Covid-19 Operating Guide for our Employees

Ecclesall Kids Club recognises that careful planning is essential in order to keep our children and our staff safe, and to limit the spread of coronavirus/Covid-19, within our setting and the School. Accordingly, we have conducted a thorough Covid-19 Risk Assessment, this will be published on our website and we will review it on at least a monthly basis or sooner if Government guidance changes.

Our Risk Assessment is to cover club specific areas and should be read in conjunction with the Schools Risk Assessment which we will also follow. This guidance has been written in line with sector and HSE guidance and will help us to keep yourself, your colleagues, our children, their parents and the School staff as “Covid-19” safe as we can.

The Zone supervisor will also alert you if things happen during club time and can answer any questions you have about how we are operating. We need to support each other, work as a team and be flexible in these demanding times, helping each other and the children and our new colleagues, whilst making the club a fun place for us all to be despite the new and unusual environment we are working in.

Please bear in mind the contents of this document will change over time and we will update you through shared Zoom meetings and memos which will be emails to you. Emails will be notified to you via an alert on the WhatsApp and also important messages given the pace of change with guidance, e.g. if we are told to wear masks at work because there is announcement that day, you will, be told via the Club WhatsApp and these will be provided for you on arrival.  Due to a change in guidance as of 2/9/20 masks will now be worn in club, in communal spaces and corridors, these will be supplied by the club for your use, this will be discussed via whatsapp along with any further changes to guidance on this. 

Covid-19 symptoms

Covid-19 is a viral, respiratory disease, which is spread from person to person by close contact. It typically causes fever and a dry cough, and in some cases may progress to viral pneumonia which cannot be treated by antibiotics. Symptoms of Covid-19 can include:

Continuous dry cough Sore throat
Fever (high temperature) Tiredness
Difficulty breathing Loss of taste and smell

The initial symptoms are similar to colds and flu-type illnesses, but the combination of a recent onset of fever and a new continuous cough seem to be present in many cases of Covid-19. However, it is important to be aware that in some cases the symptoms may be very mild or even non-existent, especially in children.

Procedure for infection or suspected infection in a child

Any child who becomes ill with symptoms which could be Covid-19 while at the Club, will be isolated from the other children until the child can be collected by his or her parent. The child will have their temperature checked and recorded for the parents information, with our no touch thermometer and they will be looked after in the medical room by a member of staff who will ensure the child’s belongings are with them in the medical room and will stay 2 meters apart where possible. The child must be collected at the School entrance, by the medical room only, they must not be brought back through the club. The parent must not enter the building unless it is unavoidable e.g. to support their child to leave safely.

Our role is to reassure our children, who may be frightened, as in the vast majority of cases this will be the normal illnesses we come across in the club, colds, tummy bugs etc and not Covid-19. If a child became seriously ill, as always, we will call 999 in line with our sick children policy. We have PPE, i.e. masks, gloves, aprons and face shields to support us as well as new cleaning materials for cleaning bodily fluids e.g. toilet accidents, nose bleeds, vomit or sputum. (Please see the additional cleaning schedule and adopt the usual policy for cleaning up bodily fluids e.g. blood, faeces and vomit.

If a child has suspected symptoms of Covid-19, they must not attend Club or must go home if they are in session and follow the Government guidance for households with possible Covid-19 infection. This includes self-isolation and taking a Covid-19 test. See:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Most suspected cases of Covid-19 turn out to be negative, so the Club will remain open unless or until advised otherwise by the local Health Protection Team (HPT), School be informed and also parents in line with advice we are given from the HPT, staff should not discuss cases unless we are told it is acceptable to do so by the HPT as this could be a breach of medical confidentiality.

It is for the HPT to share information and tell us and the School what we need to do as they will know before we do about a positive case, they will also be employing track and trace and possibly additional local measures to control an outbreak. As with all our families and our colleagues, confidentiality must be respected at all times.

