Castle Lane Day Nursery in Market Harborough is delighted to announce that it has reopened its doors to its nursery children, with effect from the 1st June 2020.
What procedures are now in place following Covid-19?
The following procedures have been put into place to minimise risk and will be reviewed on a weekly basis. All parents will be kept regularly up to date about any changes.
The nursery aims to be sensible, practical and as safe as possible. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions at all.
Arrival and departure from the nursery
We fully understand that returning to nursery will be tough for some children, given they have not attended the setting for several weeks.
However, we nevertheless ask that no parents or carers enter the nursery premises.
Dropping off your child to nursery
When you arrive at nursery, you will see clear markings on the path leading up towards Great Bowden Road. These markings will be 2 metres apart. If you arrive at the same time as another parent or carer, please adhere to these markings and wait for a member of staff to come and collect your child.
On arrival, the front gate will be kept open and a member of staff will meet parents and children at the front gate. If your child is unsettled, we encourage parents to come into the playground only. Please ensure that, as much as possible, you remain social distanced from staff and other children.
We ask that when a parent is handing over a child, other parents please remain 2 metres back behind the chalk lines.
Once the child enters the playground, we will hand sanitise their hands and then their fun day can begin!
Collecting your child from nursery
On collection, a member of staff will bring your child to you at the gate and again will sanitise their hands them before passing them back to you.
We do suggest that, in order to reduce any chance of contamination, once you get home, you pop their clothes straight into the washing machine and give them a shower or bath.
Organising children into groups or bubbles
In order to minimise the risk of infection, we will be putting the children into groups.
We will refer to these groups as ‘bubbles’ to the children.
The main reason for this grouping is that if a child within a bubble becomes unwell, we can be certain that they have only interacted with children and staff within their own bubble.
For the Pre-school and Tweenie’s children, the bubbles will be no bigger than 12 children plus 1 or 2 members of staff.
For Toddler and Baby children, the bubbles will be no bigger than 8 children, with 1 or 2 staff members.
These bubbles will spend the whole day together. The bubbles of children will not have any contact with other children or staff outside their bubble.
Parents and carers should be reassured that we are not expecting staff and children to social distance within their bubbles. If a child needs a cuddle, this will happen!
What is the purpose of these ‘bubbles’?
The main purpose of the bubbles is to limit infection risk.
If, for example, a child in a bubble shows clear symptoms of Covid-19, we will then ask that the child gets tested as soon as possible. Until the child has been tested, all children within that bubble will be asked to stay away from nursery until we get the results of the test back.
If a positive test comes back, we will advise all children and staff members within that bubble to self-isolate for up to 7 days.
We will ensure the highest standard of cleanliness and hygiene when bubbles move from one area to another.
Children are allocated to bubbles according to their ages, so they will be with their friends or peers with the same capabilities.
Resources and activities at Castle Lane
We are going to limit the resources and activities that the child have access to, to ensure that we can clean and sanitize resources effectively.
We have been advised to not allow malleable play at present. Therefore, we will not be offering play dough, food play, shaving foam and sand. We will however be offering water play with soap to all units.
We plan to be outdoors as much as possible during the first few weeks of opening. The playground will be divided into two, so that we can maintain appropriate distance between bubbles.
At present, we will not be reopening the forest school or after school club. This is due to the logistics of travelling in the mini bus.
Cleanliness and hygiene at Castle Lane
We aim to wash every child’s hands once an hour as well as obviously after toileting and prior to handling food.
We will disinfect all toys and associated resources as much as possible. And we will be vigilant with cleaning when bubbles of children swap areas.
Our cleaner will complete a thorough clean of the setting every evening, using strong disinfectant and bleach.
Toilets and nappy changing areas will be thoroughly cleaned after each use.
We have installed 2 extra hand sanitizer points in the playground. Please use these for both you and your child.
Please provide your child with a labelled water bottle, sun hat and sun cream.
Food and drink at Castle Lane
Children will be provided with their normal meals.
Menus may alter slightly, depending on available produce. Children will eat with staff and children from their own bubbles. We will ensure that children do not share from the same cup!
Staffing at Castle Lane
Directors Harriet and Vikki will return to Castle Lane on 1st June 2020, along with 7 key staff.
We have been mindful of ensuring we have a staff member from each room. This is to ensure that your child is greeted with a familiar face. As numbers increase, we will be inviting more staff back to work. All our staff are excited about returning and have all missed each and every one of you.
If your child becomes unwell at Castle Lane Day Nursery
Can we please remind all parents that if you or your child display any Covid-19 symptoms, that you must notify the nursery straight away and self-isolate for 7/14 days as instructed by government guidelines.
Get in touch if you have any further questions
We hope that all these additional procedures are clear and concise. Should you need any further information or wish to chat about your child’s return to nursery, please do not hesitate to ring us or drop us an email to discuss.
We very much look forward to welcoming you and your child back to the setting.
Kind Regards
Harriet, Vikki and the Castle Lane Family