Supervision Policy

Supervision of children

All children in our care must be fully supervised at all times by experienced members of staff. Staff must be aware of how many children they have in their charge at all times and exactly where these children are. All activities must be supervised appropriately bearing in mind the ages and abilities of the children and the complexities of the activity i.e. water play, cutting etc. Staff are allocated an area of responsibility in the room and it is their duty to supervise the children that visit this area.

Staff must place themselves in the best position to achieve optimum visual supervision when they are both indoors and out. Particular areas may require dedicated supervision e.g. the sandpit and climbing frame. Staff should always be within sight and/or hearing of the children.

It is nursery policy to ensure that staff interact with the children without disturbing the flow of free and creative play. Staff should remember that free play in the garden is a social experience for the children and not the staff. Inappropriate behaviour should be addressed as soon as possible using strategies from the nursery’s behaviour policy.

Supervision of new staff/students

All members of staff working in the nursery are required to complete a DBS check on acceptance of their post. Until clearance has been received, new staff must be supervised at all times and not left alone with the children. The same applies to all students and visitors to the nursery.

Agency staff will not be allowed unsupervised access to the children until the senior member of staff in the room considers it appropriate (following at least one week under supervision).

If any member of staff witnesses inappropriate behaviour by another staff member, it should be challenged if appropriate and the correct procedure explained, otherwise it should be reported to the manager or senior member of staff. If a member of staff has any concerns about another member of staff regarding a safeguarding children issue, they should complete a staff incident record as soon as possible, which should be passed to the manager. If the concern is about the manager, the staff member has a responsibility to report the concern to Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 0845 0507666.


This policy was reviewed in November 2021.