Will staff at your nursery be wearing masks?

[C33P0]

We just got the new guidelines for nursery, and staff will be able to choose whether or not to wear masks. The ones doing the handover with parents at the front door will be additionally wearing a visor.

I understand the reasoning, but it doesn't sit well with me. What is everyone else's nursery doing?

in my ds nursery it's up to each person to wear them but they believe most won't.

I’d be fine with that . Seems sensible . I work in NHS ( not ITU , hot A and E or a Covid Ward ) and we wear masks in all areas as socially distancing just isn’t possible with each other or patients .

Mask wearing doesn't protect the wearer so they are of very limited benefit in this situation - and there a lot of negatives about it.

My 11 month old is going back to nursery in June and they haven't said anything about masks. I think for children her age it might cause more problems because I can imagine her trying to touch it/pull it off any staff member who picks her up, and so would touch their face more than if they weren't wearing it.

If my kids nursery staff wore masks I wouldn’t send them, fortunately they are focusing on hand washing, being outdoors and letting the kids play. They are socially distancing adults only.

We use our NHS nursery. When indoors all staff and kids are bare below the elbow (to aid good hand washing). They spend as much time outside as possible- they do this anyway. Staff try to socially distance from each other, but no social distancing of the kids from each other and kids from staff. Also no parents in the play rooms. Staff where gloves/aprons when they normally would.

Seems sensible to me, and it’s what our infection control team recommended.

If you read the government guidelines then it says we don't have to social distance but the children should be limited in their bubbles. It also says ppe is not needed unless you are isolating with a poorly child awaiting collection.
We have been open for a handful of children and I am treating the children as I always have. That's my risk to take and if the parents are sending their child in then they are also accepting that risk.
Once opened on 1st June there will be new terms and conditions explaining what we're doing and they'll have to sign to agree if their child comes back.

Has anyone who wants them to wear masks actually used one all day? It’s horrendous when you’re working especially in this weather. I can barely breathe so I’ve stopped using it

No masks at ours (private nursery), just increased hand washing/hygiene measures and social distancing between adults only (e.g. staggered drop off, handover at door, no parents allowed inside the building).

We wouldn’t be sending DD back if masks were to to be worn. I can’t see any way that it wouldn’t be detrimental to interaction and communication between staff and children.

DS isn't going back to nursery as he's starting school on Sept anyway but he doesn't seem phased by them at all when we go on walks and some people wear them.

Unless they are the FP3 masks then they protect the person around you not the wearer. I think that the negatives with the mask (risk child will touch your face more and negative affect on the child’s development) outweigh the small benefit. I’m looking at nursery for my son now as I’ll be returning to work soon. I won’t be sending my son where masks are routinely used all day. I’ll be looking for something along Ikabaar’s nursery are doing.

Mine won’t be. Usual gloves for nappy changing/personal care but nothing new there. They’ll be staying 2m away from parents and doing handover outside- but otherwise the children won’t really notice much different once they’re through the doors.

Freddie, no of course I am not anti-mask in general. Just in the nursery/school environment.

My DS gets scared when a doctor or dentist wearing a mask has been near him, so I wouldn't be able to send him if that's the case, he isn't getting used to it because we are only outside so rarely see them worn. Actually I can't send him anyway because he was just starting and it would be too disruptive for him to go somewhere for just a few weeks with no settling in and then a long summer holiday.

It isn't healthy nor realistic to expect young children not to mix, while the teachers need to know that their risk is limited. What I'd like to see as a compromise is setting them up as mini households, so a small bubble of 6-8 little kids with 2 teachers, and all isolate if any one of them gets unwell. The place he's going they could segregate the rooms and have even more outside time to make it work; equipment to be wiped down if any little group is ill or cleaned as normal. I'm worried about how we'll be able to settle him too.

I work in a creche in France we have to wear masks all the time. It's not nice and as soon as the last child walks out of the door we're ripping them off our faces. It was so hot yesterday, we even have to wear them outside.

