Dear Parents and carers, we hope you and your families are all well.
We would like to thank you for your patience during the past few months. It has been such a strange and difficult time for us; our staff have been furloughed since March and unable to work, so it has been hard to follow procedures and timelines as normal. We could not afford to bring staff back to work while we have had no income coming in, but we are tracking on schedule and the good news is that we will be reopening in September across all sites. It is such a relief to actually say that!
We wanted to get in touch to give you a brief overview of our plans to reduce the risk of infection:
- We will be operating in bubbles, in the same way that the schools are (either by classes or by year group depending on each head teacher’s strategy.)
- Our play workers will each look after a bubble and the Site Manager will ensure the safety and flow of each site.
- In order to adhere to the space guidance for social distancing, we have had to reduce the number of children attending and the headteachers have been able to give us some additional space in order for us to operate in bubbles and with social distancing which we are grateful for.
- There will be surplus PPE for the Kids’ Club staff, including masks, gloves, aprons and plenty of hand sanitiser. At this moment in time, we do not know if teachers or play workers will have to wear masks in schools but we will have them, just in case we need to.
- We are planning on employing a cleaner to monitor and clean the toilets during breakfast club and after school.
- There are some members of our staff who also work in the schools where we operate. In order to maintain the integrity of the bubbles, these staff will be moved to the Kids’ Club at the school where they are employed and they will only work at one Kids’ Club site for the time being so we will have cohesive, single-site teams.
Breakfast Club
We understand that parents will not be able to come onto the school premises, therefore a member of staff will greet the children and walk them to Kids’ Club – please observe social distancing at the school entrance while waiting for Kids’ Club to open. After breakfast club, we will take the children to class as normal, slightly staggered per the school timings. The children will be in bubbles with table top games to play with and art and craft class packs to do when they have finished their breakfast.
After School Club
We will collect the children from their classrooms (or class teachers will bring them to Kids’ Club – depending on individual school plans) and the children will remain in the same bubble to play and eat together. Historically, Ofsted have encouraged childcare providers to let children serve themselves at break time, however we will have to serve the children during this time. We don’t think that the menus will change too much, and we will always cater to all dietary needs.
We want to encourage the children to play outside as much as possible and be in the fresh air. The playgrounds have had to be separated for the bubbles and we will be adhering to these spaces too.
At the end of the session, when you arrive to pick up your child, a member of staff will walk them to the entrance where we will have the register for you to sign them out.
We will be able to go into the schools on the Inset day ahead of the first day of school so we can put this all into practice and set up logistically how this will all work. We think it will be a case of tweaking as we go and our teams will adapt to new situations as they arise.
The safety of the children is always at the forefront of what we do and this has been the central focus in planning our return to schools, to ensure that the children, staff and parents are safe. We will be meeting with the staff over the next two weeks to take them through the new directives from the government and schools and ensure they feel safe and happy about returning to work.
We want to make sure that you feel safe about sending your children back to Kids’ Club, so please email us if you have any questions or concerns and we will be happy to answer them.
As things seem to be ever changing, we will hopefully be able to update you closer to September with any further plans or development.
We will also be in touch over the next week with the yearly invoices.
Kind regards and see you soon!
Kids’ Club