The gradual return to the new reality requires us to comply strictly with the rules and guidelines in each field of social life.

Due to the fact that the opening of childcare institutions for the youngest children will be possible from 6th May this year, we present guidelines that will apply to governing authorities of these institutions, directors, caretakers and parents in the nearest future.

Most important guidelines for governing authorities of childcare institutions for the youngest children:

• The number of children in a nursery, child club and under the care of a day caretaker may be limited.
• Plan the organisation of your work on the basis of an analysis of remotely collected (e.g. by phone or e-mail) information from parents about the number of participants and hours of daycare activities.
• Notify parents about COVID-19 risk factors in the child, its parents, caretakers and other family members and about responsibility for the decision concerning the registration of the child for daycare activities and the transportation of the child to the institution.
• Ensure adequate rooms (including isolation rooms) and their furnishing.
• Help the director ensure the care of children and implement guidelines addressed to him/her, as well as put the director under an obligation to prepare internal safety procedures on the premises.
• Ensure the use of generally recommended means of protection on the premises, including personal protective equipment and the disinfection of areas:
  • Provide hygiene measures necessary for the current functioning of the institution.
  • If necessary, provide employees with personal protective equipment: disposable gloves, masks, face shields (optionally), waterproof long-sleeved aprons.
• Support the director of the institution in arranging for food, including the choice of safe suppliers and healthy products, also in the case of choosing an external supplier (catering service).
• Determine the quick method of communication with the director, e.g., for the purpose of reporting the number of children or cases of suspected infection.
• Secure the possibility of complementing the staff in the case of caretakers’ absence due to illness or quarantine.

Dear Director, check what you have to ensure:

Verify current procedures in sanitary & hygiene terms; in particular, introduce the ban on bringing toys and cancel the requirement of washing teeth on the premises. If possible, reduce the presence of third persons on the premises to a minimum extent. Ensure the use of additional precautions and restrictions of direct contact with outside persons, including meal suppliers.

• Putting a hand disinfection fluid beside the entrance to the building is absolutely necessary; remind all adults that they are obliged to use this fluid. If necessary, provide employees with personal protective equipment, including gloves, protective masks, optionally face shields.
• If there is a reasonable suspicion that a child is sick and may infect other children, do not let it into the institution and ask its parent to take the child home and to contact a doctor.
• In sanitary & hygiene rooms, put posters drawing employees’ attention to the rules of washing hands on walls and instructions beside hand disinfection fluid dispensers.
• Ensure the use of water dispensers by employees so that children do not have direct access to the water outlet. Remember that it is the caretaker who gives water to children.
• Under the caretaker’s supervision, children may use playgrounds and playing fields existing on the premises. However, co-ordinate the outdoor presence of each group on the playground in a way preventing mutual contact between groups. If you cannot ensure the daily disinfection of the equipment on the playground or in the playing field, you must mark it with a safety tape before use.
• Provide the equipment and measures and monitor daily cleaning works, with particular regard to the cleanness of transport routes and the disinfection of contact surfaces, such as handrails, door handles, light switches, handgrips, bed or deckchair frames, arms of chairs and flat surfaces, including tabletops in general and dining rooms. After each use of toys or other devices by a child, wash and disinfect them (unless there are so many toys that each child plays with a different one).
• Arrange procedures to be used in cases of suspected infection and instruct the personnel effectively how to use them. Remember that each introduced requirement necessary for the protection of health must be presented and explained to recipients. Arrange meetings with employees and remind them to pay special attention to preventive healthcare, also with regard to themselves.  Sick caretakers and other persons should not come into the institution.
• As far as possible, do not engage persons older than 60 in care activities and avoid the rotation of caretakers while taking care of children.
• Designate and prepare a room (equipped, e.g., with means of personal protection and a disinfection fluid) in which a person with identified symptoms of sickness can be isolated.
• Prepare and put in a specific (easily accessible) place necessary phone numbers of the governing authority, the sanitary & epidemiological station and medical services.
• Prepare pathways of fast communication with parents.
• Remember that a doctor or sanitary services may order the performance of tests for the presence of SARS-COV-2. Co-operate with them if such a need arises.
• If you organise nutrition (canteen, kitchen) on the premises, ensure not only hygiene conditions required by the legal provisions concerning the functioning of catering services, but also introduce rules of special caution regarding the epidemiological protection of employees, ensure the distance between workplaces as far as possible, and if this is not possible – personal protective equipment and disinfection fluids for cleaning surfaces and equipment. Pay special attention to the maintenance of high hygiene standards, the washing and disinfection of workplaces and product packages.
• Organise the safe use of meals in designated areas, including the serving of meals in a shift system and the cleaning of tabletops and chair arms after each group. Re-usable dishes and cutlery must be washed in a dishwasher with added detergent at a temperature of minimum 60OC or scalded. Require catering suppliers to use disposable containers and cutlery.

Dear Caretaker, it is you who have direct contact with children. Comply with the following guidelines:

Remember to perform self-observation and check your temperature twice a day. If your temperature is higher (above 37 C degrees), stay at home and use medical remote consultation.

• As far as possible, explain the rules of the institution and the reason for their introduction to children. Communicate your message in a positive way so as to create the feeling of safety and responsibility for one’s behaviour rather than fear.
• Do not organise any trips outside the premises (e.g. a walk in a park).
• Remove any items and devices that cannot be effectively disinfected, such as stuffed toys, from the room. If you use sports accessories (balls, jump ropes, rings, etc.) for activities, disinfect them regularly. Ventilate the room in which activities are held at least every hour.
• Remind children to wash their hands frequently and regularly, or wash their hands by yourself, particularly before meals, after the use of the restroom and after return from the outdoors. Organise a show of proper hand washing.  Remind children of the rules and set a good example. You can make hand washing more attractive by using comic strips (showing successive stages of hand washing) or finger games or by singing during the washing.
• When organising a sleeping place for a child, keep the adequate distance between beds or deckchairs and disinfect them after the end of the rest.
• Avoid gathering larger groups of children in one room, organise relaxation activities – you can tell poems known to you or find audio stories on the Internet to play to a child.

Dear Parent, ensure that your child is well prepared to return to the nursery

In order to ensure the adequate care of your child during its stay in the institution, provide the director or caretaker with important information about your child’s health. Remember! Bring your children to the institution only if it is healthy and has no symptoms of sickness. Comply with the medical recommendations that may specify the period for which the child should not be sent to the institution. Check your child’s temperature before bringing it to the institution.

In addition:

• Important! Do not send your child to the institution if there is someone undergoing a quarantine or isolation in your house. In such a case, all of you must stay at home and comply with the instructions of sanitary services and the doctor.
• Explain the child that it should not bring toys and unnecessary items into the institution.
• Remind the child regularly of fundamental hygiene rules. Stress that it should avoid touching its eyes, nose and mouth, often wash its hands with water and soap and avoid shaking hands as a welcome gesture. Point out how to cover the face properly when sneezing or coughing. Remember that you should also comply with these rules, because the child learns by observing a good example.