14th July 2021
** Covid & Summer Holiday Club Update **
We have been busy planning our 6-week summer holiday club, and we are all really looking forward to seeing our Tamariki families again, and also meeting new families this holiday. We have lots of brilliant things planned around 6 weekly themes:
Week 1 – Spies & Detectives
Week 2 – The Olympics
Week 3 – Heroes & Villains
Week 4 – Tamariki’s Got Talent!
Week 5 – Water
Week 6 – Nature & Environment
Things of course can change very quickly in our current ‘Covid world’, but we’d like to simply lay out how things stand at the moment while you are The Tamariki Club.
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CONTACT TRACING
Direct Contact – *A Positive Case Outside of Your Home*
Current GoJ guidance, states:
“There is no isolation requirement for anyone identified as a direct contact, as long as they are participating in the testing programme and do not have COVID-19 symptoms.
Direct contacts who choose not to be tested, are required to isolate for 14 days.”
This means, that your children will still be able to attend Tamariki if they are a DC who is undergoing testing, and not symptomatic.
You will need to send us something that confirms that you have a test booked for your child; this could be a screenshot of the automated texts that are sent out to you. Please email this to info@tamarikiclub.com as soon as possible, as we will need this prior to your child attending the club.
It is important that you do let us know as soon as possible, that your child is a DC, as we would be able to put enhanced mitigations in place to help our more medically vulnerable staff feel more reassured while they are working at Tamariki. This would of course all be very confidential, and the children would not notice the difference with any enhanced mitigations that we might introduce.
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Direct Contact – *A Positive Case in Your Home*
As of Tuesday 13th July, the GoJ guidance was amended to the following:
“Children and young people should not attend school if there is a case of COVID in their home.”
Even though the statement refers currently to ‘school’, this is the position we will also be using as guidance for children attending the holiday club over the summer. If someone in your household tests positive, and your child has been attending, or is due to attend, then please do let us know as soon as possible so that we can liaise efficiently with the Contact Tracing Team.
We have asked for clarification regarding this directive, as to when the child IS permitted to return to the club – so we can further update on that when we know more.
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Positive Case – *Your Child*
If your child tests positive, please do not bring them into the club.
You are required to follow the instructions from the Contact Tracing Team who will guide you through the testing and isolation process.
It is essential that you let us know straight away if your child has tested positive, and they have been in to the holiday club over the summer. Contact Tracing are not always able to be swift with contacting known DC’s, so if we have the information promptly, we can be in contact with them so that we can put the correct mitigations in place early.
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Direct Contacts – *Staff Requirements*
Although Direct Contacts are not required to isolate, as an extra mitigation to protect our vulnerable children and staff, all staff will be required to evidence a negative test before they will be able to return to work at Tamariki. This applies to all staff, whether they are fully vaccinated or not. This is different to the requirements of children who are Direct Contacts.
TRAVEL OFF ISLAND
These are the current requirements for returning into the Island:
Fully vaccinated (completed full course of vaccination plus 2 weeks): Test on arrival (Day 0) and no isolation
Not fully vaccinated: Test on arrival (Day 0) and Day 8. Isolation until Day 0 test result
If you are going away and then bringing your child into the club, you need to either:
1. Show us a copy of your vaccination certificate or card, plus all other adults in the same household who travelled with the child, showing that all adults have been fully vaccinated at least 2 weeks previously, OR
2. A copy of the Day 0 test result if anyone is NOT fully vaccinated, for all adults in the same household who were travelling with the child. We will need to see a copy of this before your child can attend, please send a screenshot or copy to info@tamarikiclub.com
BUBBLES & GENERAL COVID MITIGATION
As we were for the June half term, we are currently not required to split the children into smaller groups/bubbles. This worked really well in June, as the children had a larger space to explore including all of the different outdoor spaces we have available at d’Auvergne School; this will be continuing for the summer club.
We are able to operate without bubbles, as we are still maintaining all of the enhanced Covid procedures that were first introduced last summer. These include:
– frequent cleaning of high use touch points, children’s resources and all toilets,
– handwashing on arrival for all children and staff, and set times during the day for further handwashing as a minimum, e.g., snack and lunchtimes,
– staff wear masks when they are working closely with children (art, baking, first aid, etc), and also at drop-off and pick-up times when meeting multiple parents,
– procedures in place for children or staff displaying Covid symptoms,
– general adherence to Government guidelines, and directives from CEYS (Childcare & Early Years Services)
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MORNING & AFTERNOON SNACKS
We were planning on the return of these snacks for the summer, however with the current situation, our staffing will be needed for the continued enhanced cleaning procedures that we have maintained since we reopened in July last year. Please put a couple of extra items in your child’s lunchbox so that they have a snack for the morning and afternoon breaks.
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We understand that the current guidance for holiday clubs is currently under review this week, but at this time we are unaware of any changes that might affect us. We will keep you updated via our website and our Facebook page with any changes that you need to know.
We are hoping for a great summer, look forward to seeing you very soon!
Will & Clare Power