We social distance between ourselves and the parents but not at all possible with the children. The older ones are spending all day outside they even sleep outdoors at the moment so not in bedrooms. The babies are 2 to a bedroom and not the usual 4. We wash our hands all the time. The creche is disinfected twice a day and toys are changed regularly.

No, not at mine which I think is a good idea. I know for a fact my daughter, at least, will try to pull them off which would be more of a risk.

If we thought there was a chance she would be at risk we wouldnt be sending her, regardless of masks or face coverings.

The nursery guidelines we received didn't say that the staff would be wearing masks and I am glad they won't be. (The masks protect the children not the staff).

Interesting to see that other nurseries are reducing outdoor play, ours are increasing it and the school is too.

I wouldn’t send my 14 month old or 3 year old to a nursery where staff were wearing masks. For their language and speech development they need to be able to see people’s mouths move.

I completely agree that staff need protecting though and so I won’t send my child to nursery at all at the minute.

I wouldn't send my child to nursery or school if they were going to be faced with a teacher wearing a mask all day. A visor would be better. That way it can be taken off every hour or so and washed and the children can still see facial expression and lip movement.

I can see an argument for the masks around adults at drop off or pick up where the children are too young to walk into the building unaccompanied. Once in the bubble, as a teacher I would not wear one as I wouldn't be able to communicate well enough, and it doesn't feel like it makes a calm and warm environment for the children.

Thanks hope not - my two year old wouid hate that

Ours are making them available to staff but I don’t think there are plans for them to be worn all day.

I can see the benefits of wearing one in an environment where everyone else is for a short period of time (the tube or a bus for example) but all day in a nursery environment I would think there is a risk they do more harm than good. Especially as none of the children are wearing them and masks protect others not the wearer.

If you did come into contact with any virus and transferred to to the mask then you would be breathing in concentrated virus particles from a hot, moist environment which I would have thought would be a much greater risk than not wearing one?

If I was in that role I wouldn’t be looking to wear one.

Our nursery are not social distancing but are cocooning each room so that there is no interaction between them. Staggered breaks for staff with walkie talkies to communicate.

Lots of hand washing and being outside, strict rules about collecting naughty children. All seems quite sensible.

There's no way I'd send my child in if everyone was wearing masks. I've read studies suggesting that parents having Botox can have a perceptible impact on a v small childs ability to recognise certain emotions because they're not able to read as much nuance in their caregivers facial expressions. If it's the case that mummy not being able to raise her eyebrows has an effect, what would months with everyone who minds you wearing a mask do?

I'm in Ireland, and we have heard the plans yet, but masks seem unlikely: people have been talking about 'bubbles'. Equally they've been talking about one day a week to start and our creche has said they think this is impossible to settle back in the under twos in particular, so who knows what will happen in the end.

Masks for interaction with parents seems fair enough, but any social distancing/masks/PPE with v young children risks doing a level of emotional harm I don't think is justified by the additional protection those things offer when there are other steps that can be taken.

@edgeware I don't have detailed knowledge apart from that one chain of day care centres, but in general the foundation is to protect children's emotional security (emotionele veiligheid). So, for example, at schools and BSOs the rule is that adults need to maintain social distancing from children, unless it would impact on their emotional security. In practice that means that if a child needs comforting for whatever reason, it's of course much better for the adult to do whatever needs to be done rather than preserve that physical distance.

My kids are now back at primary school for 2 days per week (with each class divided in two, so one half of the class goes on two days and the other half on the other two days. Wednesdays everyone stays home.) The teachers keep their distance and the kids can all play/sit together. They do try to keep the classes separate though, no mixing in the hallways, bags are kept in classrooms, and there's a piece of tape across the playground to keep class groups separate if there are two groups playing outside at once.

I do find that Dutch culture in general places much more importance on overall wellbeing, with physical health being just one part of that. Yes it's a very important part, but it isn't the be-all and end-all.

Sorry for the derail.

My eldest is returning to work in a nursery and won’t be wearing a mask. They have so many measures in place - being outside, hand washing, cleaning etc that I think she will be safe as possible as will the kids. I worry about her but also she really wants to get back.