Rosemount Nursery

An early years chief has come forward to claim that early years personnel "are not babysitters," accusing ministers of knowing "diddly" about what occurs in nurseries.
Neil Leitch, the chief executive of the Early Years Alliance speaking at its annual conference last night (9 June), told attendees: Now I have met a lot of early years professionals in my time, and I have seen them educate children, Ive seen them care for them, support them and their families, liaise with countless agencies, act as therapists, health visitors, social workers, you name it.".
Mr. Leitch used a Telegraph piece on the kids that childcare employees babysit in order to highlight the egregious mistake about what a nursery job entails.
I have never encountered a single person who just watches kids, said Mr. Leitch.
The early years leader has committed to oppose the government's plan to change the staff-to-child ratio at nurseries, which would result in each nursery worker now caring for five two-year-olds instead of four.
He is doing this because early childhood educators only have two hands and two eyes, regardless of their expertise or qualifications.
But the issue goes beyond safety, according to Mr. Leitch.
because we do not watch children."
We don't just exist to keep kids hydrated and fed.
The chief executive continued by stating that it was interesting that Ofsted declared that the early years would be its primary emphasis for the next five years on the same day that Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly instructed ministers to look into childcare ratios.
Mr. Leitch claimed that in the UK, the government talks on getting parents back to work rather than the child.
According to Mr. Leitch, who spoke to the virtual conference audience, children are treated as commodities in the UK.
According to the chief executive, lowering early years ratios won't solve the issues brought on by years of underfunding.
The UK has the lowest early years investment of any economically developed nation and some of the highest childcare prices in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), yet the government continues to act as if there is no correlation between the two.
The head of a London childcare requests that the government extend free school meals to nurseries.