Re-opening our nurseries after lockdown

[Mouseketeer]

1 minute ago, nomski100 said:

So I sent a letter to all my staff to say that we may be opening on 1st June and that I want them back to work on the 25th May to prepare..... 

they emailed me back saying:

1. That’s a bank holiday 🤭

2. It’s half term🤦‍♀️ 

Im a pack out nursery and now will have to prepare and plan everything myself!! Can’t ask them back next week as I told them I would give week notice........

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I haven’t put coming in for a day to prepare to mine yet, I wouldn’t ask for Bank holiday but I would be upset if they’ve been at home being paid for all this time and couldn’t give up a few hours during half term to come and help out 😠

[Mouseketeer]

1 hour ago, finleysmaid said:

Return to EY settings plan 2020.pdf

This might be useful ..it was sent by our borough . To be honest quite well written i felt !

Bit of a cheek FM but do you have it in word format please for editing please? It looks quite useful :-) 

[Panders]

1 hour ago, zigzag said:

Where can I find this to read?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/boriss-school-reopening-plans-in-chaos-as-government-scientific-advisor-admits-there-is-low-confidence-pupils-cant-spread-coronavirus-and-ministers-have-no-idea-if-it-will-trigger-a-second-wave-in-shocking-and-disturbing-commons-car-crash-appearance/ar-BB142wF5?ocid=spartanntp

[zigzag]

15 minutes ago, Mouseketeer said:

I haven’t put coming in for a day to prepare to mine yet, I wouldn’t ask for Bank holiday but I would be upset if they’ve been at home being paid for all this time and couldn’t give up a few hours during half term to come and help out 😠

I agree, half term is not going to mean anything anyway! I really do t think it’s too much to be asking. 
 

[zigzag]

23 minutes ago, Mouseketeer said:

No response to my email and that sent Monday.

It seems a decision will be made on 28th May if opening is going to happen so we’ll still have to prepare as if it will, my county have confirmed we will keep funding if we choose not to open, it won’t take many more changing their minds to say ‘forget it’, I’m now thinking not all days anyway and the ‘yes’ ones can take it or leave it, none are KW chn or vulnerable and all have a parent at home.

Our county have confirmed that there are no “current plans to take funding away” if we choose not to open.  So that’s good.  I still don’t know if it’s worth opening for 4 to 6 children! I am worried that if myself and deputy decide not to open that the committee will say “no pay”. (Bearing in mind that the chair is pressuring me to open to take her two children)  She is also very unhappy with the thought of morning only sessions instead of whole days. Again there is such a conflict of interest in having a committee made up of all parents.  So I am no further forward with a decision, but I have calmed down and stopped stressing (at the moment)

 

[louby loo]

43 minutes ago, nomski100 said:

So I sent a letter to all my staff to say that we may be opening on 1st June and that I want them back to work on the 25th May to prepare..... 

they emailed me back saying:

1. That’s a bank holiday 🤭

2. It’s half term🤦‍♀️ 

Im a pack out nursery and now will have to prepare and plan everything myself!! Can’t ask them back next week as I told them I would give week notice........

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I told my staff yesterday  we would have meeting next Monday at 10.30- they all replied back with ok.

My problem is the first one to reply within minutes- is the one member of staff that I have to tell she can't work   She is not going to be happy when I tell her. She meets at least  three of the vulnerable criteria list + plus her husband has serious heart problems.  She can't wait to get back .

To be honest  so far I have had very little response back from parents,  2 -straight away (not surprised)  4- maybe, but respect our choice either way.

 I have the feeling most of ours want to be told we're closed...... that way the decision has been taken away fro them.

[finleysmaid]

1 hour ago, Mouseketeer said:

Bit of a cheek FM but do you have it in word format please for editing please? It looks quite useful :-) 

So sorry Mousie i can't convert a PDF ...someone else may be able to help. I just ended up printing and scribbling on it !! (neat as usual )

[finleysmaid]

42 minutes ago, zigzag said:

Our county have confirmed that there are no “current plans to take funding away” if we choose not to open.  

this phrase worries me....!

