Pen Green Centre for children and their families

The nursery is open term time only. It is a ‘free flow’ space, children were taken on regular trips to Pen Green nursery, or the supermarket. The children grew vegetables in the garden and we cook with children. We would offer sand and water play, messy play. Staff know all the children as the nursery is such a contained space. Staff would have daily chats with parents, do home visits, complete children’s assessments. The nursery has quite a high number of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Before the current situation we had four family workers and two Higher Needs Funding staff; one to one staff. We would come together at lunch time and the end of each day to think about how we could plan for children, or to discuss the day.

Apart from a week at the beginning of lockdown when we closed to sort things out, we have remained open. That was the only time we had no children in. Staff have been working the whole time. Staff used tapestry, video interactions, carried out visits to children, made games and resources and took them to children, we still held Child Protection meetings, carried out home visits and completed referrals to external agencies, staff did more than they would normally do. They were contacting parents every week, writing school reports, and finishing assessments. This is the way we have always worked, and staff were supported to do this, regardless of if they were at home or in the setting. Parents were saying that phone calls were really important, children were so excited about them – no child has been forgotten – we have kept in contact with them all. When children did came back in we were not socially distant from them, it’s not part of our ethos. We have always asked staff how they felt, through phone calls or in supervision. It was important that everyone felt connected. From a practical point of view when we had to change things were careful to discuss this with staff. Sometimes risk assessments were weekly, and staff would add to these as they needed to.  We wanted to ensure people felt comfortable in the environment they were working in, and have someone to talk to if they weren’t. It’s been important for us to think about how staff have been informed and involved.

Now the team and the children are in bubbles, so we’re like two teams. We have split the Kingswood staff across the team, and other staff from Pen Green have been redeployed to work within the bubbles to support ratios. These teams do not mix with other, staff plan in bubbles, so we don’t cross teams at all. It feels a bit sad really. There had to be two Family Workers and two new workers in each bubble, so we have had to adjust to new members of the team. That happened really quickly, and within a week were working closing with each other. We cannot have all the team in with the children, because if the bubble goes down the whole nursery would have to close. But it has been quite seamless introducing new staff. It worked well it hasn’t affected the children in nursery, parents have said they are really pleased with the way it has worked. Children come in for a morning or an afternoon session. Some children might be in the space without their family worker.  Parents have said they feel safe, and have no issues. Some children were off for eight weeks but they came back like were never away.  Some new children have started and they’ve settled so quickly, it’s like they’ve always been here.

Some of the early concern from parents was about us socially distancing from children. But we were clear, and said no – we would not do that. Once parents knew this they were fine about their children coming back, they wanted us to be in contact with their children. That was a big thing for us, that we would still have physical contact with children, as parents wanted that. Staff were not able to see their own family members – but have still been with children and still had contact with them. We are genuinely interested in parents and their children, as we always have been, throughout this time we have listened to what parents have been saying, and trying to offer them something to match that.  We have adapted so many other things. We have to clean everything between sessions. We use flowing water with the hose, rather than the water tray. Some children have not returned, they’re going to school in September and so we have used funding to buy them a lunch box and a school bag, we wanted them to have something to mark the end of their time with us. Something for them, and the start of their new chapter. We have also held virtual transitions meetings with schools, this has worked really well. Offering routines, and places to play has been really important to children and families.

Small groups are a lovely way to be with children, we have had to be more creative with the resources we’ve put out. Some moments have been lovely, I was singing Twinkle Twinkle with a little boy who hasn’t spoken for 18 months, because there is less children we have more time for one to one. I heard him whisper “twinkle”. Yesterday I heard another little girl saying new words too. These are bits that we have hung on to.