a crappy nappy'...........
i complained to the manager who really didnt do anything....this staff member was in her 40's i think i was about 23 and my manager said to me she is a nurse who worked with poorly babies in hospital she has more experience and training than you.
She apparently left her nursing job because she was being bullied, however the stories she told us of what she use to do with the prem babies is awful. Eventually she got moved to the 2-5 year old room but still got complaints however our manager seemed to like her so would defend her, in the end the manager said we dont want to 'sack you' as that will look bad on your CV so if you hand in your resignation i am sure you will find work still in the child sector.
she is working with children last i heard which was a while back was with disabled children. I am not saying that she did anything as terrible as the women in the case but still this isnt the only worker i have worked with who doesnt treat the children how they should.............i have worked with others who have left children in very wet or soiled nappies because 'they cant be arsed' to change them or have 'forgotten' to give a child lunch or their milk feed. (not forgotten again just pure lazyness) also plenty of staff members who ignore screaming babies or crying children.
I think since the incident happend alot more policies are coming into place, i think when choosing a setting for your children having a read through their policies and procedures folder is a good idea.
i am trying to get a policy in place regarding 2 staff members for toilet trips as this is the only time a staff member may be left alone with children as our setting is set out the same as your pre-school setting. We have now employed a 5th member of staff to ensure that we are able to have at least 2 staff members together at all times.
The only issue in a pre-school setting is the bathroom issue, there are no other opportunities for staff members to have time alone with a child long enough for someone not to realise etc in a pre-school setting it would be extreamly difficult for any thing like the nursery case happen, unless ALL STAFF members were sick in the head...........which would be extreamly unlikely.
Voulunteers and parents are NOT allowed at any time to be left unsupervised and are not allowed in the bathroom at all unless with their own child before or after a pre-school session.
in schools if a child wets or soils themselves, parents are called to go into school to change their child, the teachers/assistants will no do this. teachers and students will only have 1:1 in a classroom with another staff member present, a child is never alone with a adult for any period of time.
childminders are obviously alone with the children they look after all day. Personally for me a childminder would not be an option.
nurseries have more opportunity for things like this to happen and obviously a younger age range, where children cant talk and tell their parents what has happened again a nuresery is not an option for me.
Everybody i have ever worked with in a nursery setting (and these are alll extreamly good people who are fantastic at their job) would not send their own children to any nursery.
Now obviously not EVERY setting is bad, not every childminder is evil but my own personal preference and experience says pre-school are for me the settings i feel more comfortable leaving my child.
