What about nurseries?

[Acidrain]

There's huge speculation on schools going back but what about private nurseries?

How are 1, 2, 3 year old going to social distance?

How will the workforce of parents with young children return to work?
Surely, one parent will have to stay home if these workplaces reopen prior to childcare.

[WhatsHappeningCaroleBaskin]

DD has been continuing to go to nursery the entire time (I'm a keyworker) there are no social distancing rules. She is 21 months, it's literally impossible to put distancing measures in place.

There's only 5 children going but I'll be glad when the rest are back, she's the youngest by quite a bit and I think she'd like to be back with the children her own age.. although her speech has come on leaps and bounds since.

[Passanotherjaffacake]

I’m really worried about this, my dd hasn’t started in nursery yet but was due to start at the beginning of April. I’m now back at work with a virtual return. I’m very worried about putting her into a nursery where we might not be able to do the normal settling in - I think she would be really scared if I just left her with a stranger on a doorstep somewhere she has never been (chose the nursery when pregnant). Plus I am worried she will not get enough cuddles, I wouldn’t blame nursery workers for wanting to minimise a bit of contact, even subconsciously, but dd is a cuddler. Plus I won’t know any of the staff as can’t really stop and chat with them and the nursery manager has changed too. I know children adapt quickly but still, I can’t imagine finding all that ok. Especially after a few months of being in our tiny home with mummy and daddy!

I guess if they need to reduce numbers they will delay our start date anyway, given how ferocious the fight for nursery places are around here that will probably mean I will have to stay wfh. I am very lucky that I will probably be able to do that.

[Jenasaurus]

i guess if the nursery has an outdoor area and the weather is nice, the children could play outside with supervision and it would be less risky. My DD works in a nursery and has been told it is expected to open after May half term. She received a letter from the department of education telling them to prepare for early June. At my DDs nursery theres lots of physical interaction, changing nappies, cleaning up the children and hugs too, it wont be possible to distance from them entirely and it wouldnt be fair for the childrens development. Its a long way off though and if the numbers come down, there will be less infection around so a lower risk.

[ShiftyOwl]

I have nothing to add I’m afraid, apart from that I clicked on this thread thinking that it would be about bedding plants 😂

I’ll now go back to my gin......

[WheresTheEvidence]

I'm a nursery nurse working in a day nursery. We have gone from a team of 14 to 7 members of staff and while we lost a large percentage of children quite a few stayed and we have a lot of new ones who have come from closed nurseries.

1. We have limited hangovers so parents stay at the front door and we take/return children their. When they arrive they immediately wash their hands and then go off to play.

1. We have spread out across all the rooms as much as possible so we can make the most of space .

1. Social distancing is hard I' work in guns baby room and they still need cuddles and come at you for a slobbery kiss. Were just hotter at personal hygiene (ours and the children's) we also clean more religiously throughout the day and have upped our cleaning practises.

1. Staff must change at work into new uniform so no germs on workwear

1. "I think she would be really scared if I just left her with a stranger on a doorstep somewhere she has never been" yes this has been hard. We dont do settling in sessions with parents and it is just a "hi, what's their routine etc, bye" but I promise you we do understand it's hard in the baby/child and their parent but we would call if they were properly distressed. There are lots of cuddles with a new keyperson and exploring . It takes time but it will take time if you did settling in too. Off the 10 babies/toddlers who have started in the past 3 weeks all have settled so well. Remember to be positive and dont let them sense any unease. Itll all become normal soon enough.

[WhatILoved]

@passanotherjaffacake I'm a childminder still open to keyworkers and have had to take in babies that have never met me before. I understand it's so hard for you, but just want to ease your thoughts- the babies cry for 5 minutes then with lots of hugs and cuddles (no way to social distance!) they are ok again for the rest of the day. Most children are extremely resilient and can adapt to change fairly quickly. If the nursery your child is going to is full of caring, professional people (I'm sure it is) then your child will be fine. It will be hardest on you - us adults are not as resilient! Sending love

[Blondiecub0109]

@WheresTheEvidence I think you mean handovers not hangovers but I could not imagine being in my sons nursery room with a hangover

[Blondiecub0109]

@ShiftyOwl thanks, I need that little giggle this Morning

[DreamingofSunshine]

The nursery staff on this thread sound lovely!

DS' preschool was very quiet before lockdown as people took their child out a week or so before lockdown started, so I wonder if some won't send their children back straight away?

@Passanotherjaffacake I had to put DS in nursery with no settling in as I became very ill around the time he started and needed urgent treatment so I had to drop him off and head straight to the hospital. He was absolutely fine and the staff were brilliant at making sure he settled in. Writing down his routine, likes and dislikes etc helped them.

[Sweetpea84]

My son goes to a school nursery and is due to start at the school I’m September. I agree that they should just let those back who are due to start reception at the school In September, those who have not chosen that primary school for September should not be given a place over those that have

[Ponoka7]

We now know that children under 10 have really low transmission rates, if at all. The under 5's possibly none. In other countries Nursery was the first to go back and children under 10 were allowed to visit their Grandparents. They are studying how younger children get it, but they don't think there's much of a risk. We may go down the mask route. They aren't in danger of each other, just the Staff, but possibly not, because of the way their cells reject the virus.

It's to do with the Ace 2 receptor cells. Apparently it's why toddlers get chest infections and we don't catch it from them.

We'll be two weeks behind other EU countries, at least, so we will have a lot more data on this.

