On 23rd March our Pre-school was closed as the lockdown situation meant that the Church Hall we hire, had to close. It was a strange and upsetting time for all the staff, children and families as we didn’t know what was ahead of us.
The first week off in lock down was a lovely week off , but even by the second week I needed some routine and that started me thinking – if I need routine and something to look forward to after one week, then so might the staff and children and their families.
The first thing that the staff and I did was to establish a Home Learning Hub on our ‘Family’ communication app where the parents could access what we usually teach at Pre-school and then provide this to their children. Each staff member took an area of their expertise and posted a weekly activity for the children to access. Ideas included the number and letter of the week, learning the sound of letters, the formation of the letter and how to make counting exciting, a weekly mission, treasure hunt, communication activities, learning Makaton sign language, maths activities, creative ideas and malleable ideas in the home.
After a few weeks we realised how valuable this was becoming to the parents. It was giving the parents new ideas and they shared photographs of what they had achieved. The sense of community this was providing was encouraging but we felt that the face to face interaction was missing.
After a small trial with two children via Zoom, we decided to open our pre-school virtually to all, via Zoom! The first session attracted 8 children for 20 minutes and we sang our usual nursery rhymes together. This was a very emotional moment and after nearly five weeks of no face-to-face contact in lockdown, I spent ten minutes in tears! I then knew we needed to continue with our Zoom sessions and our deputy manager organised three sessions weekly for half an hour per day at 10am for different age groups and the lessons included singing, stories, treasure hunts, show and tell, PE and dancing.
When Government guidance allowed us to return to our rented building we were both apprehensive and excited. After a lot of planning, policy writing, risk assessing and training for the staff, we were ready to re-open our doors. With only half of the staff team and only 8 children initially, we provided the pre-school environment once again, using natural socially distancing measures, with a ‘do the best you can’ attitude in a safe secure building. Mental health, physical and emotional well-being were the areas we concentrated on first.
Initially only a small number of children returned to pre-school so the staff working from home continued the Home Learning Hub and the virtual Zoom pre-school sessions. The staff working from our building continued the usual pre-school activities, including a daily walk to the park.
The end of term graduation ceremony for those leaving to go to school saw another first – a Zoom-style ceremony with medals and Lockdown Legend Certificates presented virtually then distributed to the children’s doorsteps afterwards.
We are now looking forward to our new term in September but we still don’t know what to expect. The government guidance changes weekly but what we do know is that we can adapt and change, to support our families, children and staff with their learning, development and well-being with a dedicated well trained staff team.
Special thanks to all our parents, children and staff during this ever changing times.
Sara Turner
Manager and Owner Twinkletoes Pre-school