[sunnyday]

1 hour ago, nomski100 said:

So I sent a letter to all my staff to say that we may be opening on 1st June and that I want them back to work on the 25th May to prepare..... 

they emailed me back saying:

1. That’s a bank holiday 🤭

2. It’s half term🤦‍♀️ 

Im a pack out nursery and now will have to prepare and plan everything myself!! Can’t ask them back next week as I told them I would give week notice........

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

That is really bad form - have they been paid/furloughed for the past 8 weeks?

Oh I'm having a bit of a seethe on your behalf

[zigzag]

52 minutes ago, finleysmaid said:

this phrase worries me....!

I know, it’s a bit of a get out cause maybe!

[Mouseketeer]

1 hour ago, zigzag said:

Our county have confirmed that there are no “current plans to take funding away” if we choose not to open.  So that’s good.  I still don’t know if it’s worth opening for 4 to 6 children! I am worried that if myself and deputy decide not to open that the committee will say “no pay”. (Bearing in mind that the chair is pressuring me to open to take her two children)  She is also very unhappy with the thought of morning only sessions instead of whole days. Again there is such a conflict of interest in having a committee made up of all parents.  So I am no further forward with a decision, but I have calmed down and stopped stressing (at the moment)

 

I totally agree with the ‘conflict of interest’, many see being in the committee as getting what they want, I find the biggest issue when they really need to raise fees.

[Mouseketeer]

1 hour ago, zigzag said:

Our county have confirmed that there are no “current plans to take funding away” if we choose not to open.  So that’s good.

Ewww my response was a clear ‘we will not be taking funding back’

[FSFRebecca]

We've been open throughout the period and I'm happy to share what we have put in place to prepare for reopening - too many things to put in one list as it's pretty overwhelming - but if you ask me the question .... I'll tell you what I've done and how I've risk assessed it. If it's helpful ...

[zigzag]

2 minutes ago, FSFRebecca said:

We've been open throughout the period and I'm happy to share what we have put in place to prepare for reopening - too many things to put in one list as it's pretty overwhelming - but if you ask me the question .... I'll tell you what I've done and how I've risk assessed it. If it's helpful ...

Thank you.  I am thinking of reducing sessions from 6 hours to 3 hours so that we don’t have to deal with lunchboxes and meal times. How do you cope with meal times?

[FSFRebecca]

We've separated all our tables and some children will eat in their rooms - usually we have eveyone together in our 'dining room' (big space in the middle). We've got 6 groups and (3+3+4+6+8+10). We've put rainbow labels on our tables to show children where to sit 

[Rebecca]

Still me - posted as the wrong type of 'Rebecca' hopefully Jules and Ben will sort it for me! Was that any help zigzag?

[zigzag]

Thank you. It’s interesting to see how they sit. How do you manage lunchboxes? We store the lunchboxes and then take items out and put them on the child’s plate.  

[finleysmaid]

3 minutes ago, zigzag said:

Thank you. It’s interesting to see how they sit. How do you manage lunchboxes? We store the lunchboxes and then take items out and put them on the child’s plate.  

we normally do the same....we have almost decided we will only do sessional care and no lunches until the next 'phase'

[Rebecca]

4 minutes ago, zigzag said:

Thank you. It’s interesting to see how they sit. How do you manage lunchboxes? We store the lunchboxes and then take items out and put them on the child’s plate.  

We antibac lunchboxes as they come in, store them and wear gloves when we take things out

 

[Rebecca]

1 minute ago, finleysmaid said:

we normally do the same....we have almost decided we will only do sessional care and no lunches until the next 'phase'

We have too many children of key workers who have been with us throughout the lockdown period and they do long days. I think if they're spread out it's all ok. I've got enough space to seat them in their groups - I appreciate I'm lucky. I've cut our capacity though from 63 down to 34 ish

[finleysmaid]

We did decide that if we needed to that we would make up packed lunches for the children....that way no cross contamination from home and only one person in charge of food . I'd need to charge of course which might be an issue!

