Post COVID things will look a little different around the preschool. Each class will now be referred to as a POD. This refers to a group of children who use the same room each day, the same toys and have the same teacher. The purpose of PODS is to limit the number of people each child has contact with. This will facilitate contact tracing if need be and will support a close positive relationship between the children and their teacher.
This system will also reduce the amount of contact adults have with each other. The POD system is designed to help with infection control and is an alternative to social distancing in a preschool setting where children of this age could not be expected to remain apart. In addition to the POD system a child-friendly designated drop-off and collection routine will be established. During drop off and pick up it is important that parents and guardians are physically distanced from each other and from staff.
No items other than those agreed with Management should be brought into the preschool as under the preschool’s risk assessment these would be considered a hazard. Preschools will be working towards ensuring that the well-being, health and safety of their children, their families and the staff and their families is a priority. In preparing to reopen preschools may have made significant changes to their physical environment and updated their policies and procedures in response to guidelines issued by Tusla and the HSE. Operational changes will be the ones most likely to impact parents.
It is not possible to simply pick up where services left off on the 12th March 2020. Hours of operation may have changed and parents should contact their providers to confirm these before planning to return. Some staff may not be returning and services should introduce new members of their team to parents and children in advance of reopening via messaging or email. As parents are no longer permitted on the premises, services will become creative in ways of communicating with parents such as offering virtual tours. Communication is always important between families and the preschool – now more than ever.