**Steps to take if a child has symptoms of coronavirus** UPDATED 29.5.20
**Send the child home and advise parents to isolate with family members for 14 days; advise parents to get their child tested - remind them a negative test (and symptom free) means they get out of isolation quicker;
**Deep clean - inform other parents you have sent 'a child' (no name) home with symptoms but DfE says it's safe to continue coming to the setting until test results come back;
**Carry on as normal with extra cleaning, handwashing etc;
**If the test is positive you will be contacted by the 'test and trace' team - you will be expected to inform them about everyone who has been in close contact with the child - you do NOT need permission to hand over their details it's covered in GDPR by the 'public interest' legal basis;
**Your contacts will be contacted by track and trace and advised to self-isolate for 14 days;
**If test is negative and the child is symptom free / no longer ill, they can return to the setting;
**If anyone else then gets symptoms they must be advised to get tested straight away and if positive isolate a further 7 days or until symptom free;
**Note: the 14 day period within a household won’t increase. It will only get longer if you then get a positive test, say on day 13 - then add 7 days on.
**Document retention - track and trace advise that information about a positive case is stored for 20 years; information about a contact is stored for 5 years. Information is not stored on 'track and trace' employee's computers it will be managed by Public Health England.
You will find more information about the track and trace service here.
**Thank you to a member of the new 'track and trace' team for proofing this for me. Much appreciated!
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**Informing parents about a suspected case of coronavirus – ICO advice 26.5.2020**
ICO state that there is no issue in relation to data protection with informing parents that we have followed government guidance and sent a child home who is displaying symptoms of coronavirus. However, we must not name the child because this would be breaking confidentiality.
ICO advice is to text or message other parents, out of hearing of children, to let them know that, for example ‘a child has been sent home with a cough’ and advise them to keep an eye on their own child’s health. Doing it this way does not risk us sharing inappropriate personal data.
I asked what would happen if, for example, other parents were then angry with the ill child’s family after asking their child who was sent home – ICO advise that we cannot be held responsible if a parent interrogates their child for details and then tries to hold the ill child’s parents to account for, for example, putting their child in danger by not following social distancing advice.
Source: ICO helpline - 0303 123 1113 – phone call 26.5.2
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**Children in vehicles – DfE guidance 26.5.2020**
DfE advice is that, where possible, we should avoid transporting groups of children in vehicles. They ask whether there is, for example, someone who can drop the child off with you – but they recognise that if the parent is at work this may not be possible.
DfE says that, if putting lots of children in a car cannot be avoided, we are advised to follow hygiene procedures such as washing hands and cleaning car surfaces.
You will find this DfE response in the second Q & A in this Foundation Years film here from 40 minutes.
Other guidance suggests not travelling in cars if showing symptoms, not allowing face-to-face seating and spreading out passengers where capacity allows.
Other guidance here on protecting children in vehicles.
The DfE spokeswoman in the Foundation Years film said 'be sensible' and I think those should be our watchwords!
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Coronavirus testing confirmation
The Govt confirm that under 5s who are suspected of having the virus will be able to get a coronavirus test from 1st June. Parents will need to ring the NHS 111 helpline to request a test.
This means that if you send a child home ill, you should encourage (you cannot force) parents to have their child tested. Parents need to isolate with the child for 14 days – the guidance says they should do this even if they are feeling well.
This links with later information that sets out the ‘track and trace’ guidance. You will find the press release which confirms testing for under 5s here.
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Malleable play – some thoughts to share with colleagues
The DfE early years guidance states: 'Malleable resources, such as play dough, should not be shared between groups and public health advice is that, as sand pits cannot be thoroughly cleaned between uses, they should not be used at this time.'
'Groups' relates to the small 'bubbles' of children you create in your setting.
You can use malleable play resources, just risk assess how you will keep children safe if, for example, someone sneezes on a pile of playdough or into a tray of gloop. In our setting, we will have individual trays for each child and we won't be setting up any big group discovery trays for the foreseeable future.