Procedure for infection or suspected infection and general absence reporting

If a member of staff has suspected symptoms of Covid-19, they must not attend Club (staff members need to phone and text Natalie ASAP on the club mobile 07905 375970, asap, including the night before if that applies. If it is very early in the morning and you can’t come to breakfast club, if it is during the night or before 6.15am when you need to notify us please only text Natalie). If a staff member is ill in session they must go home immediately and follow the Government guidance for households with possible Covid-19 infection. This includes self-isolation and taking a Covid-19 test. See:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Though we do not want any staff coming into work when they are feeling unwell (and definitely not with Covid-19 symptoms under any circumstances) please be aware that the way we are having to staff the bubbles with consistent staff means that if a member of staff is absent there is a possibility that we will have to cancel all the children’s places in the bubble that day as our staffing levels may not be safe.

As discussed previously unless Holidays have been arranged and agreed already, for a while we may not be able to grant the normal flexibility to offer additional unpaid staff holiday outside our statutory holidays and any holiday clubs (which may or not run, although these are non contractual) This is because it is not easy or sometimes even possible to replace staff within their bubbles due to this increasing the number of contacts for children and your colleagues. For this reason unless there are exceptional circumstances you will not be able to take time off during your normal shifts for dentist, doctor etc as we are unable to cover in the normal way whilst we cannot replace you with supply staff. Please make all appointments during the day when you are not working for the club or on the days you do not work. We will relax this as soon as we are able and are grateful for your cooperation with this.

Infection Prevention and Control

Like the common cold and flu viruses, Covid-19 is spread by:

  • Infected people passing the virus to others through large droplets when coughing, sneezing, or even talking, shouting or singing within a close distance.
  • Direct contact with an infected person: for example, if you hug, touch, hold their hand, and then touch your own mouth, eyes or nose without first washing your hands. Personal hand to mouth contact must be avoided at all times. We need to avoid close personal contact with children and discourage this close contact in a kind way between the children, explaining carefully and sensitively to young children who may not understand.
  • Touching objects (e.g. resources, cutlery, toys, door handles, light switches, gates toilet flushes and taps) that have previously been touched by an infected person, then touching your own mouth, eyes or nose without first washing your hands.
  • Viruses can survive longer on hard surfaces than on soft or absorbent surfaces. The virus “prefers” hard, smooth surfaces rather than rough softer porous surfaces. The latest guidance on Covid -19 survival times are :
  • Glass 5 days
  • Wood 4 days
  • Plastic and stainless steel 3 days
  • Paper and cardboard 24 hours
  • Fabric less than 24 hours

So for most of our surfaces where we want to share resources or change over, the 3 day /72 hour rule (clean on a Friday and leave over a weekend for use on a Monday will suffice).

  • We will model and promote Catch it, Kill it and Bin it for use of tissues which will be available in all bubbles (or sneezing into the crook of the arm if there isn’t time to grab a tissue) and also good handwashing for 20 seconds (two rounds of Happy Birthday).
  • We will model frequent hand sanitising and big labelled hand sanitiser bottles will be provided in your bubble box to put out in your bubble area for children to use.
  • Staff will have their own “named personal bumbags” with essentials in it including personal sanitiser, plasters, cleaning wipes you will also store your name badge inside the Bumbag.
  • Labelled First Aid kits will be in each bubble area or Bumbag First Aid kits that we normally use, these must not be shared between bubbles.
  • There will not be any places for shared storage of personal effects and we need to reduce close staff contact between bubbles but you will have a box for these in your year bubble area ( see later).
  • Large bags will be provided for bubble storage of the few items children can bring into school ( at the moment, this is a water bottle, packed lunch, coat and book bag/bag.
  • Each year bubble will have its own designated space and staff who work only within that bubble. Staff must not share resources across the Bubble or work closely in another Bubble unless they are asked to do so by the Play Manager or Deputy Play Manager (as this change will need to be risk assessed).
  • Resources and cleaning materials have been allocated (and labelled) for each bubble and if you find you need something that isn’t in your resources e.g. glue for a craft has run out you will need to radio one of the floaters that day, they will bring that resource to you and you will need to clean it with antiviral spray as a precaution. You will also have your own bubble bin bag.
  • Walkie talkies must not be shared between bubbles, these are labelled with your name and you will keep your own for the duration, cleaning down at the start and end of each session.
  • You will be provided with your own snack resources which will not be shared as the kitchen (and our resources normally stored there) can now only be accessed by our staff who work in the kitchen to support their infection control Denise and Sue). Breakfast and snacks will be simple and cold for now, e.g. no toast. If you have a child with specific dietary requirements this will be noted in your Bubble information pack and as our staff preparing snack will be well aware of those children, a suitable snack will have been prepared, packaged and labelled. The Zone Leader will also be aware of any children in that zone, who have allergies or additional needs. Please read your packs and ensure you are aware of the children who have allergies and also our SEN children in your bubble.
  • Play and craft resources will have been decided based on current advice about how long the virus lasts on surfaces, how easy things are to clean/wash (e.g. no furry teddies) and also how much contact with staff and other children is involved in the activity, given the need to social distance. We are starting off in a more limited way but hope to widen opportunities as more health and Government advice becomes available.
  • Barriers will separate the bubble years in a zone (these may be portable tables or forms) if one side of the table is to be used by a year bubble the other side must be blocked off with signage so that another bubble cannot use it until the rules of social distancing change. Children from different bubbles cannot sit opposite each other at a table and even in bubbles side by side or back to back sitting is always preferable to face to face. .
  • Some larger resources e.g. Tec will be divided up labelled and stay with that bubble for the duration. Table football for example may be rotated weekly, cleaned and left over a weekend before it is moved on to another bubble, rotas will be developed after we start working again.

