Newsletter - 25th March 2020

Hi all,

We just wanted to take the opportunity to write to all our parents/carers and their families and say 'Hello'. We hope that everyone is well and is staying at home as much as possible.

It was a really hard decision to close pre-school last week and it was not one taken lightly. Like lots of businesses out there we want to make sure that the safety of our staff and children is paramount whilst at the same time ensuring the long term future of our pre-school. This is a delicate balancing act as we are sure you can all appreciate, but we strongly believe that the only way we are going to get through this situation is by pulling together, staying home as much as possible and supporting those businesses who may need it the most for when this is all over.

We have had very little information from our county council and have only been provided with the daily government updates for the education sector. We are in direct contact with the very few key worker parents that we have at Springfield and would like to thank them for their understanding and patience at this time.

As this is an ever evolving situation we will attempt to keep everyone updated as and when we have information to share, but we have to presume that we will not be open for the foreseeable future.

But we can keep in touch with each other. Parents can create their own 'observations' on Tapestry; let us know what you have been getting up to as well as asking questions and we will do our best to get back to you.

If you have found any good online resources that maybe beneficial to other parents then please let us know we can then share via email and our Facebook page.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/ is a great source of free activities

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyCLoPd4VxBvQafyve889qVcPxYEjdSTl - Joe Wicks is doing PE classes each day

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCU05kJzPa-6fzHJ8_lMm00A - Pennine Gymnastics with a special pre-school workout

https://www.familycorner.co.uk/ - ideas from the Early Years Alliance

Please send any ideas/links via email to springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk and we will share from there. Please do not post direct to our Facebook page as unfortunately these will not appear in our timeline, so email or message on Facebook and we will share to the page for you.

Please take lots of care, and look after your familes.

See you all soon, sending love and hugs.

Jayne, Julie, Katie, Sylvia, Sarah, Mel, Sarah & Suzanne

Update

We are in ever evolving times and our routines could change with very little notice. We ask all parents to please ensure that we have your correct contact details and to check both this website and our Facebook page for regular updates.

From today we will no longer be allowing parents into the pre-school building during drop-off and collection; this is to reduce the number of people together in close proximity at one time. We will also be applying hand sanitiser to all children upon arrival at pre-school.

If you, your child or a family member have a new dry, persistent cough or a temperature then you should follow the government guidelines and remain at home for 14 days.

Any child who develops any of the above symptoms whilst at pre-school will be sent home immediately and should remain away from pre-school for 14 days.

We would like to thank all our parents for their co-operation and understanding during these unprecedented times. With lots of unknowns ahead these are concerning times, not only for the safety, health and well being of all but also the financial implications and impact that may come our way. Our aim is always to provide the best possible childcare and education for your children in a safe and stimulating environment and we will do everything in our power to ensure this continues whatever comes our way.

Important Notice

At the moment we are in unprecedented times as the country begins to take stock of the situation around Coronavirus - Covid-19.

Here at Springfield we want to do everything in our power to ensure that everyone is safe and healthy. We respectfully ask that parents, carers, children and those who ordinarily drop off or collect children follow the most recent government advise and stay away from pre-school if they have a dry, persistent cough or high temperature. We would also ask that anyone who has recently returned from a country with an infected area also remain at home.

We are currently receiving daily updates from Derbyshire County Council via the Department of Education and will endeavour to keep everyone as up-to-date as possible with what maybe a quickly developing situation.

We will, as always, encourage high levels of hygiene with staff and children and would ask that this be replicated at home. Hand washing is vitally important and children should be made aware of this without scaring them.

Parents will be advised of any developments via text alert, our Facebook page and this website. It is therefore imperative that if you have changed your mobile phone number recently that you let us know.

Newsletter - Settling in at our New Building

Well, we have completed our first week in our new building and we would just like to thank everyone for supporting us through this transition.

Everyone involved in the move has worked extremely hard and we are really pleased with how everything has gone. A big thank you to Lou for loaning us her van, to Aaron for the use of his van and extra manpower and to all the staff and their partners who did an amazing job to get everything moved in only a matter of hours!

Now we are in there is going to be a period of settling-in and getting used to the building, it’s layout and how that affects our routines and procedures. So we really appreciate parents ‘bearing with us’ while we iron out the wrinkles and tweak as we go along!

So just a few things for parents to be aware of;

• We are not currently using the area to the side and rear of the building; both areas need some work before we can happily use them. Plus we are still waiting on Erewash Borough Council to give us the go-ahead on where we can site a much needed storage unit. So please ensure all children are prevented from accessing these areas.
• The area to the front of the building is a mixture of grass and hard paving; at the moment we are NOT using the grassed area due to the wet conditions as well as the siting of a ‘memorial tree’. The children have been told about this and have been amazing at avoiding the grass! We would ask parents to avoid the grass as well and ensure that their children when with them do the same.
• Memorial Tree - as just mentioned in the grass area to the front of the building there is a tree planted with a plaque. This is in remembrance of a former guide leader and we would ask parents and their children to be respectful of this.
• Spare Clothes - please remember we DO NOT have any spare clothes at pre-school. Please ensure ALL children are sent with at least two changes of clothes; this is in case of both toileting accidents or getting ‘messy’ during water and investigation play. If a child needs a change of clothes and has been sent without any spare we will have to contact parents and request that dry/clean clothes be brought in. 
• At the end of the afternoon session parents are invited into the main room to collect their children. Please give due care and consideration to other parents as well as the staff whose main priority at this time is ensuring the safety of all children. Parents should refrain from calling out or beckoning to their child as this can be distracting to other children and staff alike. Our main priority is to ensure that the correct child and parent are reunited safely and efficiently.
• Suggestions - if you have any comments or suggestions (good & bad!) about the new building and the knock-on effect on our provision then please let us know. You can speak to either Jayne or Julie or better still drop us an email at springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk. We will take on board all suggestions and use these to ensure that we can continue to provide the best possible care and education for your children.