Parents COVID Guidance

We anticipate that as parents of children who are about to return or starting Highworth Pre-School, you may be experiencing some mixed feelings. On the one hand there may be excitement at the prospect of returning to some kind of normality whereas on the other hand you may be experiencing some concerns or anxiety linked to current circumstances.

If you are feeling anxious about your child being at pre-school it will help your child if you are able to hide your anxiety.  Children are very sensitive to parents’ emotions, if you are anxious your child will also be anxious, if you are excited, your child will be excited.

Important Parent Guidance

• We require all families that are attending Highworth Pre-School, to comply with the most up to date government guidance. This is not only to protect your child and your families, but our staff team and families. We must all act in line with this guidance to control the virus. Failure to do so can result in your child being asked to not return to pre-school for 14 days.  
• Ideally only 1 parent will drop off and collect from pre-school.

• Wearing of Face Mask

  • As we are not always able to maintain a two-metre distance during drop off and pick up times, staff will be wearing visors or masks. Please Note: Pre-School staff will not wear face coverings when working with children in their bubble/room.

  • For our parents/carers we would advise that you too should wear a face covering for drop off and pick up for your own safety and the safety of others, however, we cannot enforce this.

• On arrival each day at pre-school parents will be asked several questions, this is important to ensure that children are well and able to attend Pre-School. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the virus we can’t take any chances so any children with any symptoms linked to COVID will be asked to stay at home for up to 7 or 14 days and any children that have needed Calpol for whatever reason in past 24 hour before coming to pre-school will also be asked to stay at home. We know this maybe very difficult coming into winter but it is vital measure to control the virus.
• Testing will be available for any children or staff with COVID symptoms. It is a requirement to be able to Track and Trace.  
• Routines at home may have lapsed over the past few months, re-establish regular routines well in advance of returning to Pre-School. This is particularly important for bedtime routines.
• Your child will have grown used to you being around all the time and they may find separation difficult. Talk to them about pre-school and show them pictures of staff.
• Government advice is to avoid travelling by public transport if you can, so travel in your own car or walking is advised.
• We would recommend as good practice that when a child arrives home from pre-school they should change out of clothes and wash them. Then children have a shower or bath

What to Bring to Pre-School?

• To reduce the risk of cross contamination we are asking each child to bring a named plastic bag with spare clothes, nappies if required. These will stay in pre-school for the duration of the term unless washing is required.
• We will also require you to provide a named hat which can stay at pre-school for the duration of the term.
• Packed lunches -To help manage risk to staff we would ask that where possible the children can unwrap and access their lunch independently. Try to avoid item like tubes of yoghurt and drink cartons with a straw.
• No additional drinks will be required – we will provide milk and water during the day and at snack times.  
• We would also ask you only to bring essential items into the pre-school, don’t bring a coat if it’s going to be a warm day avoid bringing toys and other unnecessary items from home.
• We would ask that sun cream is applied prior to your child’s arrival at pre-school and that tops cover shoulders especially on hot days.

Revised Dropping off and Collection

On arrival at pre-school we would ask you to observe 2m social distancing whilst dropping children.  

One child will be dropped off at a time and we would ask you to give that parent space to exit via Brookfield Fire Gate prior to you moving forward to drop off your child

We know that this is not ideal but a one way system is essential and at this time we would ask you to respect the Brookfield resident and don’t park in Brookfield.

Please Note: At this time parent access to the pre-school will be very limited and if unavoidable we would ask that you wear a mask whilst in the pre-school. 

If you need to collect your child at a different time please could you call pre-school prior to arrival.

As Westrop School will also be accessing the site we would ask that you don’t arrive on the site more than 5 minutes before drop off/collection. We would also ask that once you have dropped off or collected your child, you make your way off the site immediately. This is to ensure that we can all manage social distancing.

Risk Assessment

A full risk assessment is displayed and can be emailed to parents if requested. This will be a working document reviewed regularly by the staff team.  

If you have any concerns please discuss any concerns with staff or email – hwpreschool@aol.com – addressing any concerns with Helen Simpson, Manager, Highworth Pre-School.

The Management and Staff Team want to make this a positive experience for all and we are looking forward to seeing you at Highworth Pre-School.

Please see below a list of policies that Highworth Pre-School adhere to - further down the page these are downloadable should you want to read in more detail

PLEASE NOTE: All policies have been impacted by COVID-19 

• Children's Rights and Entitlement
• Early Years Safeguarding and Welfare
• Uncollected Child
• The Role of the Key Person and Settling In
• Administering Medicines
• Managing Children that are Sick, Infectious or with Allergies
• Reporting and Recording of Accidents and Incidents
• Food and Drink
• Food Hygiene
• Achieving Positive Behaviour
• Health and Safety General Standards
• Maintaining Children's Safety and Security on Premises
• Supervision of Children on Outings and Visits
• Risk Assessment
• Fire Safety and Emergency Evacuation 
• No Smoking
• Valuing Diversity and Promoting Equality
• Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs
• Parental Involvement
• Children's Records
• Providers Records
• Transfer of Records to School
• Confidentiality and Access to Records
• Information Sharing
• Working in Partnership with other Agencies
• Making a Complaint

For more information or to discuss any of the policies then please contact us on 01793 766646 or use our contact form.