Zones entrances and exits

(Read alongside the zone plan)
We have 4 zones at breakfast club and afterschool club as follows

  • Dining room (Y1/Y2)
  • Hall (Reception/Y3)
  • Studio – Y4
  • Gallery (Tec zone) – Y5/Y6

Entrances/Exits (Ideally staff will enter via these eventually rather than our main kids club entrance, if we find ourselves in the same area as each other (the kitchen is out of bounds) before opening or closing we must keep socially distant by 2 meters and move to our own bubble area. Staff sign in will be in your bubbles and badges in bubble boxes.

We have 3 entrances:
Normal Kids Club entrance – Y1 and Y2
School main entrance via a reception at the doorway, then into Hall through a corridor side door – Reception/Y3
Gallery (Tec) bottom door (by the Tiger Mural) – Y4/Y5 and Y6

Guidelines say we should avoid crossing bubbles where possible but walking down the side of the bubble to get to your own in a corridor fashion down the edge of the room is low risk and acceptable as long as social distance is maintained. To avoid this where possible we are using different entrances/exits based on the total numbers of children expected in each zone and the closeness of the bubble and zone to the entrance and exit.

For outdoor play we plan to (trial) by exiting into the Playground from nearest to the Gallery (tec) door first so Y6 who are next to the door, then Y5 (they are both in Gallery) Y4 (from studio through gallery which will then be empty) then Y3 from hall through gallery. In parallel we will probably take Y1 and then Y2 and then Reception in series out of our normal kids club entrance and through the top gate down the “cage” passage way into the Playground, that way those children are also exiting nearest to their outdoor zones on the yards. We will use our walkie talkies to make this process smooth.

A small snack may be offered on arrival at club or we may decide to take this outside as a picnic. We will start by getting all the children outside asap if weather allows, coats should be taken to avoid coming in and out of the building, this is better for the children and staff for infection control. Unfortunately children in a bubble cannot be inside and outside at the same time as due to bubbles we are unable to offer free flow play, due to the complexity of moving each bubble inside and outside with out cross contamination and ensuring we have adequate staff supervision. As part of this new routine we will start to bring children in from 4.45pm (in reverse order from how they exited) and will secure our exits and then open the yard gate and Huntley Gate at 5pm to allow for Y4/5/6 parents to collect directly from the Gallery. The focus from 5pm to 6pm will be indoor activities/craft, tec and table games.

We have asked parents not to pick up before 5pm unless they let us know this is because it would be awkward to get a child back in, get them back to the bubble to collect their things and get them to the entrance without crossing bubbles and also still adequately supervise the children on the playground. We will build organising early pickups into the Floater role for those not on the Y2/Y3 door/craft prep. A Supervisor must still check each child out on the tablet before they leave and check that the person picking up is an official collector.