'Sand pits' refers to big areas of sand where children flock together after picking their noses and putting their hands in their mouths (sort of joke!?) We will still have sand in our setting - and sand mousse and wet sand and coloured sand for mark making - we will use our individual trays.
The guidance doesn't mention cooking with children - again, we will use our individual trays, this time lined with washable baking parchment, so each child can join in. Anything we have cooked will be eaten here - photos sent to parents.
This is what WE are doing in our setting - what are your thoughts?
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Limit handing over paperwork to parents – some thoughts to share with colleagues
The DfE early years guidance states: 'Consider how you can use technology to communicate with parents digitally, for example, when providing handover information at the end of the day'.
We were talking about diaries on a recent thread and discussing the risks of handing over paper every day. Those who still do diaries might want to risk assess in light of this guidance ...
In our setting, we use WhatsApp through the day to communicate with our families. We let them know what their child has been doing and learning, send the odd photo and brief notes about their daily routines. We have discovered the speech option in WhatsApp to send brief messages and feel this will add value to our options for sharing information with parents about their child during the day.
We have asked parents to complete ‘all about me now’ documents in Survey Monkey (free for up to 10 questions) and we have put our Medication Permission Form into Survey Monkey for future use. We will take a photo of our Accident, Injury and First Aid and other record forms in WhatsApp for parents to confirm they have seen digitally.
We are still working on how to share contracts and other paperwork, but feel with forethought we can print and quarantine the documentation in wallets for 72 hours before passing it over to parents – and then do the same with it when it returns.
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Daily diaries and spreading the virus on paper
On the free Childcare.co.uk 'Risk assessment and Coronavirus' webinar recently I was asked a lot of questions about daily diary books and whether I thought there might be a risk of diaries transmitting the virus between childminders and parents ...
1. I don't know many childminders who write written diaries any more – many feel are far too time consuming
2. Ofsted have been running a ‘less focus on paperwork more focus on practice’ campaign for some time now and have said they are happy for us to share verbally
3. We know there is a risk from paper transfer – tests are ongoing but latest information is that it can live between 3 hours and 4 days on paper
4. You might have wanted to make changes to your practice to free up time and do less written record keeping - now is a good time to do that. For example, our parents have responded very well to weekly update emails but I know a lot of colleagues don’t do that either
Just some things to consider – risk assess and think it through but if what you are doing works for you carry on ... just take all steps to ensure hand hygiene for you and parents...
The webinar is here for watching again if you are a Childcare.co.uk gold member.
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**Singing and transmission of the virus**
I’m not sure what happened on the chat part of the ‘Coronavirus Risk Assessment’ webinar last night but someone must have commented about singing, wind and spreading the virus because the comments went absolutely bonkers!
Let’s think about this logically –
- We know that the virus is spread through droplets
- Talking spreads droplets – so the govt introduced the 2m social distancing rule
- Singing and shouting will spread droplets in a bigger pattern – hence why re-opened churches around the world have stopped people singing hymns
- If you sing or shout in a windy atmosphere it makes sense that droplets might be spread further by the wind - that's simple science
- Coughing and sneezing will spread droplets in an even bigger pattern – which is why we use a tissue or our elbow, clean and sterilise surfaces and keep washing hands
So when singing with children, let’s use our common sense and sit them slightly apart from each other, facing you; when singing movement songs, let’s keep them looking the same way; if it’s windy maybe (just maybe if it makes you feel safer) bring them inside for music and movement time.
We don’t need to stop activities – we just need to keep children as safe as reasonably practicable while bearing in mind they are all part of the same bubble while they are with you and will probably all lick the same bit of the window at some point while you are not looking because it’s a good game.
Childcare.co.uk gold members can watch the webinar again on the webinar player here.
