Checking occupancy and ratios

See how full each day is, and spot days flagged RATIO or WARNING before they arrive.

Written byDaniel Broadhurst (Founder)|Published: 18 June 2026|
Ofsted Aligned

ℹ️Who this is for

Childminders planning their bookings and checking they stay within their ratios. It takes about two minutes.

Video Walkthrough

The Occupancy report shows how full each day is. It flags days where the children booked in go over, or reach, your ratio limits or capacity.

1. Open the report

Go to Tools, open Reports & Analytics, then tap Occupancy Report.

The top of the screen shows your Avg. Occupancy, Capacity and Available Spots. Each day has a bar showing its peak number of children against your capacity, with a count of children under 1 (U1), under 5 (U5) and under 8 (U8, or U12 in Scotland).

2. See the month on a calendar

Tap the menu in the top right and choose Calendar View. Each day is coloured by how full it is. Open View Legend from the same menu to see what the colours mean:

  • Low (<75%)
  • Good (75-89%)
  • Near (90%+)
  • Over Capacity

Tap a day to see how many children are booked against your capacity, and any ratio issue or warning for that day. From there you can open the day's roster or tap Book Session.

3. Switch to Month

Go back to the report and tap Month. Days that need attention carry a badge:

  • RATIO: at some point in the day, a limit is exceeded. For example, too many babies under 1, or your total capacity.
  • WARNING: the day reaches a limit, such as your total setting capacity, without going over it.

4. Check a flagged day

Tap a flagged day to open its Daily Roster. It lists who's booked in and how many spaces are available.

⚠️Flags depend on accurate records

Ratios are worked out from each child's date of birth and the children booked in. Keep dates of birth and bookings up to date, or a day may not be flagged.

Why KinderStart does it this way

Ratios change across the day as children arrive and leave. Checking the busiest moment of each day shows you a problem before it happens, while there's still time to change a booking.

What to do next

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KinderStart strives for accuracy. Competitor features and pricing comparisons are based on publicly available information as of May 2026. Details are subject to change by respective providers.

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