Latest News

Update 6th July 2020.

Update 6th July 2020.

Reminder, this week we will be holding some ‘Drop in’ times for individual parents and children to visit their Keyworker, outside in our front garden, to pick up their yearbook, and to say goodbye. These ‘Drop in’s’ are only for the children who are leaving us at the end of this term. (For more information see update 29th June)

Arrangements for September 2020

As you may have seen on the television or in the news, on Thursday 2nd July the government published its advice for schools and early years settings regarding arrangements for September 2020.

We will need a few days to make our plans and solve problems, but we will put full information on this website on Monday 13th July.

Library Books

Our Library folders show that there are a number of our Library books at home with families. We will place a Blue box on one of the benches in our front garden labelled ‘Returning Library Books’. Please could you return any Willow Library Books that you have at home. Please just come into the garden and leave them in the box for us. Thank you.

Our Last Day of Term:

The last day of the Summer Term will be Friday 17th July.

Continue to check here for updates on Mondays.

Update 29th June 2020.

Update 29th June 2020.

We have sixty children who will be leaving Willow at the end of this term to go to their choice of primary school in September. We have decided to make staff available for some ‘Drop in’ times for individual parents and children to visit their Keyworker, outside in our front garden, to pick up their yearbook, and to say goodbye.

These ‘Drop in’s’ are only for the children who are leaving us at the end of this term.

Some children are attending school at the moment, but as parents wait outside the gate at drop off and collection times it is not always possible to talk to Keyworkers. These parents are welcome to attend too.

Your child’s keyworker will be available to briefly meet with you and your child, for a few minutes, at the following times:

Miss Howe, Yellow Group, Monday 6th July 1:00pm to 2:30pm

Miss Skai, Orange Group, Tuesday 7th July 1:00pm to 2:30pm

Miss Gaffney, Blue Group, Wednesday 8th July 1:00pm to 2:30pm

You may arrive at any time during the above timeslots, but we will be asking you to wait outside the school gates in a socially distanced queue, then staff can invite individual parents and children to come in to the garden, to sit on the benches and chat briefly.

Continue to check here for updates on Mondays.

Update 22nd June 2020

Update 22^nd June 2020.

The government made an announcement on Friday 19th June saying that they want to see all children returning to all schools in September. The government will be providing advice to all schools in two weeks time (expected by Friday 3^rd July) regarding class sizes, social distancing and other safety measures.

I will be unable to finalise my planning for Willow children until this advice has been published. It is also worth noting that in the past during the pandemic information for early years settings is often ‘to follow’ the main body of advice.

As already stated my aim is to offer the Main Nursery children the sessions their parents requested on their options form when we reopen in September.

Continue to check here for updates on Mondays.

Update 15th June 2020

Update 15th June 2020.

Today we reopened for the children who will be leaving us in July 2020.

School remains closed to our two year old children in Catkins class, and those children in Green and Red groups (Dates of Birth: 01/09/16 to 31/03/2017).

Planning for September 2020:

Main Nursery:

I have begun planning for September. I am assuming that in September pupils will have to be placed in ‘Bubbles’ so that children only mix with the children in their Bubble. This means that the children will be allocated to one classroom and one staff member.

The children will be grouped together by their attendance pattern. Thirty hour children will be grouped together. Two and a half day children will be grouped together. The children attending for morning sessions will be grouped together.

I have on file all the requests made for attendance patterns from September. Under the current government guidelines and advice, I will be able to offer all the Main Nursery children the sessions their parents requested on their options form.

It may have been a long time ago that you completed your options form. We will be in touch with everyone in early July, either by email or phone to advise you of your child’s attendance pattern, and your child’s arrival and departure times. I still have work to do to finalise timings, as arrival and departure times must be staggered.

Keep checking this website for weekly updates, which will be posted on Monday afternoons.

Catkins Class- Two Year Olds

If you have already booked your child into Catkins Class for the Autumn Term 2020, before lockdown, and their name is on our timetable, then their place in Catkins is confirmed for the sessions you requested.

Office staff will contact you at some point in the next two weeks to confirm that you would still like your child to attend Catkins Class in September 2020.

Catkins Class will have reduced numbers. Morning sessions will be capped at eight children. Four of these children can stay all day. No children will arrive for the afternoon session.

Update Tuesday 9th June

Update Tuesday 9^th June:

What do I need to know to make my child’s first day successful?

Use the ‘previous post’ tab at the bottom of this post to find out about:

‘Groups’-  (Post dated  5^th June) identifies which group your child is in. Their arrival and departure times, and which member of staff is their ‘Bubble Leader’.

‘How the school has changed’ – (Post dated 27^th May.) Information regarding measures put in place to reduce risks, school organisation.

Getting ready before school:

Your child should bring a small bag or backpack containing a change of clothes. Each child will require a sun hat. All children will need to bring a water bottle to school, as we cannot use our water fountains during the pandemic. All these items should be named. Sun cream should be applied before school. As children are attending for half day sessions sun cream will not need re- applying during the session. Prescribed medication: some children require medication to be left in school. Please think whether your child’s medication is already in school, or do you need to give more supplies to staff. Mrs Davies will be outside on the first day to check with everyone regarding medication.