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**Pets and Covid-19**
I have been asked a lot of questions about whether pets are safe around children, given that the virus lives on surfaces and can survive for hours, or even days. Here are the things we know -
**The virus lives on surfaces
**Some (not many) animals have contracted the virus
**The risk of animals spreading the virus is currently considered low
**Pets and health and safety**
Things we know -
**We must keep children safe from animals
**We must keep animals safe from children
**Best practice advice**
**Keep washing hands
**Keep pets clean - not bleach it will hurt them
**Don't put pets in masks it will affect their respiratory systems
**Walk pets somewhere quiet
Updated information might say different but this is the situation for now.
I have presented 2 webinars recently -
**Health and safety when I mentioned the risk of animals and children unsupervised in the same room - and said we must keep everyone as safe as 'reasonably practicable' - Health and Safety Executive quote
**Risk assessment and coronavirus when I said that we don't have any direct evidence to suggest animals spread covid19.
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**What can you do if families you work with are not social distancing?**
I am being asked this question a lot and it is very difficult to answer.
This crisis is going to drag on for months, possibly years. The chief medical officer said recently on the daily briefing that they need to find a cure and inject at least 70% of the population - more to be sure it's gone - like they did with the vaccination programme that eradicated smallpox in the 1980s (not that long ago really when you think about it).
A lot of people are not going to be sensible or do the right thing with social distancing for that long and we can now see up to 6 family members in gardens where children will be playing and interacting with those family members (updated 30.5.2020).
We have to decide - can we continue to work knowing all that? Can we take that risk? Every one of us will have an opinion. Some will say 'yes' I will work or 'yes' I need to earn - others will say 'no' I don't want to risk death. We MUST respect each others' decisions!
We must also consider – what do we do if we know a child is visiting friends or family – do we send them home to isolate or do we continue caring for them and take the risk?
This is something only you can decide.
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**Outside play and learning**
DfE are encouraging the use of outside areas because being outside has been shown to limit the transmission of the virus. In our childminding setting, we are intending to move most of our provision outside from 1st June as a result of this guidance. If you are a gold childcare.co.uk member you can access 2 FREE recently presented webinars about 'Planning for Outside Play' and 'Outside Play and the Curriculum' on the webinar player here.
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**Attendance registers and coronavirus**
**You must record children's arrival and departure times accurately to comply with the EYFS and Childcare Registers. However, neither the EYFS nor the Childcare Register say parents must complete or sign the registers so you can do this on their behalf.
Note: your clock must be right so check it regularly.
Note: you do not need to record your own child’s attendance on a register.
And: fill it in every single time a child walks through the door (in whichever direction) - with the exact time they arrive or leave.
**You must note if children leave and then come back - to school or nursery, for example. However, you don't need to take registers with you on these sorts of outings - just check the time and note it down when you get back. Some providers carry a little notebook to write things down - it's up to you and how well your memory works.
Note: if parents are filling in the register, make sure they cannot see other children's times of attendance for confidentiality and check they are writing the time accurately.
**You might find it useful to include other information on your register to help you comply with the EYFS such as... child's date of birth and name of key person - it's up to you.
**You can include name of person who dropped / collected the child if you want to - it's up to you.
**Your registers can be: all children's names on one piece of paper - each child on multiple pieces of paper - pre-printed - in a calendar - weekly - monthly - online - in a book - in a diary - it's up to you.
Note: if you keep information online consider what will happen if it's not accessible when Ofsted come - also what to do if you close the online system - what you will do if a parent makes a data access request - how to manage the register for ICO if you close your setting.
**Staff (all staff - assistants*, co-childminders, volunteers etc) need their own arrival and departure registers and staff registers must say if / when they are in unsupervised contact with children (for up to 2 hours a day with parental permission). You must do this for all assistants, even if your assistant is a family member.
**Know how long to keep registers - don't keep them longer than necessary.
Note: best practice advice is to use pen, not pencil because it is a legally required document.
I hope you find this quick update useful. If you have any other questions, please let me know.
I will continue to provide guidance, information and support for all early years providers and have more FREE webinars coming up soon.