lynned55

I watched Matt Butlers youtube videos as well- and thought they were really good. However two things struck me 1) How come restaurants and anywhere really that deals with 'public' food has stainless steel kitchens- if virus can live on them for so long- I'm assuming it's more than covid-19 2) We will surely be at more risk from our letters coming through the post and being handled by goodness knows who/what- than the dozen or so hands that maybe touching our books? Really odd. finleysmaid- good idea on the food pictures. We still have children that 'mouth' things so may use that instead.

Anything that can be washed- Small World: Animals, Dinosaurs, large trucks, ittle tykes dolls house, duplo train set Construction: Duplo (we have loads!) Stickle bricks, rainbow rings, popoids, mega blocks, Home corner : Can have a lot of this out- mainly plastic- which we were gradually trying to replace but hadnt got around to it yet! Playdough (have bought individual pots- will name them and when dough is finished make it with them and they will all have individual portions) Water - in individual bowls Sand- not sure about this- could have individual but dont think we would have enough to have one each Messy Play - Will do finger painting, cornflour, jelly play but in individual trays/bowls and then throw Each child will have their own plastic wallet with pencils, colouring pens, glue stick etc- each 'bubble' will have their own collage stuff Books- we will have 3 groups and have enough books so that we can have 3 separate boxes of them each day, Group 1 will put box 1 away at end of session on a Monday by following Monday any traces of virus will have gone- so can pass to another group. Does that make sense? Puzzles can do same with these but will onLy be able to have 2/3 puzzles in each group No carpets, soft toys, cushions etc. We are also saying no uniform and clean clothes each morning (but in a much politer way!) Which also made me think I'm going to ask them to leave a jacket/lightweight coat in setting. HTH

Probably- or they want to start up inspections again. Gosh- if they start them up in Sept- pity the poor group who get the first ones!

That's what I thought- they still haven't put it up

Zigzag, is this off their website or an email?

I wonder why Ofsted now want us to tell them if we re open- when they told us not to bother telling them that we closed in the first place- odd

Still cant see anything on EYA site re insurance apart from the same message saying RSA are looking into it

I think we are either NOT going to get one (as we dont really exist as far as DofE are concerned ) OR It will come out Friday 29th May @ 5 pm (because someone remembered we DO exist)

Precisely!

No? COVID 19 notice re: implications of the latest government guidance about childcare providers re-opening on 1 June: The Alliance's Scheme's Insurers, RSA, are examining the government announcement and more information will be available soon. Still the same

I have just downloaded a COVID-19 Policy from them. If you have the book of policies and put the code in, you can download it.

Thanks Zigzag- DebBrad- welcome!! I feel your pain- must admit didn't ask mine how they felt, just told them we are coming back and then left it to them to tell me they aren't happy over it. Only two really have (so far!!) I'm not sure where your committee think they are going to get temporary staff from and quite how they think that will work?? Be interesting to hear. Sorry not much help to you I am the Manager of a (supposedly) committee run group but really have the opposite to you. I dont think it would occur to our committee that they could override anything or even that they are responsible for anything- so I suppose that works both ways! Tawny222- I think each group will have to work out their own to adapt change but at the moment virtually every procedure we have will have to be adapted at some point from our Admissions to Transition- however I'm not sure I have the time to rewrite all of them! We will have something in writing for parents to sign, staff code of conduct, H&S procedures etc, etc I'm sure there is a load more that others may come along and suggest.

This is ludicrous! Where was this, on EYA site? to be honest it didnt occur (stupid I know) to me that we wouldn't be. What would we not be insured for? Someone catching it at setting? Honestly-- I do dislike insurance companies- what is the point in having the insurance

zigzag- you are so right- there will no benefit at all to those poor children. What will you do if the siblings are off? Open for just one child? Although do check with your LA re funding

We are opening for 14 and will have them in 3 groups. I think though that by the time we actually open that number will have probably dropped. I would consider a max of 16.We do have 10 staff that can be in. Although I think we may then have a job not to fall over each other never mind socially distancing!