Check your child is well.

If your child or a member of your household is exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus:                        A new, continuous cough.                                                                                                                  A temperature.                                                                                                                                                  A loss of the sense of taste or smell.                                                                                                            You should stay at home and self isolate. (see Test and trace section below.)

We only want children in school who are fully well. All our staff are attached to individual ‘bubbles’. If a staff member is unwell, their bubble will be closed, as we will not have a staff member to teach them.

Arrival

You should arrive with your child at your allotted time. There will be four groups arriving in the morning between 8:45 am and 9:15am. Afternoon groups will arrive at 12.25pm and 12.35pm. There will be 10 minutes between the arrival time of different groups. Please do not join the line too early. We have placed some pictures along our fence at 2 metre intervals. Please queue with your child, holding their hand, maintaining 2 metres between you and the next family. Only one adult should assist your child to arrive at school, and where possible we ask that this adult is the same each day.

A staff member will open the front gate. The child at the front of the queue should then leave their parent, walk through the front garden to the right, towards our side gate where staff will help direct children round the back of school to their classroom entrance. Children and parents waiting in the queue outside should move forwards, maintaining two metres social distancing. Eventually all children will be admitted. Bubble leaders will greet their pupils at their classroom door.

Yellow group will use room 1. Orange group will use room 2. Blue Group will use room 3.

During the session.

All children will have their own coat peg, with their symbol on. These classrooms all have a bathroom with toilets and hand washing facilities. Your child will use just one classroom and the outside area during their session. Each group will have exclusive use of the outside area for 30 minutes during each session. This way ‘bubbles’ can be safely maintained.

Within their bubble children will have some choice of toys to play with, and staff will draw children in to adult lead activities. There will be a mixture of tasks, some looking at books and stories, working on phonics, playing tabletop maths games and being creative with paint and glue. Children will wash their hands at frequent intervals throughout the session.

These children are too young to socially distance. We can explain to children about staying apart, but we cannot expect children of this age to manage themselves. We will spread children out, but children will try to get close to others. There will be times when they will have close contact with others, despite our best efforts.

Should your child become ill, we will telephone you to collect your child. Please make sure we have updated contact numbers.

In the past, parents have telephoned the office to ask how their child is doing. Please be advised that the office staff will not routinely be entering classrooms. If we receive this request we will look into the classroom through the window and report what we can see.

If you would like to share information regarding your child with their ‘Bubble Leader’ we would ask you to send an email to office@willownursery.co.uk and we will pass on your message.

Departure.

Please arrive at your child’s departure time and wait socially distanced along the path outside the front entrance. Your child’s bubble will arrive and wait behind the side gate in the nursery garden. As individual parents step up to the gate we will call their child to come out to the front gate. Parents should then hold their child by their hand and move off together.

Parents cannot request to pick up their child early. We have to be very firm with this one.                  The reason: Children will enter and leave their classroom through the playground only. No children will be allowed to move through interior corridors, in order to reduce contacts for staff and children.  Different ‘Bubbles’ will be using the playground on a rota throughout the day. The playground will be empty when it is time to go home. Office staff will have little or no contact with our pupils. We will have a strict timetable for filling and emptying the school throughout the day. We will have 12 drop off and pick up slots in one day. We will advise that you keep your child with you for the day should you need them to be with you before their regular collection time.

Test and trace

How NHS test and trace service works

Taken directly from: NHS test and Trace, How it works, Published 27^th May 2020.

Part 1: for someone with symptoms of coronavirus

1. isolate: as soon as you experience coronavirus symptoms, medical advice is clear: you must self-isolate for at least 7 days. Anyone else in your household must self-isolate for 14 days from when you started having symptoms
2. test: order a test immediately at nhs.uk/coronavirusor call 119 if you have no internet access
3. results: if your test is positive, you must complete the remainder of your 7-day self-isolation. Anyone in your household must also complete self-isolation for 14 days from when you started having symptoms. If your test is negative, you and other household members no longer need to self-isolate
4. share contacts: if you test positive for coronavirus, the NHS test and trace service will send you a text or email alert or call you with instructions of how to share details of people with whom you have had close, recent contact and places you have visited. It is important that you respond as soon as possible so that we can give appropriate advice to those who need it. You will be told to do this online via a secure website or you will be called by one of our contract tracers.

If a child or member of staff at Willow has a suspected case of coronavirus they will be sent home to self isolate and obtain a test.

Where the child or staff member tests negative they can return to their setting and their fellow household members can end their self isolation. If the child or staff member tests positive, the rest of their immediate group within the nursery should be sent home and advised to self isolate for 14 days. The other household members of those advised to self isolate do not need to self isolate unless the child or staff member they live with subsequently develops symptoms.

FROM MONDAY 15^TH JUNE, DURING TERM TIME, WE WILL PUT A WEEKLY UPDATE ON OUR WEBSITE.