How many educators are in the room? Child-to-staff ratios explained

A ratio is a legal minimum. It is the largest number of children one educator may be responsible for at the same time, and British Columbia sets a different number for each care type and age group. Here is what those numbers are, what the rule is actually trying to protect, and how our own staffing compares to the floor the law sets.

What a ratio actually protects

Picture one adult in a room with a group of children. Somebody needs a diaper change. Somebody else has fallen and is crying. A third child is heading for the stairs. An adult can do one of those three things at a time.

Ratio is the rule that decides how many "somebody elses" one adult is ever legally responsible for at once. It does not promise a child constant one-on-one attention. It sets the outer limit on how thin an adult's attention can legally be spread before a second adult has to be added to the group.

That is why the number gets smaller as children get younger. A four-month-old cannot tell an adult they are hurt, hungry or scared, and cannot move away from danger on their own. A five-year-old can do all three. British Columbia's Child Care Licensing Regulation reflects that difference directly: one educator for up to 4 children under 36 months, against one educator for up to 8 children aged 30 months to school age.

The rule sits inside Schedule E of the Child Care Licensing Regulation, the same regulation that also sets the maximum size of a group in the first place. A licensee has to keep every group under its maximum size and staff it at no less than the regulation requires for however many children are actually in that group. Both limits apply together, all day, not as an average.

The ratios that apply to this centre and to nearby families

Four care types cover most licensed child care in the Tri-Cities. Two of them are the exact care types this centre is licensed for.

Care type	Maximum group size	Staff required
Group Child Care, under 36 months	12	1 infant and toddler educator for up to 4; that educator plus 1 more for 5 to 8; that educator, another educator and 1 assistant for 9 to 12
Group Child Care, 30 months to school age	25, with no more than 2 children under 36 months in the group	1 educator for up to 8; 1 educator and 1 assistant for 9 to 16; 1 educator and 2 assistants for 17 to 25
Multi-Age Child Care	8, with no more than 3 children under 36 months	1 educator for up to 8
Group Child Care, school age	24 if a preschool or grade 1 child is present, 30 if not	1 responsible adult for 12 or fewer (24 max) or 15 or fewer (30 max); 2 responsible adults above that

Source: Schedule E, Child Care Licensing Regulation, B.C. Reg. 332/2007, current to 8 September 2026.

Two things in that table are easy to misread. The first is that "maximum group size" and "staff required" are separate limits, checked together. A group of 8 children aged 30 months to school age may legally have one educator. A group of 9 must have two people, an educator and an assistant, even though it only grew by one child. The second is that Multi-Age Child Care caps a group at 8 no matter how many staff a centre adds. A Multi-Age program cannot legally run 16 children in one group with two educators. It has to be two groups of 8, each with its own educator.

That second point matters here directly, because it is exactly how our own licence is built.

What our own licence works out to

As of the Fraser Health Fraser North public list, printed 3 July 2026, this centre is licensed for 24 children at one time, split into 8 Group Child Care spaces for 30 months to school age and 16 Multi-Age Child Care spaces.

Run that split against Schedule E and the legal minimum comes out to three educators.

The 8 Group Child Care spaces sit in one group. At 8 children, the applicable band is "8 or fewer," so the legal floor is one educator.

The 16 Multi-Age spaces cannot legally be a single group, because a Multi-Age group is capped at 8. They are two groups of 8, each requiring its own educator.

Three educators, three groups, is the minimum a facility with this exact licence could legally run on a day when every space is filled. We generally staff one to two adults above that floor, as the next section shows.

Groups and educators here work the way a day at our centre, hour by hour describes it: children are typically organised into three groups across three classrooms, by age, developmental needs and daily attendance, each with a designated educator. Generally four to five educators are present each day, with additional educators supporting throughout the centre, and the ratios required by licensing are met at every point in the day. That is one to two more adults than the legal floor for a full building, on an ordinary day rather than a special one.