[Rebecca]

If food is coming from home, could you put the child's lunch box beside their plate and let them 'decant' it onto their plate - then you can clean the table and the plates etc afterwards?

[finleysmaid]

Having had another think the best way would be for the food to come in a throw away plastic bag ..the child puts their food on the plate and then the bag is thrown away. (phase 2 done!!)

[finleysmaid]

35 minutes ago, FSFRebecca said:

We've separated all our tables and some children will eat in their rooms - usually we have eveyone together in our 'dining room' (big space in the middle). We've got 6 groups and (3+3+4+6+8+10). We've put rainbow labels on our tables to show children where to sit 

How do you keep them all apart during the day? i'm so used to working free flow

[Rebecca]

9 minutes ago, finleysmaid said:

How do you keep them all apart during the day? i'm so used to working free flow

Same!

We've changed our rooms from being 'zones' (role play , messy, tables etc (children using just get what they want and take it to the room they want it in). Each room is now like a self-contained 'mini nursery'.

Normally we have 3 groups 'babies' toddlers' 'preschool' - now I've got 6

1. Nappies/don't walk or talk - group of 3
2. Nappies/walking and talking - group of 3
3. Nappies/potty training - group of 4 (need room nearest toilets)
4. Not nappies but not preschool - group of 6
5. Preschool - not school this year - group of 8
6. Going to school - group of 8

The groups will have their own room. They will stay together all day. I've cut our garden into 4 sections so that 4 can be out all the time 2 groups inside. Rooms and toys will be deep cleaned daily (as now) and 'reset' for the next day. Each group will have 1.5 staff ( so that staff can cover breaks). That's the only thing I can't keep the same as the staff shifts don't allow for one person all day. I'm looking at one person all morning and one all afternoon maybe - that's my job for this week!

 

[Mouseketeer]

I can see how we can split groups/staff/resources/areas but all chn will have to use the same toilets and staff have one toilet, how are you managing that?

Edited May 14, 2020 by Mouseketeer

[Rebecca]

We’ve been hourly cleaning handles, switches, and frequently touched surfaces- which is a job in itself! This was as per the cleaning guidance 

[Mouseketeer]

Thanks Rebecca, I just feel like the point (and hard work) of keeping groups apart with separate staff in own areas with own resources falls down when all are using the same toilets, you’d need to clean down after every child used them in theory if chn from different ‘bubbles’ are using them 🤷‍♀️
 

Thankfully it looks we will have only enough for one group to begin with but am thinking when more want to joint and we have to create more groups.

[Rebecca]

1 hour ago, Rebecca said:

We’ve been hourly cleaning handles, switches, and frequently touched surfaces- which is a job in itself! This was as per the cleaning guidance 

I’ve got a kitchen timer that is set every hour to let us know it’s time to do the cleaning round. Works well. 

[Rebecca]

I agree Mouseketeer, I wrote clearly to parents with what we were able to do and if they choose not to come then I’m not charging fees until September for missed sessions. 
We’ve been open throughout and have nice systems in place and we all know what we’re doing. My problem is that I have so many key workers so I have to make it work. I’ve spoken to our doctors and nurses about what we’ve got in place and there’s been a sensible ‘you can do no more than that’ attitude. 
I need my staff to feel secure too and so they are responsible for their own rooms. 
We we clean the toilets every hour - antibac the taps, toilet handles, seat, paper towel dispenser and door handle. It’s a quick thing. When they’re in their groups they will go ‘en masse’ with their groups and we’ll clean after. I only have 2 groups using the toilet. I have 2 sets of toilets ( 6 toilets altogether). Does that make any sense?!