This was a question at the press conference and Hancock promised an answer 'over the coming days'.

[Sipperskipper]

Also wondering this. DD is 3 in a couple of weeks and has been doing 2 mornings at preschool since last summer. Absolutely loves it, and was due to increase her hours this month. I’m due a baby at the end of August, and am a bit worried about the baby coming and her going back after such a long break all at the same time (if it is open then!).

Not terribly desperate as I don’t need it for childcare reasons, but just a bit worried how it will all tie in with the new baby.

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

I’m desperate for nurseries to reopen, I’m able to wfh and my company will probably continue this for a while- but I can really see how much my 2.5yr old is missing and needs nursery. I actually think it’s a lot less risky than primary schools going back- smaller groups, drop off and pick ups will be “easier” to orchestrate/ stagger. Also have to account for a percentage of parents who will still keep their child off for a while- reducing numbers further.

Btw here is the petition to get the government to
keep supporting nursery staff:
chng.it/MmcQpvjk4g

[ListenLinda]

@MeadowHay if your DC have settled in well, can’t they stay at the temporary nursery if there is space? We had the same issue, and we have decided to leave our children where they are rather than the upheaval of moving them again.

[THATscurryfungeBITCH]

I'm torn about this tbh

I work in early years and have two nursery aged dc

I think they should perhaps reopen gradually and not go back to all children and families straight away

[MeadowHay]

@ListenLinda we have considered that but I don't think it's for the best the long term. The new nursery is on DH's workplace site (hospital). They car share with another relative who also works there. We don't have a car and I don't drive. At the moment he is doing 9-5 as a new member of staff but longer term he will begin doing shifts and I will need to help with drop offs/collections. In normal traffic circa it would take me about 40 mins from home to get there on the bus and about 1hr+ from my workplace. Our old nursery is like a 10 minute walk from our house. Also in a bind DM can collect DC from the old nursery as she lives another 5 mins walk away, but can't drive, so wouldnt be able to collect her if we both got stuck at work or anything.

[MeadowHay]

Do you think it would be cheeky to ask our nursery to consider giving priority to key workers children if they do phased reopening in groups? As we are the group most likely to now have to pay an additional set of fees on top of their 25 per cent. I don't think the advice will be phased reopening for nurseries though, I don't think they've done that anywhere else in the world where nurseries have reopened? Just smaller fixed groups where necessary? The emerging research is that transmission to/from young children seems very rare so the greatest risks will come from parents mingling at drop off/collection. This can easily be avoided by ensuring parents can't enter the nursery and keep their distance from each other which our current nursery is doing and the previous nursery was doing for a few weeks before it closed. Plus the economic benefits of nurseries opening are substantial to enable people to return to work.

[BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum]

My DDs private nursery has closed completely now and most workers are furloughed. She’s in 3-5 room and due to start school in August (Scotland)

The preschool key workers are now working from home, preparing reports for starting school. We got a lovely video from DDs key worker last night, DD loves her and she loved the video. She really misses her! I only hope she gets to go back for a few weeks before starting school. Only child so hasn’t even seen another child since I pulled her out about 45 days ago 😔 I worry for her socialisation skills

[BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum]

Think I meant social in that last sentence, making up words now

[givemewaffles]

Me and my DP are both key workers so we are currently still using our nursery. At the moment they have cones placed all along the drive for parents to stand at and a member of staff comes out to take DC instead of the usual going in and taking them to the room. Obviously it's fairly easy now with limited children but I'm guessing they will keep that up once nurseries open again fully? They keep the door locked so there are only staff members actually in the building and they take DC to wash their hands straight away.

[MaggieFS]

@MeadowHay if you're key workers, don't you still have the option of nursery care? Also can't follow what you mean by additional fees?

I'll be honest and say that priority idea fills me with dread, but coming from a completely selfish standpoint! I'm exhausted working from home full time and childminding, so given key workers haven't lost their access to childcare throughout all of this, I can't follow the logic on what priority they need for the return?

[The80sweregreat]

Schools won't be back till June I read today.
Implementing SD in a nursery would be difficult to do unless they reduced the number of children or something?

[MeadowHay]

@MaggieFS most private nurseries have closed completely. Ours have. They're not providing care for keyworkers. So we have had to move our daughter temporarily to a completely different nursery and pay fees for her to go there. Then we also have to pay 25 per cent of her normal fees at her old nursery, which is completely closed, to keep her space for when it reopens. So we are now paying more nursery fees than we were before, having to pay two providers of nursery care. I also know other key workers here who are taking long term unpaid leave as they can't find any childcare at all as all the private nurseries and childminders in a feasible distance have closed completely. So no, lots of key workers don't have any childcare at the moment and some of us that do, are being financially penalised by needing to pay two sets of costs. absolutely sympathetic to your situation though.

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

MeadowHay you have to pay two nurseries? That is utter crap and unfair!!!

[MeadowHay]

Also, that's not to mention the disruption of many keyworkers children suddenly being uprooted from their normal childcare into a childcare situation with total strangers in a totally alien environment. The non keyworkers children haven't had that disruption. Although my DD seems to have settled into her new temp nursery pretty well and pretty quickly, her sleep and eating habits have been unusual over the last few weeks, and there has been considerable upset on drop off. Im not sure whether any of this is related but I really don't think it's a stretch to say uprooting a child under 2 and suddenly moving them to a completely new childcare provider might be somewhat stressful and disruptive for them.