Why the gap between the floor and the actual number is worth asking about

A licence tells a parent the least a centre is allowed to do. It does not tell a parent what a centre actually does on a Tuesday in November, and the distance between those two things varies enormously from one facility to the next.

Ask two centres the same question, "what's your ratio," and both can give you the same legally correct answer while running two different rooms day to day. The legal minimum for a group of 8 children aged 30 months to school age is one educator. A centre that runs exactly one adult in that room every day, with no support when that adult needs a bathroom break or steps out to greet a late arrival, is compliant. So is a centre that runs two adults in the same room as a matter of course. The regulation cannot see the difference. A parent standing in the room can.

That is the more useful question to bring on a tour: not "what is your ratio," which any licensed centre can answer correctly, but "how many children and how many adults are actually in this room most days," and "what happens on the day someone is sick or on holiday." Questions to ask on a daycare tour covers how to ask both without it sounding like an interrogation.

What happens when an educator is away

Every licensed centre has to answer this the same way under the law: the ratio still has to be met. A centre cannot legally decide to run short for a shift because someone called in sick.

Here, coverage comes from another qualified educator or an approved substitute, and staffing assignments are adjusted so the required ratios hold for every group. That is a legal requirement, not a courtesy, and it is worth asking any centre how they actually fill the gap rather than only whether they do. A named substitute the children already know from previous shifts is a different experience for a child than an unfamiliar face who has never been in the room before.

Who counts, and who does not

The regulation is specific about which adults count toward a ratio. Certified roles count; other adults present in the building do not, unless they personally hold the certificate a role requires.

An educator, for ratio purposes, means someone holding an early childhood educator certificate. An infant and toddler educator holds that certificate plus an additional infant and toddler certification, required for children under 36 months. An assistant holds an early childhood educator assistant certificate, a shorter qualification than a full educator certificate. A responsible adult, used only in school-age and occasional care, is at least 19 years old with a minimum of relevant coursework and experience, a lower bar than either certificate.

A parent volunteer, a student on placement, or an administrator handling paperwork in the office does not count toward the ratio unless they are personally certified for the role being filled. The educator or administrator who greets families at the door each morning and helps a child into the classroom is doing real supervision work, but that is separate from whoever is already assigned and counted with each group inside the rooms.

This distinction is also why "how many adults are in the building" is a different, less useful question than "how many adults are counted with my child's group." A busy-looking building can still have a thinly staffed room.

Does the ratio change outside, or on a walk?

No. The ratio applies to a group everywhere it goes during the day, not only indoors. It holds during outdoor play and it holds on a walk or an outing.

Transportation adds one more rule on top of ratio: if more than 7 children travel together in a single vehicle, at least one responsible adult besides the driver must also be in the vehicle, and the driver must be 19 or older with the right class of licence. Field trips here may include a summer outing such as blueberry picking or an October visit to a pumpkin patch, among other community outings arranged through the year depending on interests and availability, and the number of accompanying adults follows the children's ages, attendance and licensing requirements for that specific trip.

Is a lower ratio always the better choice?

Not by itself. A lower ratio means each educator is responsible for fewer children, which generally means a faster response when something happens and more individual attention across the day. That is real and it is worth weighing.

It does not measure warmth, consistency, or how well an educator actually knows an individual child. An educator who has worked with the same group of eight for two years, who knows which child needs five minutes of quiet before nap and which one needs to run first, can serve that group better than a technically lower-ratio room staffed by people who change every few months. Ratio is the floor a centre is legally required to meet. What a centre builds on top of that floor is a separate question, worth asking on its own.

Use the number as a starting point, then ask what sits on top of it: how long educators tend to stay, how a new child is settled in, and how the centre talks about a day when things did not go smoothly.

How to check any centre's ratio for yourself

Every licensed facility in this area appears on the Fraser Health Fraser North public list, which states each facility's maximum capacity and every care type it is licensed for, with the number of spaces in each. How to check a Port Coquitlam daycare's licence before you tour walks through reading that list, including where to find the inspection history for a facility once you know its licence.

