Corona Virus

Due to the COVID-19 health warning issued by Public Health England, by the Early Years team and by my insurance company, we have been advised to produce a policy to cover this outbreak and its impact on our setting. As with all emergency policies we hope that this will never have to be implemented in our setting, but we need to make sure that we protect ourselves, our families, the children we care for, and their families.

Please let us know if and when you have any family or friends travelling from abroad to visit you and where they have come from, especially if it is from infected areas. If any of the friends display any flu-like symptoms, (Details are available on the NHS website), please self-isolate your family and inform 111 and us. If any families in my setting are going abroad on holiday or for business, please let me know where and when and follow the same procedure as above upon return to the UK.

If you or any family members have travelled to countries or areas infected with the virus or been in contact with anyone showing signs or symptoms of the virus, I will have to refuse care until they have been tested and have provided proof that they have been given the all clear. This is to safeguard all the children in our care and our families. It may be that we are caring for children with immune deficiencies and this is a prime concern in our setting, and we will not allow it to be compromised.

Regarding payment, we would not usually charge when we close due to illness, however, in this case, if we have to close for two weeks and self-isolate due to the Corona Virus, full fees will apply and will be charged without exception.

Please do not be alarmed by this policy, in all likeliness, we are not expecting to have to implement it but we have been advised that we need to make sure that everyone is completely clear should the situation arise where we need to close. As such this policy will ensure that we are all on the same page and all parents/carers fully understand what will happen.

The risk of spreading the virus can be minimised by following the advice in this policy and the information available on the Government and NHS websites, and, if everybody follows this advice, we should never have to implement the worst case scenario in this policy.

Should any parents/carers have any concerns with this policy then please feel free to discuss them with us.