Nurseries - Early Learning Lockdown 3

[DME2]

Hello parents! I have concerns about sending our toddler who is 17 months back to nursery. It is open and continues as normal. But with this second mutant strain and the chance he could be asymptomatic and pass to us terrifies me. I read the department of health Vicky Ford statement saying the strain isn't affecting the young ones as much. Has anyone caught it from their under 2s? If we do decide to pull our child out she isn't guaranteed her place back on the days we require. How awful is that and we lose almost 2 months of fees. You think during this pandemic and in these unpresedented times there would be allowances. Or is it just the Wanstead E11 area? Anyone else feeling this conundrum?

[EasyPeasyHappyCheesy]

Not really. It is quite easy to see why they cannot guarantee your place if you take your child out and not pay the fees. How will they pay for salaries etc? Or who will fill in the place just for the short time you decide to keep your child off. Nurseries are already on thin margins and many have even closed.

[EasyPeasyHappyCheesy]

Ps my dc has been going to nursery since they reopened in June and no cases in his class.

[Apple40]

Sorry no they are open if you decided not to attend you will have to pay full fees to keep space or give notice can will have to pay notice period as per your contract and space no longer available. Why should the nursery hold the space for you when it could be given to fee paying parents. There was a ruling in first lock down stating Nursery should not charge parents when they were closed as the parents had a barrier to childcare, there is no barrier here so allowed to charge. As a childminder Iam sorry I would also be changing as I can not afford to hold space for free, I know friends in first lockdown who had parents pull kids out , give notice, demand money and deposits back and were then really surprised there space was no longer there

[DME2]

I will not be demanding the money back - they can have the 1 months notice fee and the remainder of the days she isn't attending this month. I was hoping have her back in March so there wouldn't be a long absence. I get your point on holding places which isn't fair. Anyway, perhaps we just pay going forward and hope we can send her in the coming weeks if things look better in our area, which atm is one of the highest risks. Lots in her class and other rooms have had covid.

Have any toddler transferred it to their parents? Asymptomatically?

[Apple40]

None of my little ones have had covid and neither have the little ones my childminder friends look after. But at same point I am very strict with my sickness policy, I have carried on not accepting any child that has had Prior to arrival or needs calpol to get through the day , I have only been accepting children with very minor colds so if they have think green snot, constant runny nose, or if all they want to do is sleep or lay on the floor refusing to join then they can’t come in and or sent home until full recovered.

[mindutopia]

There have been no cases in my youngest's nursery and not even the need to self-isolate at any point. No cases or self-isolate in eldest's primary school either at any point. Our nursery is open and operating as normal, though it looks like significantly reduced numbers judging by drop off and pick up.

I'm undecided if I will keep him in. I'm actually a clinical scientist in infectious diseases (not COVID specifically though lots of colleagues are working on it), and I'm closely following the emerging data. From what I can tell (again, not a COVID expert at all), young children don't seem to get severe infection and at least to this point, there seems to be limited transmission from young children to adults. No idea how the new variant will change this, but I have been told that it's easier to spread given current measures (e.g. that masks and other measures may not be sufficient). They don't wear PPE in nursery anyway, so there will be little change in that sense.

I personally am sending mine, but watching local case data and deciding what to do day-by-day. I've already paid for this month and will continue to pay though even if I take him out. I get paid the same and it seems wrong to not pay for the place, when I can. I am certainly in a more secure and fortunate position than the nursery staff (and sitting at home in my lounge all day not in any occupational risk). They have offered to suspend fees though for those who cannot afford to pay, which is a very kind gesture.

[Glitterazzi]

My DS's (3) nursery has been closed 3 times due to covid since March - only staff effected and no children. So far I don't know of any of the other parents contracting it and I've had a negative test each time.

I wouldn't expect them to keep his place if I chose not to send him in, private nurseries must be suffering as it is, they have had to make half their staff force redundant due to so many children dropping out over the past year.

[Glitterazzi]

It's also worth noting that each staff member didn't suffer particularly badly (temp for a day, a bit under the weather etc.) During the last closure they tested all the staff and 2 had no symptoms at all which was a bit alarming. Just such an unpredictable virus.

[DME2]

Thank you everyone. We will continue to monitor the increase in new variant and make a decision by the weekend. I understand its a tough call and from staffing point of view its a risk for them too being there. I hope they get the vaccines to protect themselves as key workers.

[Fandabydosey]

The government is not funding children who have chosen to keep their children safe. I don't buy the rubbish that children are not spreading it in early years. Up un the end of August under 5s couldn't get a test so of course from June the data will show no cases.... Because no children were tested then in September you could have as many children as you like in a bubble. The biggest symptoms is the loss/change in taste and smell..... How does an under 5 tell you that they can't smell?