What advice does Cambridge offer on the appropriate adult to child ratio for an Early Years setting?

Every Cambridge Early Years Centre should have a policy about the adult to child ratio in their setting. This must be consistent with any national regulations or guidelines that apply to them.

In addition to meeting national requirements for safety, the adult-to-child ratio must also be sufficient to support play-based learning and to allow continuous assessment by observation. One adult on their own will not be able to achieve this with a group of young children.

In addition, you will need to consider:

• the experience and qualifications of the adults
• the range of languages spoken by adults and children
• the age and number of the children in each class or group
• if any children require extra individual attention (for example due to additional education needs)
• the size and layout of the learning space.