Dear Parents and Carers,
We have now completed our plans and risk assessments, adhering to the updated guidance from the Department for Education and taking advice from the childcare sector of the local authority.
We are delighted to inform parents and carers that the pre-school at Upwood Small to Tall will be opening from Monday 7th September between the hours of 9am and 3.30pm. Further information will follow around the safe return of pre-school children.
Unfortunately, we are unable to re-open the extended provision of breakfast and after school clubs at this time. We are so sorry; we know that many of you need childcare before and after school, but the guidance has not yet relaxed enough for a setting like ours to re-open safely.
This decision has been made for the following reasons:
- We have two classrooms. Rooms cannot be used by different groups unless the room and resources are cleaned thoroughly between group changes. With staggered start/finish times in school, this would mean pre-school starting at 10.30am and ending at 2.00pm to allow for cleaning between use.
- We looked at having one room solely for pre-school and one for after school club, but we are only allowed 15 children in a group and these should ideally be consistent with the school bubbles.
- The guidance tells us that if school year group bubbles cannot be maintained into the clubs, then groups should be consistent throughout the week. Children’s attendance patterns at Upwood Small to Tall are all different with varying groups each day of the week. This would undermine both the guidance and the measures put in place by school to minimise the amount of
‘mixing’ to reduce the risk of infection.
We are very sorry that we have to delay this service, we know how important it is to our families, but the safety of children and adults at Upwood Small to Tall has to be given utmost priority. The local authority has advised us to review the situation in the October half term.
Once again we thank you for your patience and support.