Nursery procedures - would this concern you?

[Xuli]

If you recognise the nursery I'm talking about please don't out us all

My 4yo attends a good nursery. Their pre-school bubble popped three weeks ago and all the children had two weeks isolation, all fine (if rubbish for us!)

4yo has been out of isolation for less than a week, with just three days back at nursery, when we're told the nursery is fully closing and all 100+ children must isolate. Obviously we pushed for a lot more information because why was the whole nursery closing, not just one bubble? Turns out that is because a staff member (unnamed but vaguely guessable given the explanations) who assists with seeing the children in in the morning has tested positive, and so PHE has decided this means all children have had contact and must isolate.

I'm really angry. Latest message from head office says 1) children should be collected by their bubble key workers unless it's really busy, and 2) management who help out during busy times should wear PPE. Neither of these things happen - no PPE on the one member of staff who checks the children in most mornings, and children are normally seen down to their room in mixed groups by whichever member of staff is free.

None of this bothered me at all because I thought it was such brief contact, mostly without any skin to skin contact. It's hugely busy with a long queue during morning drop off so I understand they are trying their best to keep the queue moving, but it seems in a way that is possibly breaching guidelines. But now it seems its enough to put a whole nursery into isolation, so it puts it in a whole different light.

Still having convos with head office about this but wondered what other people feel about this kind of situation?

I dont blame you for being angry. They've been slipshod in their approach and now instead of 1 bubble bursting, the whole place has to shut. No point in having procedure to lower risk if you dont follow them.

It would make sense for anyone who floats around many groups wears PPE. I would want a promise that this happens in future. Not exactly asking to much. It could have been a mistake by a busy member of staff perhaps they are trying not to actually say they made an error?

Staff have been able to work across sites and bubbles throughout the pandemic.
Most nurseries would need to double their staffing to prevent any cross over between rooms & age groups.
The PPE that nursery staff can wear wouldn’t prevent isolation anyway.

I think they're trying to cover a little bit. I generally do like the nursery a lot but this has dented my confidence. I agree, if staff members need to float to help with the really busy morning then the least I'd be looking for is that they're in masks and gloves etc in order for this not to happen again.

I mean, explaining to an energetic four year old that he's stuck in the house for another two weeks after just a few days of 'freedom' is a genuine low point in an already shit year and I'm doubly annoyed if it's because of them being lax

It’s obviously bloody irritating....but I don’t think it’s their fault. I’d blame the system rather than the nursery itself; like schools, they’ve had all sorts of new rules and procedures imposed upon them. They’re trying to comply with these without the need for more staff (which would mean greater costs). It’s extremely unfortunate that it’s this member of staff, I agree - but I wouldn’t be angry with the nursery.

Do they have the means to take each bubble in via a different bubble? Wouldn’t have worked safely at the nursery DS went too.

PPE wokld only have been a mask so although it would have helped it wouldn’t have made a massive difference in the sense of contacts needing to isolate now.

It’s a shit situation all around and the nursery should be looking at their procedures to see if their is anything they can do to reduce the risk but some things aren’t going to be possible

They have a few doors. They've prioritised getting the parents to enter and leave in a sort of loop but that means all the kids go through one door. They could potentially use both doors so that if something like this happens again then it would only close some bubbles.

I do appreciate the staffing levels and all that, and I know my frustration comes a lot from two isolations in such a short period. I'm annoyed that they are talking about something that doesn't happen though, with the PPE and key worker collection.

I would be annoyed that the nursery needed to close but it’s happening all over the countries give all ages. And honestly, the so called PPE they wear in nurseries is more placebo than genuinely effective.

So originally dd2's nursery had similar and had multiple staff test positive so closed. Now we have strictly separated drop off points for different rooms and we buzz the room so bubble staff come out and collect. No crossover in staff except in emergency. Its working but took clodure first so you might end up with this type of system x

‘Latest message from head office says 1) children should be collected by their bubble key workers unless it's really busy’

This is a cop out either it’s ok or not, and what’s busy to one person isn’t to another.

I’m not making excuses for the nursery but it’s horrible having children line up in the cold and rain.

Have you namechange failed op? Just checking as I wondered if you didn't want to be outed.

I wouldn't be cross really. It is a risk when you use childcare. Perhaps more than 1 member of staff have had contact with the positive case so they are short staffed. It must be super frustrating but the rules are there to be followed.

Even if the staff member had been wearing a face mask and gloves, in all likelihood they would still have taken this decision. I think that this kind of situation illustrates the contradictory nature of advice.
As long as there are no positive cases, people are generally happy to have relatively low level measures. So in my school, I don't wear a mask in class, I mark my kids books, I go over to help when they are stuck etc etc. I am told that this is fine by SLT. If I was to test positive, I would be asked to say exactly which kid I stood next to and for how long, did I touch his book or anyone else's etc etc. If I had helped a lot of kids that day or corrected a book and returned it, I would no doubt be 'blamed' for being too lax. If you are very vigilant and stay at the front and avoid touching kids belongings etc etc, you are viewed as being a bit hysterical. It is so hard to get right. If the nursery had been more hard line about staff not crossing bubbles and had more staggered drop offs etc, parents would have been annoyed; now they are annoyed that they didn't do this as the lockdown has been very inconvenient and upsetting.