Anju- I'd be inclined to say no. Why does she not keep her where she is? Surely she would be better off there. As far as I am aware nothing has been done in our borough. No speech therapy and def no EHC Plans. We were waiting for an Ed psych visit for one of ours, waiting on a decision on an EHC for another but have heard nothing. So not sure how parent could have had her assessed.

but I do feel some of them think they are on holiday and don't need to do anything yes! do we have the same staff I wonder!! My deputy was just saying the other day that because we had told them we would pay 100% until Sept they thought, that was it. They wouldn't be coming back until September

Thank you Sunnyday

I dont particularly want to work- I'm older than rest of my staff, have a husband whose had 2 heart attacks and wanted to retire next year but I'm organising all this and will go in. I think if we minimise the risks to the best we can then................ but I resent staff saying they dont want to come in and expecting to be paid. I think mine all thought we were going to be home until Sept.

Yes, this is why I am taking them off furlough- I did consider leaving the 3 who have children on furlough but then I know others will moan at me. I have one who is going to insist she is vulnerable as she has asthma (before anyone tells me off and says I should be sympathetic- she also smokes 15/20 cigs a day so as far as I'm concerned doesn't deserve any and yes I am an anti smoker who managed to give up after smoking for around 40 years!) To top it off I had a 1:1 with a staff member who thinks its ridiculous we are coming back and why should she come back just to enable someone to get rid of their child and sit with their feet up! Livid wasn't the word. I'm actually ashamed that a member of my staff would say something like that. I just said that's ok, if you're not comfortable about coming back you can go on unpaid leave until Sept and we will review the situation then. Her answer 'Ok, so I would just be paid holiday pay then' I did remind her that we dont take holiday- we get holiday pay and that is wrapped up in our monthly salaries- same as the 2 staff meetings we have been paid for and not able to have. She then said she would think about it. Really I dont want her back now- I've paid everyone 100% since we closed and apart (from my deputy) and a few Educare courses they've done nothing. Am I being unreasonable? I wouldn't mind but we've worked together for over 20 years.

I can send the one our LA has sent. It's not a RA as such- but a 31 page document reminding us of things to do/think of. I have only skimmed it but my deputy said she thought it was pretty good as a starting point- she aid it made her think of a few things e hadn't yet. I dont like to post it here though so if anyone wants it email me sjf.preschool@gmail.com Happy to email back

So do you mean having them laying on floor sideways. like this ----------------- as you would with baby on your lap? instead of head at top and feet nearest you? What is the reasoning behind this, is it because your face isnt quite so near either end? Activities planned so far: Water play- got some new bowls so they can have one each, and washed thoroughly after use Playdo' - got 36 pots of 'proper' playdo that we will name individually and once gone will make it for them each day. Or maybe flour and water and then bin each day Messy play- can each have heir own tray (accidentally ordered 2 sets of 4 (so 8) of what I thought were big square tuff trays last year, So can each have their own jelly play, cornflour, finger paint Writing/Collagy stuff Have bought see through A4 zip up document wallets for them to have one each with some pens, pencils, glue sticks etc in Sand- cant work out what to do about this- I'd love to have it as ours. just love the sand and after being off for all this time I'm sure some of them would spend most of the morning with it. We will have 2 groups of 5 & 1 of 4. I'm thinking that each group can have a box of books & puzzles each day & then that box can be put away for 72 hours (when hopefully anything will have died) We have 100's of books and just about enough puzzles I think to last for 9 boxes every 3 days. I've seen some really good ideas on FB- wash little things like small world play, duplo etc in those net bags (the kind they sell kindling in) dunk the whole bag in soapy water, rinse, dump in disinfectant and then leave in bag and hang out to dry. Again we have so much duplo, animals, dinosaurs etc that we can have 3 smaller boxes for each group as they are so small. Another a suggestion on there was using a garden pressure hose thing- (the type that sprays fences or weed killer on trees- ) put soapy water/disinfectant in and spray down our wooden play house & outdoor equipment that is wooden- so I think I will get one. Cant think of anything else at present- we have spent so much money- we had almost run out of soap & cleaning stuff when we shut. So have also ordered hand sanitiser, cleaning stuff, gloves, face shields, luckily we have loads of disposable aprons (another mistake on my part) So I do hope that someone somewhere reminds the powers that be, that we also need some extra money- as we are more likely to need extra cleaning stuff and PPE than the schools, but what's the betting we dont get given any. Some of our equipment - the physical stuff I'm not sure we can use it as it will take 2 of us to set up/carry it and we will be too near each other. My dep and I are meeting on Tues to go through everything and try and write some sort of plan- I'm not asking rest of staff as not one (well just one) has bothered to email, text, ask how we (as in preschool) is doing or how I am. Mind you- we also have a meeting with parish priest who will hopefully say yes to us not packing away, no point in cleaning it and then stacking it all on top of each other! So hoping he will say yes- he has said no before but hopefully things are a bit different now and no one else using the hall. So sorry- I only meant to answer Panders and wrote an essay- fell better seeing it all down in black and white though

