Education committee inquiry

[Helen]

As one of the 5 founders of the APPG for childcare and early education, the FSF are being asked to contribute to the education committee inquiry on the following topics.

If you 'd like to let me know your views, I will make sure they are passed on.

• Effect of provider closure on children's early years development
• Effect of closure on funded entitlement and the childcare market
• Support for remaining open for critical workers
• Effect on disadvantaged groups
• Effect on staff's professional development
• PPE
• Sense that DfE don’t understand the Early Years sector

 

 

[FSFRebecca]

For us, the main issue was that EYrs has always been 'tacked on' in other announcements - "schools must .... schools must .... oh, yes and nurseries" There has been a distinct lack of mentions for our childminding community as well, even when they do remember to mention nursery settings!

Some of the things that have been sent out in the guidance simply don't apply to our kind of provisions e.g that when we create the small groups of children they should stay the same all week - works fine if your children come all week, but if they come for 2 and a half days it doesn't work.

The guidance has been released 'out of hours' so there has been a sense of panic created

The initial communication regarding funding/fees was confusing and so owners made decisions based on inaccurately interpreted information and the consequences of this confusion have been costly

[Mouseketeer]

Hi Both, hope you’re all keeping well..

Much as Rebecca really:

Early years are way down the list when it comes to recognition, even the latest announcement regards the 1st June opening to more/all for schools we left hanging and it was a later ‘by the way that means you too’ from DfE, 

The late change to EY furlough scheme was disgraceful, after we’d given staff furlough letters we immediately had to retract them.

Financial support for charity settings has been lacking, we couldn’t claim the small business relief grant because our rates relief had the ‘wrong’ name, even though many of us have business rates that meet the criteria thresholds.

Trying to plan for a re-opening from the guidance is impossible, creating ‘bubbles’ with no cross contamination just won’t happen, no matter how you separate groups, staff and resources we only have one set of children’s toilets and one adult toilet.

We have an apprentice who is continuing college course work remotely but is missing all the hands on training, I have no idea if that time will need extending to gain the missed experience, this will have a cost implication for employers or if apprentices will still complete courses on time

[finleysmaid]

my tuppenceworth

Development... My main concern will be for the childrens PSE skills having been told not to socialise they will be expected to integrate in to a class of 30 in September Some will find these transitions incredibly difficult and stressful and must be given planty of time to settle without pressure and the need to 'work'. No children should be expected to undertake formal assessments .

The market. We are all going to suffer huge financial issues . We have lost most of our private income which is what supports us since the funding does not cover our costs (we are around 40p per child per hour below breakeven) chronic underfunding has been going on for so long . The childminders have been very badly treated and many will not return to the industry

PPE. We are unable to get PPE and are being told we don't need it....but if a care home needs it why don't we? i am not talking about hazmat suits but we all use gloves/aprons/cleaning materials/disinfectants/aprons. But we are also told by government that we need eye protection and fluid resistant masks to deal with vomit.....children vomiting in this age group is pretty common.....where am i going to get these from?

Social distancing is not only impossible for this age group but highly undesirable . These children are 3 and 4 ...if your 3 year old wanted a cuddle what would you expect us to do....read him a book on covid to 'explain???!!! Children form strong and meaningful bonds at this age, this is how we work. Who is advising the Government on their strategy for the safe return of nursery children to their settings and what expertease do they have in child development?

[trekker]

Well I would like to think most children’s development  should not have suffered too much – I hope most have been with parents who have had lots of time to play with them and engage in conversation and everyday activities like baking, helping with tasks…real meaningful old fashioned and age appropriate learning through play…the main lack they might have had is social interaction with other children…parents have always been highlighted as children’s key educators…children learn at home too!

This is why I don’t think these children should be returning first when nothing is clear and we will be so focused on dealing with all the issues - they are better off at home until everything is running more smoothly and has been trialled properly by older groups.    We do not need to hurry them back before we know for sure that it is safe for everyone…many don’t even attend settings – they will do just fine too!  People are talking like children will fall behind by not returning asap…and parents will worry on that basis and feel pressure to send them back and so we are then pressured to open…but do they really understand they are not coming back to settings anything like the ones they left…for many returning will be traumatic and development will suffer for sure...what impact will  rooms empty of many of the resources and activities they used to love,  so many changes and rules and inevitable reductions in physical closeness and freedoms have....we are supposed to be developing their love of learning ... the environments they will be returning to are not enabling at all. Children's well being will suffer...no matter how much staff try to reassure them...especially if they cant be with their special friends or key adults.

 

Staff too are scared and worried and unsure about the mixed messages we are getting.   One set of advice says face coverings may be beneficial for short periods indoors where there is a risk of close social contact with people you do not usually meet and where social distancing and other measures cannot be maintained, for example on public transport or in some shops…but this does not apply to schools or other education settings where we are definitely going to be in close social contact with people we do not usually meet and where social distancing and other measures cannot be maintained!

There is lots of reassurances about how children are less affected, less likely to transmit the virus (but also contradiction about those facts!)  but there seems to be no thought about the adults in the setting or adults children will come in contact with who may be more seriously affected!  It is a point that has been raised so many times but no one has really answered the question Is it safe for adults too!

 

There is a lack of understanding about how early years work – children do not all attend mon to Friday 9 to 3…many setting have children attending half days,  full days, mornings, afternoons and a mix of them all…same with staff….how can bubbles of staff and children that don’t mix on any day or subsequent day be established?

Also staff have breaks…you need 2 staff to a bubble even with 4 children to accommodate those – even to allow staff to be washing their hands more frequently or cleaning resources (many nursery settings don’t have separate cleaning staff!)...

sorry quite a long one!

Edited May 14, 2020 by trekker
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[lynned55]

Much the same as everyone else really. However the biggest and perhaps most important is what Rebecca is saying- why do we keep being forgotten? Even yesterday's press conference from ED SEC (Gavin W) were nurseries or childcare even mentioned- NO!

It is costing us a fortune to implement all the changes we are going to have to do- even down to the extra cleaning materials. Schools are being given extra money to help them with all this- why aren't we? We have no additional cleaning staff, so our staff will be cleaning everything themselves.

Lastly- the guidance has not been written for the nurseries (& childminders) that operate out of one room, church hall or someones home- and  many have different children attending on different days. So many of these settings operating like this are Outstanding settings, so  why are they not being consulted when trying to work out what to do. I would love to know who is advising the government on how EY settings work- I'm pretty sure it isn't anyone who works in a setting. 

[Helen]

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your input on this- your concerns have been passed on and will be included in the APPG's contribution to the inquiry. I do hope we can get some clarity and appropriate support and guidance for the early years sector, who, I agree, have been largely forgotten.

[Mouseketeer]

As for the press conference yesterday when the testing under 5’s question came up and the answer was “all children going back are around 5” says it all really doesn’t  it? Early Years does not figure in any of their thinking, we’re on our own as we wade through this s*** creek 😡

[finleysmaid]

1 hour ago, Mouseketeer said:

As for the press conference yesterday when the testing under 5’s question came up and the answer was “all children going back are around 5” says it all really doesn’t  it? Early Years does not figure in any of their thinking, we’re on our own as we wade through this s*** creek 😡

i have stopped watching for exactly this reason!

[Cait]

Ooh! Perhaps that’s it then!  The ‘get out of jail free card’ Children have to be around 5 to go back!  🤔😳