Stargrower
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Everything posted by Stargrower
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Pre-Schools staying open!!!
Stargrower replied to DebBrad's topic in Practice and Provision: General issues
For me, it is about staff not so much children. It does seem that the younger children are, the less likely they are to catch or become ill with coronavirus. But we have a staff team of 18 ranging in age from early twenties to mid fifties. We are the ones who are at risk by dealing every day with the public. I know some of our parents are not keeping to lockdown rules. Our local authority are looking after their own, in terms of testing and vaccination. I know Children's Centre staff who are working from home but have been given priority vaccine appointments. Then PVI settings are just left to it. We were promised home tests delivered to us at nursery, but then it was decided this would only be for nurseries linked to primary schools. Not only are we super-immune in Early Years, if you work in a PVI setting, you have some special magical immunity. -
Thank you, I thought that was probably the case.
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Can anyone shed any light on the difficulty logging onto (or staying on) Tapestry? Since last week, we've been getting a screen with a picture and messages saying "We're experiencing technical difficulties" and error code 500. We can occasionally log on, but it quickly reverts to the error message. Anyone else or is it just us? Thank you.
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Pre-Schools staying open!!!
Stargrower replied to DebBrad's topic in Practice and Provision: General issues
Exactly! We are so important that we must take risks and stay open but we have been seriously underfunded for years! We are open and I don't want to close but I want it to be safe for my staff and for me. If we are so valued that we have been prioritised over schools (even though I know that isn't true in the slightest) then we should be offered asymptomatic testing, the vaccine and be properly funded. One of the reasons we have to stay open is that so far, our LA's line on funding is that it will be a normal term. We will only be able to claim for children attending and we won't be funded if we close unless it's to follow PHE advice. -
Pre-Schools staying open!!!
Stargrower replied to DebBrad's topic in Practice and Provision: General issues
Vicky Ford, Children and Families Minister has said that schools have been closed and other restrictions put in place in order to prioritise early years settings and keep them open. Apparently, we are so important to the learning, development and welfare of children, that we need to be kept open at any cost. So cancel those exams and close schools nationwide in order to keep early years open. Really Vicky? Sounds like you're talking your way out of a deep hole if you ask me! -
We allow hot drinks in the room which go on a shelf out of the reach of children. Staff are very careful. They have to go to the drink not sit down with it or wander round. We carry hot drinks from the kitchen in a washing up bowl, so that if the person carrying them trips/spills, the drinks spill into the bowl not onto the floor or onto a child!
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Definitely don't rely on Track and Trace. My sister was contacted by them and asked to self-isolate for 14 days from the 6th September. She received the text from Track and Trace on 16th September! In those 10 days she had been to work in a high school, had been to friends' houses and had family over to her house. Luckily she didn't develop symptoms so assumes she was clear.
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We are due to have a staff meeting on Thursday and would have about 12 people there. We obviously all work together, but not all at the same time due to part timers and shift patterns. Are we allowed to have our meeting? It would be difficult for us to all be 2m apart. What are others doing about team meetings? Thank you
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How did you do this please finleysmaid?
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We are full daycare and are taking children at the door and returning them to the door or garden gate, so no parents are coming in. Our exception to this is parents settling new children but we have been able to do all of this outside so far. I agree though, if that is your policy, he needs to abide by it. I wonder if he is refusing to wear a mask in shops, on public transport etc. Or whether he thinks the nice nursery ladies will let him get away with it!
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We have accepted children with runny noses as long as they have no other symptoms and are well in themselves. I think if we turned runny noses away, we'd be almost empty over the winter! It's a tough decision to make though.
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I guess having been open since June 1st, I'm a bit jaded with the whole thing. We are doing everything the guidance tells us, or how we interpret it.
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New guidance is only on reporting cases.
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We have been using our big outdoor sandpit since late June.
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We're learning as we go along though. When I walked the dog last night, out on farmland , my friend suddenly said "I can really smell disinfectant!" It was my jumper...🤣
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No you walk round with it. Our Pre-school Room is a large room and it took about three minutes to cover the room, aiming it at shelves, water tray etc from a distance. Our Toddler Room which is less than half the size took a couple of minutes. (Baby Room not in use at the moment) It is quite strange and you have to trust it's doing its job as you're not physically cleaning anything. With large objects, you would have to fog one side, then turn it over and do the other side to cover it in disinfectant.
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We have been open since 1st June and were so exhausted by the cleaning, the amount of time it takes, having to close an hour early to manage it, the drudgery of it all every day, that I bought a fogging machine! It's a bit of a monster but it does an AMAZING job! You fill the tank with disinfectant and water, plug in and switch on. It blasts out a very fine "fog" of disinfectant that settles everywhere. It is doesn't make things wet (unless you use it at very close range) and is saving us masses of time. It was quite an investment at £240 but I thought as we're going to be doing this for months, if not years, it was well worth it. They sell much cheaper ones on Amazon which might be good if you're a smaller sessional setting.
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We used to have a Makaton Nursery Rhymes DVD with Dave Benson Phillips. Really lovely way to pick up the signs and all filmed in the community and at special schools. I don't know if it's still available but might be worth a look.
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How daft! I saw something about (non-Covid) guidance on improving children's dental health which is coming our way and it said it shouldn't be interpreted as "supervised toothbrushing"! Rings some kind of bell...stay at home, go to work, don't go to work, go to work but not on public transport...
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Oh yes, I can see that could be a problem.
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Transferring 'Tapestry' to another setting
Stargrower replied to happylandsnursery's topic in EasyPeasy
This is interesting... It is a requirement of our Early Years Funding that we pass on children's learning journals to their next setting (so usually school, unless they move away). I've just checked our paperwork and we ask permission to obtain records from a previous setting, but don't ask if we can pass ours on. I'll have to have a think! -
We have just updated our policy. Staff used to keep their phones with their bags, coats etc which are on pegs on a stairwell which is behind a door. We have recently given each adult a pigeon hole in the staff room and they now keep their phones in their pigeon hole. This wasn't anything to do with Covid, but because one member of staff was constantly checking her phone (unnecessarily, I think to check social media). I used a "policy update" to solve this little problem! In any case, it does make our practice more transparent. Sorry, that's probably not much help as you said our staff room is not in use! Can staff give the setting number so they can be contacted in an emergency?
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We stopped bubbles on 20th July when the requirement ended. It was a logistical nightmare and we "popped the bubble" several times for various reasons. For example, one day we had one child left in a bubble from 2.30pm - 5pm. We couldn't leave her on her own with that bubble's adult, so she had to go into the other bubble., which completely defeats the object! We are full daycare with a huge variety of attendance patterns and it just wasn't practical. I was happy to stop as we are spending 95% of our time outdoors, from breakfast until going home time. As the spread of infection reduces massively outside, I felt that it compensated for the lack of bubbles! We are doing tons of handwashing and lots of cleaning so I feel we're doing our best.
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Possibly, but there are lots of things that need cleaning that can't be rotated such as chairs and tables, mud kitchen, climbing frame and other outdoor equipment.
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Yes, I was just thinking about the cost this morning. Tomorrow we have 16 on our Pre-school Room and a member of staff on holiday. Normally they would be fine with two adults, but because of the time it takes to clean and reset as we go, plus all the handwashing, we really need an extra person. It all adds up!