Bubbles and Zones (inside and out)

  • All Zone Leaders (Natalie, Denise and Zee/Sue) have been allocated a specific zone, they will be responsible for the whole zone and its children and staff, there will be 2 year bubbles in that zone except for the Y4 in the studio (see Zone map)
  • At afterschool Emma Thackery will be Zone Lead Cover and will also lead the search for children who do not turn up who we are expecting.
  • Although the Zone Leader is responsible for all the staff and children in the zone, they will be located with one of the bubbles in that zone and that will remain the same, except if there is an emergency where the welfare of a child in the other bubble in that room takes priority. There will be an additional members of staff in the other Bubble in that zone to allow for this.
  • The Zone Leader will be responsible for ensuring all zone staff sign in and out and the time sheets for their Zone are given to Natalie and Emma the Monday following week (72 hour rule).
  • The Zone Leader will be responsible for check in and out of the children and for delivery to the classroom and collection of children from the classroom ( for reception, Y1 and Y2 only) using lists in the normal way.
  • Y3 children and above must make their way to and from kids club through the School building as no teaching staff will be on the Playground in the mornings or afternoons to support infection control and the gates will be open.
  • On a normal School day when children are not coming to club, children will be entering and leaving School via their external class door to their classroom and this is where the parent will drop off and pick up from School. This is to avoid parents and large numbers of children going through School or congregating in the yard. To support this parents are not allowed in School any more only by prior appointment, the same applies to Kids Club.
  • As we have children from all years present at all sessions in differing numbers on different days and we only have 4 bubbles spaces (3 of which will be shared) the year groups which have the most children have been allocated to the biggest spaces.
  • The spaces are located near the bubble entrance for those year groups to avoid crossing other bubbles wherever possible.
  • A bubble map for the indoors and playground has been produced, a toilet map will also be produced, please familiarise yourself with the toilets for the bubble you are working in. Playground and field bubble lines will be marked out by School but are shown on your map.
  • In the bubble box you will have a bubble information pack and will be provided with details about allergies, health considerations of those children in your care. Please familiarise yourselves with these, the zone leads will be familiar with these for the zone they are looking after and provide help and advice.
  • Some days zones will be busy and others quieter, as there are often no patterns to the way the way children attend. Where we know Bubbles are likely to be bigger on some days more staff have been deployed there, due to the fact we cannot move staff in and out of bubbles it may mean that on some days there are 2/3 people with very few children to look after.
  • Where we are over staffed in a bubble, though you cannot work directly in another bubble there are jobs we need to do e.g. cleaning, shredding, photocopying, getting crafts ready for the following week, socially distant supervision of other bubbles inside or outside the building, such as the other bubble in your zone so we are grateful for your flexibility on this.

Bubble Boxes and Bumbags

Bubble boxes for staff and children have been created alongside personal staff bumbags.

Personal bumbags are initialled and will contain

  • Emergency PPE kit for if a child in your bubble is showing symptoms.
  • Whistle. This is to get the attention of other staff members if needed due to us being spread out more.
  • Pen and notepad. Staff cannot be sharing resources either so if you need to jot anything down please use these.
  • Hand sanitiser. A small bottle of hand sanitiser will be kept in the Bumbag, this is initialled and will be refilled when empty.
  • Plasters and wipes in case of emergencies.

Bumbags will be used to store your badge when not in use and are NOT to be used to store your mobile phone as this is a safeguarding breach.

The staff bubble box is labelled and will contain

  • Larger hand sanitiser for the children to use.
  • Antibacterial wipes for wiping down surfaces quickly (spray and a cloth to be used at other times).
  • Black sacks for your bubbles rubbish.
  • Box of tissues.
  • Spare disposable gloves and aprons.
  • Roll of blue cloths.
  • Bubble information folder which will contain the bubbles signing in sheet and the bubble cleaning schedule. Details of any allergies, medical conditions or SEN needs for children in that bubble. A copy of the risk assessment and fire procedure will also be in this folder.

Staff are also able to use this box to store their personal belongings. Due to the size of the box and the issue of bringing things from home we ask that you please only bring to work a small bag containing necessities. You are also able to bring a drink which can be stored in the box.