Now- Mousie!! Frank Spencer indeed!! Made me giggle- he is such a drip- isnt he. We were watching him yesterday and I was thinking (to myself) oh goodness me- its like listening to the most boring sermon ever, when my husband said ' maybe he's good at planning and doing, as he certainly isnt a public speaker'!! What do you mean about changing nappies sideways? I cant quite understand that bit?

They can turn them off- I have one and it drove me nuts eep notifying me whenever I got something- so turned the whole lot of and now just count my steps. Can I just say my daughter is an HR advisor for a large department store chain. When smart watches were first bought out, she said they had to bring in a policy around staff not wearing them as a few can take photos. Just in case anyone was trying to clone cards- I think. But I would definitely not allow them.

This is what I sent last week to 38 families The government are now saying we can begin to make plans for opening from June 1st. Before we make this decision we will need to make the preschool as safe as we possibly can not just for your children but for staff as well. We know that in the current climate we can never make anywhere 100% ‘safe’ but will do all we can to minimise the risks, before we can finalise any plans we need to know how many of you will be returning your children to us. To help you make this decision please read these government guidelines issued for parents and carers. Following the new government guidelines that have now been issued to us we will do our best to ‘social distance’ but as we all know with our age group this can be almost impossible. To help us with this: · To start: we will be opening for mornings only 9:15 -12:15 with no lunches. · To start: we will only be opening to children that are going to school in September · Parents will not be allowed under any circumstances into the group even into the foyer. If you think your child will not settle with this procedure we would advise not bringing them · If your child attends another setting we would ask you to send them to us or them. This sounds harsh but this is to minimise the risk of infection for all. Some of the above will be changed from week to week (for example if we find we can safely function with the numbers we have then we will extend to younger children after the first couple of weeks) However we reserve the right for any decisions we make to be reversed (or added to) and subject to change at a moments notice. There will obviously be lots more information and guidance to come from us before June. The above are the main ones that may help you in making this decision. Unfortunately life is now very different for all of us and Preschools are not going to be the same for a long time if ever. Please be aware that the children may not be spending time with their friends or choosing who to play with. Guidance we have is that as far as possible we try to keep them in the same small groups (max of 6) with the same adult- each session and throughout the session. They will then be apart from the other groups. This may not be possible but we are doing our best to work out a system for this as it is deemed the best way to try to minimise the risks of infection. Please let me have your decision by 5 pm Thursday evening. I know this does not give you much time but we have lots to plan and sort and until we know our numbers cannot start to make them. I understand that some of you will be unsure and that’s fine, you can say that as well. Please be aware though that government are saying us opening is conditional and plans could all be for nothing!! Please tell us: My child will be returning My child will not be returning I’m not sure So I've had 2 not sure's, 14 yes, and 2 no. The rest haven't bothered to answer- We have 23 going to school and out the 14 that say they will come back only 6 are going to school. I think now I will send something out saying no one else can return now until beginning of July as we have set our groups.