Supervision Procedure

In this procedure, words in italic text are defined terms which have the specific meanings set out in Gowrie Victoria Policies and Procedures – Definitions and Abbreviations.

Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to set out standards and practices for the supervision of children which must be met by all Gowrie Victoria services.

Scope

This procedure applies to all staff members, volunteers, students on placement and contractors/labour hire employees of Gowrie Victoria.

Procedure Statement

Effective supervision

The national law requires the early years manager to have plans and practices in place to ensure that all children being educated and cared for by the service are effectively supervised at all times that the children are in the care of that service.

Gowrie Victoria requires the early years manager at each of its services to ensure that effective supervision ensures that environments are safe and responsive to the needs of all children. Effective supervision includes meaningful interactions between adults and children.

Effective supervision means that:

• that an educator can respond immediately including when a child is distressed or is in a hazardous situation

• knowing where children are at all times, and monitoring their activities actively and carefully.

What constitutes responsive, active supervision will depend on circumstances in any given situation. To provide responsive, active supervision, early years leaders and educators will need to ensure that all staff:

• know which children they are responsible for supervising
• know who in the group of children have a medical condition which requires greater vigilance
• take account of the physical characteristics of area(s) where the children are and where they should position themselves to provide supervision most effectively
• are aware of potential hazards in the immediate area
• take account of the age mix, dynamics and size of the group they are supervising
• actively supervise and engage in children’s experiences
• take account of the riskiness of the activities in which children are engaged
• are able to respond to a child immediately, particularly when the child is distressed or in a hazardous situation
• understand the service’s practices for monitoring sleeping children,

Early years leaders and educators should also:

• work as a team, communicating and collaborating to ensure children are supervised effectively, including communicating with colleagues to know if they are leaving an area for any reason such as to get a resource from another space or go to the bathroom.
• conduct and document head-counts of children in their program at frequent intervals, especially when a group is outside the service premises on a regular outing or excursion, to ensure that all children are
• be particularly vigilant at the start of each day, when children’s families may be in their children’s rooms, and at the end of each day when children are being collected from the service, and make sure they know which children are still in their care and which are in the care of their families.

Sufficient number of educators

The national law and national regulations require the early learning manager to have plans and practices in place to ensure that whenever children are being educated and cared for by a service, the relevant number of educators educating and caring for the children is no less than the prescribed number across the service.

The prescribed minimum educator to child ratios in Victoria are:

When planning work rosters, the early years manager must not count students on placement or volunteers as supervisors in calculating educator to staff ratios.

When planning how many educators are required to ensure that there is always responsive and active supervision of children at Gowrie Victoria’s services, each early years manager must account of:

• the design of the service
• the flexibility and responsiveness required to allow children to be in small groups away from the main group, when playing, resting, relaxing, sleeping or toileting
• the need to maintain adequate supervision of children with a medical condition who might require extra monitoring
• the need to supervise children who are sick or injured and have been separated from their group
• the need to continue to provide supervision to a group if an educator has been assigned to look after a sick or injured child
• the need for an educator to go with a child being taken to hospital by ambulance
• the need to maintain responsive and active supervision during excursions, which may require additional educators
• the need to maintain effective supervision at the start and end of the day when children are arriving at and being collected from the service, and when families might want to talk with early years leaders and educators

Physical environment

The early years manager must ensure that the service premises are maintained in a way that facilitates effective supervision of children at all times that are being educated and cared for by the service. This includes ensuring that doorways are kept clear and that windows are not covered.

Supervision of volunteers

The early years manager for each service must ensure that a volunteer is never left alone with children either at the service or outside the service premises. When with children, volunteers should always be supervised by a staff member.

Supervision of visitors

The early years manager for each service must ensure that all visitors to the service are never left alone with children at the service.

Authorisation

Approved by the Executive Manager, Early Learning

Name	Nicole Pilsworth
Signature
Date	15/01/2024

References

NQS Quality Area               QA2 Children health and safety

Procedure Status               Best practice

Parent Policy                       Environmental Safety Policy