COVID-19
Updates and frequently asked questions for parents and carers
Early Years Room Status
Last updated Wednesday 10 February
| Room Name | Room Status | Further Information | Room Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butterfly | Open | |
Julie Lade |
| Sunshine | Open | Jennifer Simmonds | |
| Rainbow | Open | Amy Hylands | |
| Meadow | Open | Agatha Zielinska | |
| Sunflower | Open | Csilla Forrai |
|
| Bluebell | Open | Magda Pytel and Sandra Turner | |
| Marine | Open |
Anjali Sawhney | |
| Starlight | Open | |
Rosa Maestre |
Keeping you safe
We continue to follow Government Coronavirus Guidance applicable to early years centres. Government policy is to continue providing early years provision to all children, so we remain open. We are following guidance on infection prevention and control within our setting which involves preventing direct transmission and indirect transmission.
Safety measures
Direct transmission
Direct transmission occurs when in close contact with those with those displaying COVID symptoms or asymptomatic cases.
The range of controls we have implemented to prevent direct transmission of the infection include:
- Asking staff and parents to maintain 2m distance at drop off and pick up time, to minimise the potential transmission between parents and staff
- The nursery team maintaining 2m social distancing within the setting, including when needing a chat, a longer discussion, when having breaks, etc. We have reconditioned space to make sure there is plenty of space for our staff to be able to maintain social distance while having a break. Our current occupancy levels are much lower than the capacity we have.
- Having processes in place to ensure that children from different rooms do not mix during the day.
- Staff are allocated to specific rooms and do not mix between rooms on a given day
- Staff showing any signs or having an infection, such as common cold, are being asked to stay at home and take a COVID test.
- When a child shows signs of COVID, we take them to a separate room where a staff member remains playing with them until they are collected by their parents. At this point, staff will wear clear masks, to protect themselves.
- All staff taking part in the weekly asymptomatic test programme available at College; a small number of our staff members have been identified as COVID positives in this manner, days before they developed COVID symptoms.
- Limiting the number of contractors entering the building only to essential maintenance; we take their temperature when they enter, we ensure they wear new gloves and clean face coverings - we also escort them and clean behind them any surfaces they touch.
Indirect transmission
Indirect transmission occurs when touching contaminated surfaces, sharing toys, etc.
We have implemented a wide range of controls to reduce indirect transmission of the infection, including:
- Purchasing electro-static sanitising spray and we sanitise some toys and surfaces in this manner at the end of the day
- Taking new toys into the nursery rooms each day. The toys are decontaminated at the end of the day; items that are difficult to decontaminate are quarantined for at least 3 days before they are used again.
- Washing hands regularly is a measure we have always had in place as it is good practice when working with children. The message is reiterated now for obvious reasons. Hand gel sanitiser is also available to all staff members.
- Asking parents to provide additional spare clothes, so children have separate travel clothes. The same rules apply to our staff.
- Spraying shoes and coats to ensure we keep our nursery environment virus- free.
- Having dedicated staff who have been specifically brought in to clean and sanitise communal areas and frequently touched surfaces as bannisters, door handles, light switches, etc.
- Regularly ventilating the rooms and opening windows for short and frequent periods of time.
There is a College Environmental Team who regularly takes swabs of our commonly used areas. The swabs are then analysed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. So far, all the samples taken have returned negative results, indicating that our cleaning processes are effective and we are maintaining a COVID- free environment.
COVID-19 Testing sites in London
We have pulled together this research on the London Boroughs COVID-19 testing programmes. Only two London boroughs offer asymptomatic tests to children: Lambeth (3 years and over) and Tower Hamlets (no age restriction).
This list is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of 26 January 2021, however may not reflect recent changes. We advise engaging with the relevant borough directly for the most up to date information.
| Borough | Comments | Borough | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | No information available | Barnet | Must be over 12 years old |
| Bexley | Must be over 11 years old | Brent | Must be over 12 years old |
| Bromley | Must be over 18 years old | Camden | Critical workers only |
| Croydon | Bookings must be done centrally through the GOV website* | Ealing | Must be over 16 years old |
| Enfield | Bookings must be done centrally through the GOV website* | Greenwich | Must be in secondary school or above |
| Hackney | No information available | Hammersmith and Fulham | Must be 12 years old or over |
| Haringey | Must be over 11 years old | Harrow | Must be over 16 years old |
| Havering | Critical workers only | Hillingdon | No information available |
| Hounslow | Must be over 18 years old | Islington | Bookings must be done centrally through the GOV website* |
| Kensington and Chelsea | Must be a critical worker, essential retail worker or tradesperson who enters people’s homes | Kingston upon Thames | Must be a critical worker |
| Lambeth | Testing available for children aged 3 and over. | Lewisham | Must be over the age of 11 |
| Merton | Must be at least 18 years old | Newham | Must be at least 18 years old |
| Redbridge | Only available to those who are unable to work from home | Richmond upon Thames | Must be over the age of 16 |
| Southwark | Must be a critical worker | Sutton | No information available |
| Tower Hamlets | No age limit on testing | Waltham Forest | Must be in secondary school |
| Wandsworth | Must be over 16 years old | Westminster | No information on age limitations |
| * All test bookings must be done centrally through the GOV website (States that you cannot get a free test if your employer or school has asked you to but you have no symptoms) | |||
What can you as parents do to help us?
To support our efforts in reducing the risk or transmission:
- Please ensure that you distance yourselves from other parents at drop off and pick up time and don’t socialise with other families e.g playing in the park together
- Keep feedback with the team at the end of the day brief and remain distanced as far as possible. If anything requires a longer discussion, this should be arranged via Teams or a phone call.
- Please sanitise everything you touch or bring in regularly such as comforters, bags and items you bring to Early Years.
You can read all our COVID policies and risk assessments on our Early Years policies page.
Keep us informed
You must keep us informed as to your child or your own COVID-19 status should you start displaying symptoms or test positive.
Clarification of close contact procedures
Where there is a confirmed case in a room, all members of that room - where you are not displaying symptoms - are considered close contacts and are required to self-isolate for 10 days.
Family members of a child identified as a close contact do not need to self-isolate unless their child starts to display symptoms or has a positive test. This means children in different rooms can still attend whilst they are considered close contacts of a close contact. This is in line with government guidance.
Maintaining confidentiality
We appreciate this is a concerning time for everyone so we ask you to please be mindful of the impact that rumours can have on others do not share anyone else's personal medical information.