Is your nursery doing anything differently when they reopen?

[Llamapolice]

I've heard today that my dd's nursery will be reopening in mid June. Massive relief on one hand because work are not thrilled that I'm wfh with her here and want me back in the office. She's 13 mo and I went back after mat leave a few weeks ago.

She's never been to nursery before and I was worried about the settling in as I'd assumed they wouldn't let me into the building. But they are going ahead with their normal settling process, so I go in on day 1 and spend an hour there with her, then increasing time, then I start to leave her etc. On talking to the manager it seems they're not really doing anything differently at all post lockdown.

I have to say I think I'm pleased they're going about it this way as I wasn't keen on the idea of staff in masks and couldn't imagine they could realistically distance v young children etc, as well as being worried about settling her in. But I am quite surprised. Is this the case at other nurseries or are others changing how they operate?

Staff aren't going to wear masks and they won't be trying to enforce social distancing amongst the kids. But parents will now have to do drop offs at the door and they've removed all soft toys. They've also set up a marquee outside to allow for outdoor play and al fresco lunch.

With exception to allowing settling in to go ahead, I think it's a little irresponsible of your nursery to have not put any measures in place. Kids touch everything, dribble on things and constantly put their hands in their mouths. Many don't know about covering theit mouths when they sneeze/cough. Nurseries are a hive of germs.

A few different things with my DS nursery. They are starting with reduced hours of 9am-5pm so we have to give breakfast at home before they go in now. We will be dropping off and picking up at the door. There will be lots more regular hand washing (never a bad thing) and they are going to try do smaller groups. Also lots more outdoor playing instead of stuff inside which again I'm more than happy with especially with the lovely weather.

Yes I know what you mean @FTMF30 from a selfish point of view me and dp are pleased we can settle her in properly even though he's in the vulnerable category (although low risk vulnerable I'd say). Couldn't bear the idea of just leaving her at the door and disappearing as we're all she's known for 3 months. But it does seem quite risky in terms of transmitting the virus.

They are going to divide the space, allocate a worker to each small group and not mix the groups. Also different days so their group is all together just their days, and their worker is in only those days. No soft toys or anything from home. Packed lunches.

Ours are taking all temperatures with a contactless thermometer < if they’ve got a temp they aren’t allowed in.
Drop off is at the door rather than in the setting.
No clothing allowed below the elbows, a coat or jumper is allowed for outside.
Ideally anything that goes to nursery should stay theee... but my dd is a baby still, so we will need to take and bring him bottles, dummies, comforters etc
Dd went for 3 weeks then it closed (key workers and she started at the beg of lockdown), she was 6.5 months when she started. She loved it, she’s more socially aware of us leaving here now - but I trust the staff and I know she loves it there. So I’ve no worries about leaving her at all.

Settling in sessions would also go ahead still at my DD nursery, these are the only exception to the no adults rule in the building, and both temps would be taken, adult and baby.
I would imagine a lot is going on that you don’t know about. They have to, prior to opening, publish their risk assessment and this has to be agreed by the local authority. So a lot will be going on, you just won’t know about it yet.

I think each nursery will have slightly different policies.

DDs usual nursery closed completely for about 2 months but she was entitled to provision due to her being child of keyworkers. We managed to find a temp place in a different private nursery. They did temp checks on arrival, obviously anyone with symptoms is not allowed entry and would be sent home immediately to isolate and not allowed back without a negative test result/ending isolation period. No settling in sessions allowed, so we weren't allowed to settle her. Parents not allowed to enter the building, she was dropped off and collected outside. Handwashing upon arrival. I think that's the only differences. She was allowed to take a teddy in from home with her each day as a comfort object.

Her usual private nursery reopened recently. There they also do temp checks on arrival, and hand and face washing on arrival and regularly throughout the day. Only one staff member each day will do every collection and drop off at the door and parents cannot enter. Anyone who enters the nursery needs to use hand sanitizer which is provided outside the door before entry. Settling in sessions will go ahead if they deem it necessary for the welfare of the child, and children are allowed to take comfort objects such as teddies, blankets, dummies etc from home into nursery each day if deemed necessary for the welfare of the child, these are cleaned on entry if possible. DD took a teddy in each day for the first few days til we were satisfied she was properly settled and no longer really wanted one with her. Staff also wear face masks when doing nappy changes and some of them wear them when doing collection/drop off at the door. Also there is no longer any proper handovers in person, there is an app that is now widely used instead. We have also been told there will be no staff member permanently covering reception so only to phone in an emergency, all other contact should be via the app or email.

@Placesrobe76 that's interesting about the local authority plan. I spoke to the manager and literally asked what they were doing regarding covid and she said nothing would change! Perhaps she just didn't want to put me off - but in truth even if I wasn't happy I wouldn't have much choice but to send her

Well we've heard absolutely nothing so that's different! Both WFH in high stress jobs full time with a 2year old is killing us. No end in sight. Feeling very low about it all today

@sylbunny I hear you, I felt exactly the same until we got the call today, it's only been a few weeks for me but dp and me are on our knees trying to juggle everything. I used to dread the idea of having to leave her at nursery but I now mostly feel relief that I'm not going to lose my job!

I've been at work in a baby room for the duration of covid19.

Before parents would come into the setting
Now parents drop at the door. We wash childs hands immediately on arrival.

Before parents would do settling in sessions
Now parents drop at door and child has a settling in session alone but for a short period.

Before general cleaning during the week and as and when
Now more dedicated cleaning at 2 set times a day plus upping genea cleaning

Before mix of children together
Now (as of next week - not past 11 weeks) no cross "contamination" bubbles or rooms adhered to and no visits/moving between rooms

Apart from that still lots of.cuddles, still lots of laughter, playing, singing. You wouldn't know covid was happening outside the doors except weve been quiete/had new children and we clean a bit more. Otherwise all still running like a day nursery.