Staffing requirements (Clauses 51 - 57)
The Parts of the Regulation are:
Part 1 Preliminary (Clauses 1-6)
Part 2 Licensing procedures (Clauses 7-29)
Part 3 Facilities and equipment requirements (Clauses 30-50)
Part 4 Staffing requirements (Clauses 51-57)
Part 5 Child number requirements (Clauses 58-63)
Part 6 Operational requirements (Clauses 64-84)
Part 7 Administrative requirements (Clauses 85-116)
Part 8 Probity checks (Clauses 117-122)
Part 9 Miscellaneous (Clauses 123-125)
Schedule 1 Records to be kept for each child
Schedule 2 Savings and Transitional Provision
Schedule 2 - Dictionary
Q. What first aid qualifications are acceptable?
A. The definition of an ‘approved first aid qualification’ appears in the Dictionary at the back of the Regulation.
An approved first aid qualification means:
- a successfully completed first aid course that is approved by the WorkCover Authority for the purposes of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2001 and that specifically relates to first aid and emergency care of children and meets the guidelines issued for the purposes of this definition by the Department, or
- another successfully completed first aid course approved by the Director-General for the purpose of this definition
The organisation providing the course must be a Registered Training Organisation and an organisation approved by WorkCover for the purpose of providing first aid training.
There is a range of courses which will meet the requirements of the Regulation.
The DoCS website provides an outline of what needs to be included in first aid courses in the DoCS publication the First Aid Course Approval Process.
Q. Is there an upper limit to the number of trainees a service can have; eg 90 place centre, 20 staff, can they have six trainees?
A. The requirement is that there must be at least two other primary contact staff members, who are not trainees, employed at the service, and the majority of primary contact staff must not be trainees.
There is no upper limit to the number of trainees provided the above is adhered to.
Refer to Clause 53 (4) - Staff to child ratios.
Q. Can some staff have a lunch break away from the children when children are having their lunch?
How many staff are required to be in the room whilst staff are on their lunch breaks on the premises and children are sleeping?
A. It is the intention of the Regulation that children are supervised in accordance with Clause 53 - Staff to child ratios and Clause 66 - Supervision of children.
The licensee and authorised supervisor must ensure that the children at the service are supervised at all times, including while they are asleep, having regard to their ages and physical and intellectual development and to the activities in which they are engaged.
In determining effective supervision there are several things to be considered. These may include primary contact staff to child ratios and an assessment of the risks to children at a particular time.
In some services staff may have breaks away from the service if there are sufficient staff remaining on the premises to maintain ratios and qualification requirements.
If a staff member is on a paid lunch break and remains on the premises and it can be demonstrated that the children are being effectively supervised then the staff member does not need to be replaced.
Refer to Clause 53 - Staff to child ratios and Schedule 2 - Dictionary, primary contact staff.
Q. What are the attendance requirements for authorised supervisors?
A. Clause 56 - Supervision by authorised supervisor – centre-based children’s service, requires the licensee of a centre-based children’s service to ensure that the authorised supervisor for the service:
(a) has the overall supervision of the service, and
(b) is, each week, present on the premises of the service for no less than 50% of the time the service is provided
To meet the requirements of (a) above, licensees need to demonstrate that the authorised supervisor is in day to day control of the service and that s/he meets the responsibilities allocated to that position in the regulation.
To meet the requirement of (b) above, the licensee needs to demonstrate that the authorised supervisor has regular and frequent contact with the service. The authorised supervisor may be working either full time or part time and may be employed at one service or two.
If the authorised supervisor works full time and only works at one service s/he must be on the premises for no less than 50% of the time the service is provided. This means that if the service is provided to children for 30 hours per week the authorised supervisor must be on the premises for no less than 15 hours per week.
In this scenario it is possible for the authorised supervisor to be off the premises to attend meetings or other tasks in the remaining 15 hours they are not required on the premises of the service.
If the authorised supervisor is employed full time and supervises two services the authorised supervisor is required to be on the premises of each service for no less than 50% of the time that each service is provided .
Where this occurs, the Regulation requires that there must be at least one other member of staff of each service who is qualified, as required by Clause 52. The qualifications required are based on the number and ages of children attending the service.
If the authorised supervisor is employed at two extended hours services, s/he must be employed full time and each service must operate 50 hours per week or more.
In this case the authorised supervisor must be on the premises of each service for 50% of their total working hours.
If the authorised supervisor works part time and only works at one service s/he must be on the premises for no less than 50% of the time the service is provided.
This means that if the service is provided to children for 30 hours per week the part time hours must be sufficient to allow the authorised supervisor to be on the premises for no less than 15 hours per week.
Where there is a requirement for the authorised supervisor to attend regular meetings off the premises, the time spent away from the service needs to be in addition to the 50% requirement of the time the authorised supervisor spends at the service.
Where there is travelling time between two services management should find a solution which allows a way for the authorised supervisor to spend 50% of their time at each service and manage any travel requirements between the two services.
Rostered Days Off and leave would be counted in the other 50% of the time the authorised supervisor is not required to be on the premises.
Services not complying with the requirement for the authorised supervisor to be present for 50% of the operational hours of the service on a weekly basis will need to review their authorised supervisor’s hours and possibly the number of days of employment.
This Clause only applies to centre-based services.
Q. Does there always have to be a trained teaching staff member on the premises?
A. Clause 52 – Qualified staff, subclause (1) outlines the number of teaching staff who must be in attendance at the premises of the service based on the number of children being provided with the service at any time. The definition of teaching staff member appears in subclause 4(a).
It is the licensees’ responsibility to demonstrate that an adequate number of teaching staff members are on the premises to meet the requirements of this clause.
Q. In Clause 52 – Qualified staff, subclauses (4)(b) and (c) where the Regulation talks about a teaching staff member what is the difference between “(b) has some other approved qualification” and “(c) has other approved training and other approved experience”?
A. Refer to Clause 52 - Qualified staff.
‘(b)’ refers to academic attainment certified by the NSW Qualifications Committee as being eligible to meet the requirements of subclause (4) (a), ‘(c’) refers to a combination of training and experience relating to the teaching role.
Q. Does a cook in a childnre's service need to have any particular qualifications?
A. Yes, refer to Clause 54 and Qualifications for cooks in children's services.
Q. Do the room staff need to have food safety training when serving morning or afternoon tea from the trolley to the children after it has been prepared by the cook?
A. No. The regulation does not require non cooking staff to have completed any training in food safety or preparation.
Q. Are parents who are at the children’s service on roster /fruit duty /cleaning duty deemed volunteers and must therefore be accompanied by primary contact staff whenever they are in the presence of children?
A. Refer to Clause 57(b) - Use of volunteers.
Yes, parents are classified as volunteers in this context and the licensee must ensure the Clause is complied with.