The children’s resource boxes are also labelled and contain separate resources for each bubble for example

  • Pens
  • Scissors
  • Craft items

You are responsible for getting the resources out of the box, children will not help themselves from the box as we need to make the resources last. Resources are to be sanitised before they are put back away

The children’s bubble belonging bags will also be stored in here when not in use.

Staffing Bubbles

Staffing Bubble Zones has been (and will have to be) planned very carefully, the guidelines as they are do not allow for changing staff between bubbles though we may be able to look to swap people for example half termly/termly where there has been a break.

The criteria used when deciding which bubble you will support are as follows

  • The minimum and maximum size of each bubble and the number of children in the whole zone in that room.
  • Zones must be led by a fully qualified and experienced supervisor who must also be a First Aider and a Designated Safeguarding Lead.
  • Minimum changes of staff in a bubble to reduce the number contacts for both yourselves and the children. Your working pattern and whether we could make a natural continuous job share with someone else may have influenced where you can de deployed to avoid too much change.
  • Your experience and that of the people in your bubble, including whether you have an up to date First Aid Certificate may impact where we have put you. We have tried to ensure as well as the Zone Supervisor there is at least one other staff member and ideally two who are also first aid qualified in each zone.
  • We have tried to put you with the age group that best fits your experience but this hasn’t always been possible at first as we need to balance overall experience across the rooms and within the bubbles.
  • Whether you have absence or a holiday( including possible quarantine) .
  • Some peoples working patterns (either not many shifts per week or shifts that do not make a job share) mean we cannot under current guidelines put you in a bubble.
  • We also needed some staff who have experience as floaters as we have tasks that will need completing to support all the bubbles, e.g. craft design and preparation and dealing with phone queries. Supply or temp staff may be able to be a floater but unless they can work full time they will not be in a bubble themselves which gives us reduced flexibility on the previous staffing despite recruiting new members of staff.

Floater staff

  • Floater staff are essential to support the efficient running of the club, especially when we can’t just go where we please without crossing other bubbles, though this role will develop/change, we expect the main duties to be:
  • manning the Reception/Y3 school entrance door (the 2 other entrances/exits will be covered by the Zone Leads as they are located there). Traffic before 5pm should be minimal whilst we run the 5pm trial.
  • Looking after the club phone and relaying messages quickly to Supervisors from a reception area using your Walkie Talkie
  • Covering staff toilet breaks at a social distance (arranged via walkie talkie)
  • Down time will be used for designing preparing crafts for future use (the 72 hour rule) and sometimes topping up resources or cleaning toys.
  • Depending on how many Floaters are in we may ask them to help with EYFS obs and photographs or help as a socially distant extra pair of eyes patrolling the Play Zones. For example you may help with playground supervision as an extra observer or “on patrol”. You might alert the bubble members of staff to a child who has fallen but you would not be able to be close enough to the child to be able to deliver that First Aid and this will be the role of bubble members of staff who would already be there.
  • We may need you to support your team by helping them locate or restock resources, which they can’t get too and your colleagues will clean them down on receiving them from you.
  • As with bubble staff you will have your own resources including your own named Bumbag and box to put your personal effects in e.g. your badge at the end of the shift. Floaters must have a walkie talkie on them at all times (this is very important and must be cleaned at the beginning and end of your shift).
  • You will not form part of a bubble to allow you to be fully flexible in supporting the whole team wherever you are needed. We may need to add extra staff into a floating role, for example where they have no children in their bubble that session, this is possible given the very low numbers in some years especially on a Friday. We may also need to change a bubble staffs role to floater following absence or a holiday and quarantine for example to avoid swapping staff in and out mid term.

Toilets – Children

As school have set out, children can use the same bathrooms, but toilets need to be assigned per bubble. Therefore, the following toilets will be signed accordingly and used during sessions

  • Y1 and Y2 – Male toilet in the dining room, the toilet will be cleaned after each use.
  • Reception and Y3 – Reception toilets, exit through bottom hall door.  Cubicles will have a temporary label for each year so cubicles are not shared
  • Y4, Y5 and Y6 – Year 2 toilets cubicles will have a temporary label for each year so cubicles are not shared.

Only one child per bubble may go to the bathroom at any one time and must not go into any other bubble during the journey there and back, staff are to be vigilant of this and use walkie talkies to communicate.

