Many of you will be pleased to hear that yesterday it was confirmed that all five criteria have been met and we can start to welcome our children back into nursery.
With this in mind we are taking a staged, cautious and pragmatic approach to try to minimise and mitigate risks for everyone involved.
We understand that many of you, like ourselves, will have reservations regarding your children returning to nursery and school. Through thorough risk assessment, social distancing where possible, changes to the nursery environment and our staged, phased approach we hope to reassure families the measures we are implementing will help to ensure a safer nursery environment.
We expect all our families to follow the government guidance and contribute towards reducing the infection rate. The latest guidance can be found:
Returning to Normal Nursery:
It is anticipated that the nursery will increase the number of children attending in a 4 phase intake cycle, each phase will be a three week cycle before the next phase begins:
Week 1 – re-settling introductory sessions into nursery. (minimum 1x 1.5 hours)
Week 2 – further re-settling introductory sessions if needed/ normal nursery sessions can begin.
Week 3 – normal nursery sessions/ review to proceed to next intake cycle.
We are currently planning to phase in the return to normal nursery over an extended period, this could change in line with any updates to the Government guidance and parental requests.
Intake 1 – will be w/c (18th May in Keynsham) (25th May in Kingswood) (for 1 parent key worker families and vulnerable children) this has already been planned and is in motion.
Intake 2 – will be w/c (8th June in Keynsham) and (15th June Kingswood) (for all children, however prioritising Keyworkers families, vulnerable and preschool children).
Intake 3 – will be w/c (29th June for Keynsham) and (6th July of Kingswood) (for all children however prioritising Keyworkers families, vulnerable and preschool children).
Final intake – will be w/c (20th July in Keynsham) and (27th July in Kingswood) (We envisage all/remaining children returning to nursery.)
Undoubtedly the time scales involved may result in frustration for some of our families, as it may seem long winded and not quick enough, but the safety of our families, children and staff team will always be paramount.
Over this whole COVID period we have been providing increased flexibility for children’s sessions, this will continue at a limited level during the 4 intake phases, however from the 27th July normal timings of session will resume. Our 5% retainer fee will continue until your child returns to nursery or the 27TH July whichever is sooner.
Please remember that if the current guidelines are still enforced we will not be able to operate at full capacity which could then have implications on the number of sessions we are able to offer our parents. Should the need arise, we may also need to adjust your start and finish times slightly, to ensure minimal queuing and social distancing at drop off and collection.
Please see our COVID-19 practice document attached for how we plan to deliver our childcare during this time. We will require you to sign a parental agreement prior to your child returning.
What information we now need from you:
The easiest way is for parents to let us know which phase they’d like to join.
Please email us your child’s name and what phase you would like them to start their return to nursery at least 2 weeks prior to the start of phase.
We will then confirm via email and arrange re-settling in visits with you a week prior to the start of the phase.
Thank you in anticipation and understanding.
We look forward to seeing everyone soon.