Once you have a facility's care types and space counts, Schedule E of the Child Care Licensing Regulation is the table that turns those numbers into a staffing minimum, the same way this post worked through our own licence above. How to choose a daycare, a checklist before you tour has the fuller list of what to check before you book a single visit, of which ratio is one item among several.

Frequently asked questions

What is a child-to-staff ratio and why does it matter?

It is the maximum number of children one educator may be responsible for at the same time, set out in British Columbia's Child Care Licensing Regulation. It matters because supervision, comfort and safety all depend on how many children are asking for an adult's attention at once. A lower number means each child is sharing an adult with fewer other children.

How many educators are in the room with my child?

It depends on your child's care type and how many children are in the group that day. The regulation sets a legal minimum for each care type and age band, and many centres, including ours, staff above that minimum on an ordinary day. Ask the centre directly what a typical group looks like, and compare that answer to what the licence requires.

What is the ratio for infants and toddlers in BC?

In Group Child Care for children under 36 months, one infant and toddler educator may care for up to 4 children. From 5 to 8 children, the group needs that infant and toddler educator plus one more educator. From 9 to 12, it needs the infant and toddler educator, another educator and an assistant. The maximum group size is 12.

What is the ratio for children 30 months to school age?

One educator may supervise up to 8 children on their own. From 9 to 16 children, the regulation requires an assistant as well. From 17 to 25, it requires two assistants. The maximum group size is 25, with no more than 2 children under 36 months allowed in that group.

What is the ratio for a Multi-Age group?

One educator for a group of up to 8 children of mixed ages. No more than 3 of those children may be under 36 months, and if any child under 12 months is present, only one child may be that young. Eight is also the maximum group size, so a Multi-Age program cannot legally run a bigger group with more staff instead.

What is the ratio for school-age children?

It depends on who else is in the group. If a preschool child or a child in grade 1 is present, the maximum group is 24, with one responsible adult for 12 or fewer children and two for 13 to 24. If no preschool child or grade 1 child is present, the maximum group is 30, with one responsible adult for 15 or fewer and two for 16 to 30.

How many educators does La Vie Est Belle have on a normal day?

Generally four to five educators are present each day, across three groups organised by age, developmental needs and daily attendance. Each group has a designated educator, with additional educators supporting throughout the centre, and the ratios required by licensing are always met.

Does the person who greets me at the door count toward the ratio?

Only if that person is filling an educator, assistant or responsible adult role for a group at that moment, as defined in the regulation. A designated educator or centre administrator welcomes families each morning and helps a child into the classroom, which is a real supervision role, separate from whoever is already counted with each group.

What happens to the ratio if an educator is away sick?

The ratio has to be met regardless. Coverage comes from another qualified educator or an approved substitute, and staffing assignments are adjusted so the required staff-to-child ratio holds for every group, every day. A centre cannot legally run short for a shift and make it up later.

Is a lower ratio always better for my child?

A lower ratio means each educator has fewer children to watch at once, which generally means faster response and more individual attention. It does not by itself measure warmth, consistency or skill. An experienced educator who has worked with the same group for two years may serve a child better than a lower-ratio room where staff turn over every few months. Treat ratio as a floor, then ask about the people.

Can I ask to see the ratio in person rather than just hear the number?

Yes, and it is one of the more useful things to ask for on a tour. Numbers on a page describe a minimum. Standing in a room at a normal time of day, mid-morning rather than at drop-off or pick-up, shows you how many adults are actually there and how they are working with the group.

Before you visit

Ratio is one number among several worth checking before you commit to a centre, and it is one of the few you can verify from a public document before you ever pick up the phone. We are at 1103 Confederation Drive, in the Citadel neighbourhood of Port Coquitlam. Come see how many adults are actually in the room on an ordinary day. Book a tour and we will walk you through it in person.