The Early Years Alliance has launched a new resource pack to support non-Ofsted registered groups such as baby and toddler groups, crèches and children’s centres to reopen safely amid concerns about a lack of clear government guidance for families services.
The Alliance ‘Welcome back to family services’ pack is designed for family service providers to consider the implications for welcoming children back to their services. It contains three resource packs:
- ‘Supporting mental health and wellbeing’, designed to help family service groups support the physical and emotional wellbeing of children, staff and parents.
- ‘Creating a safe and enabling environment’, which provides guidance on creating an environment that prioritises the health and safety of children and families.
- ‘Meeting the needs of every child’, which supports groups to put the needs of every child first and provides practical advice for the opening up process and using EYFS principles to support best practice.
Each pack contains a presentation with templates, as well as training notes to support learners and links to further information.
The pack is free to all members and can be downloaded in the Alliance member’s area. Non-members can purchase the bundle for £15 via: https://shop.eyalliance.org.uk/T208/welcome-back-family-services
The launch of the pack follows concerns about a lack of clear guidance for baby and toddler groups, and other similar groups, preparing to reopen.
Groups operating from community buildings are expected to follow guidance from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This guidance states that those attending groups should be encouraged to socially distance, and the DfE has confirmed to the Alliance that this applies to children as well as adults, despite its own guidance stating that it is not realistic to expect young children to socially distance.
This guidance also previously stated that people meeting in a club or group context at a community building are advised to meet “indoors in groups of up to two households or outdoors in a group of no more than two households or six people from different households” – however, the reference to these limits has now been removed.
Two separate petitions calling for more government guidance for baby and toddler groups have received more than 10,000 signatures each:
- https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-support-and-clear-guidance-for-the-reopening-of-baby-and-toddler-classes-and-groups?redirect=false
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/331261
Commenting, director of quality improvement, Michael Freeston, said:
“Despite the valuable role that baby and toddler groups, children’s centres, crèches and other family service groups in supporting children and families, there has been very little support or guidance for such providers since the easing of lockdown restrictions.
These groups worked incredibly hard to adapt during lockdown, with many moving services online so that families could continue to receive support. It is important that they now receive the support that they need to plan to reopen their services as safely and effectively as possible under the current guidelines.
We hope that these new resources will help fill the gap in guidance for family services and help groups to prepare and plan for an effective return to real-life contact.”