January 2022 Newsletter a new year

2022- A NEW YEAR

Welcome back! We reopened on Tuesday, 4th January 2022. We hope you had a nice break and that everyone is well. We look forward to seeing all the children and parents and continuing our partnership for another year. Thank you for choosing Dee's Childcare, we will continue our hard work to provide the children a safe environment to Learn, Play and Grow together.

We are excited for the new term with our usual weekly classes and activities in the daycare, but also our Forest Childcare Outings to our allotment, local parks, woodlands, and playgrounds as well as some other special trips that will be announced in our weekly timetable.

Please remember to send your child in appropriate labeled clothing, remembering that we DO go outside in ALL WEATHERS. You need to provide at least two complete sets of a change of clothes and also waterproof clothing and wellington boots.

Covid Update

We continue to follow government guidelines and do our best to provide a COVID safe environment for your children. To ensure we can manage this we will be relying on your continued support so the safety measures shall remain in place for the foreseeable future. If you have any virus symptoms you must not enter the daycare. Wearing a face mask when entering the daycare is mandatory. Please wait behind the plastic curtains and your child will be brought out to you.If you have symptoms please get a PCR before returning

Due to the rising number of cases and outbreaks, and the likely increased risks posed by Omicron, we want to assure you that we will continue with the measures we already have in place around handwashing, staff mask-wearing in communal areas, social distancing, and maintaining good ventilation

UK Health Security Agency guidance published on 14 December 2021 states children under five identified as having had close contact with a positive Covid case are "exempt from self-isolation and do not need to take part in daily testing of close contacts". However, following discussions with the Early Years Alliance, the government has now confirmed that under-fives who live in the same household as someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 should still take a PCR test – though there remains no requirement to self-isolate while awaiting test results.

In December 2021, the government announced that individuals testing positive for Covid-19 can now end their self-isolation after seven days, rather than 10, if they receive negative lateral flow test results on days 6 and 7 of self-isolation. The DfE has now confirmed that this advice also applies to children aged under five who have tested positive for Covid-19.

The full updated guidance can be accessed here.

Please find and follow our own Covid Policy below and you can access the guide to the health and safety measure we are taking in the daycare HERE

Mental health and wellbeing

Some children and young people may be experiencing feelings of anxiety, stress or low mood as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support for children and parents

Encourage your child to talk to you or their teacher if they are feeling anxious or stressed.

Online resources to help you support your child with mental health and wellbeing, include:

• MindEd - a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health
• Every Mind Matters - an online tool and email journey to support everyone in taking action to look after their mental health and wellbeing
• Bereavement UK and the Childhood Bereavement Network - information and resources to support bereaved pupils, schools and staff
• the DfE blog - includes mental health resources for children, parents, carers and school staff
• Barnardo’s See, Hear, Respond service, provides support to children, young people and their families who are not currently seeing a social worker or other agency, and who are struggling to cope with the emotional impacts of COVID-19. Use the See, Hear, Respond self-referral webpage or Freephone 0800 151 7015.

General Interest Information

Attendance Changes: All requests to change children's attendance days and times should be forwarded to Decima via Private Message on Babysdays

Babysitting Services

Things to Go Home- at the front door, we have a small unit with drawers. The top drawer is with things to go home that may have been left behind during the week. Please check regularly to see if any of the things are your child's.

Little Library- hopefully you spotted our little library outside the daycare, by now. Please feel free to use it as often as you wish.“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”— Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”

SCHOOL ADMISSIONS: Application deadline for applying for a space at primary school is 15th January 2022.

Meet the Team

We are also working in partnership with London South Colleges and occasionally we offer students placements for work experience. Currently, we have two ladies who are both training for their Level 3 in Childcare: Luftie- works primarily with our pre-schoolers and Farishta who works with the Caterpillars and Cocoons.

We use an online system Baby’s Days, it is the the most advanced online software system, conforming fully with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework and designed and developed to assist childcare providers with the daily tasks of monitoring the children in our care. When signing your contract with us, you were informed that you were committing to login into the system weekly/daily which actively supports our aspirations and the Ofsted requirement of working in partnership with parents. The system provides parental access to view all policies and permissions, contracts, a child’s learning journal, daily notes with photos and videos, medical records, and invoices, to name a few.