The bubble staff will have to clean the toilet used by their bubble, this will be documented further in the cleaning schedule.

Toilets – Staff

Staff are to use the toilets located by the school office for the ladies and in the dining room for the men’s. As the men’s toilet will be used by children also any male member of staff will have to make sure they wipe down before and after use. These areas will also be used for staff handwashing.

We will take the following steps to reduce the risk of catching or spreading Covid-19 at the Club:

Hygiene:

  • Staff and children will wash their hands as soon as they arrive at the Club, and will be reminded to sanitise or wash their hands regularly throughout the session, especially after using the toilet, before eating food and after coughing or sneezing.
  • Hand sanitiser will be available at all times.
  • We will have tissues readily available for use when sneezing and coughing, and these will be disposed of, in a lidded bin, immediately after use.
  • If they don’t have a tissue to hand, children will be instructed to cough or sneeze into the crook of their arm.
  • We will discourage children from touching their faces and we will avoid touching our own faces.
  • We will discourage children from touching each other, especially the older children who often hug and rough play.
  • We will not touch the children unless it is unavoidable, e.g. to give First Aid or intimate care, or to help up and reassure after a fall.
  • Children will not be allowed to bring toys or games from home, and we ask that they bring only the belongings School have agreed to the Club.
  • Due to a change in guidance as of 2/9/20 masks will now be worn in club, in communal spaces and corridors these will be supplied by the club for your use, this will be discussed via whatsapp along with any further changes to procedure on this. 

Cleaning Schedule:

  • The Club will have a cleaning schedule in your bubble box that aligns with the School to ensure all our spaces meet the hygiene standards required.
  • We will ensure that frequently-touched surfaces, such as handles, door plates, light switches, table tops and toys are regularly cleaned with anti-viral spray or wipes, before, during and after each session.
  • We will not have toys that are difficult to clean.
  • We will not have soft toys and soft furnishings, such as cushions and rugs.
  • We will restrict the sharing of toys and equipment between bubbles apart from planned rotation of big items as previously described e.g. Ice Hockey, Snooker, TV, Table football.
  • Toilets and sinks will be cleaned before and after each session, and at specified intervals while the club is in operation. We will need to clean down at the end of Afterschool ready for the next breakfast club ( including toilets that we use) as the School cleaners will have finished for the day at 5pm.

Arrivals and departures:

  • We have amended our collection procedure, so parents will now collect their children from outside the Club.
  • We have assigned different drop off and collection points to limit the congregation of parents outside the Club and also support our keeping child bubbles separate.
  • Sign in and out of children will be done by a staff member on entry or exit from or to the building as normal on a tablet.
  • Ideally we will also arrive and leave by the entrances for our bubble.

Premises

  • Visitors, e.g. delivery drivers will not be allowed to enter the premises.
  • Doors and windows will be kept open at all times only where safe to do so to keep the premises well ventilated. Please be mindful that after 5pm the gates will be open.

Activity planning:

  • We will plan activities that minimise contact between children.
  • Whenever possible, activities will take place outside.
  • We have labelled bubble boxes of resources, games pens and paper, craft of the day and these will not be shared between bubbles.

Promoting good practice

We will promote infection control through the methods above, and in addition we will:

  • Ensure that all staff understand, our new procedures
  • Ensure that adequate supplies of cleaning materials are available within the Club
  • Dispose of waste promptly and hygienically
  • Provide tissues and suitable facilities for their disposal.
  • Provide PPE for when it is needed

Closure

We may need to temporarily close the Club or a Bubble if we have insufficient staff due to illness to run sessions safely. Any decisions will be made by agreement with the Committee and communicated to parents via Magic Booking. We will communicate to staff affected via WhatsApp.

In the event that we have a number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 associated with the Club, we may need to close if advised to do so by the local Health Protection Team in order to limit the spread of the virus.

If the Club needs to close, we will notify parents or carers as soon as possible as well as our insurer and Ofsted and we will also notify our staff via WhatsApp.

Other Documents to read

Cleaning Schedule

Toilet and outdoor playground plan

Temporary Fire Procedure

Club Risk Assessment

School Risk Assessment