Information last updated 14 February 2021
If your Centre is at level 2 these are the things you will need to re-familiarise yourselves with:
In general, the things to remember should be familiar for you:
Food & drink
Centre Hire
Centres need to ensure that anyone who hires their Centre agrees to follow the Centre’s cleaning practices and observes any limitations about group gatherings.
You can find further Ministry of Education guidance and licensing information here – Health and safety in licensed early learning services and kōhanga reo COVID-19 GUIDANCE FOR ALERT LEVELS 1 – 4
While New Zealand is operating within the COVID-19 Alert Level system, regular cleaning of surfaces is recommended alongside your usual cleaning schedule.
Review your Centre practices and consider increased cleaning for high touch surfaces (door handles, tabletops in common spaces etc.) and bathrooms. If your Centre has paid cleaners, ensure they have appropriate information, training and equipment.
Make sure the specific instructions are followed for the disinfectant being used (e.g. spray and leave on surfaces for 30 seconds before wiping down). Ensure the availability of appropriate cleaning supplies (e.g. disinfectant and cloths) for cleaning of high-touch surfaces.
Where you are cleaning things at the end of the session – such as spraying surfaces, tabletops, toilets, sinks, taps, door handles, handrails, rubbish bin lids – the disinfectant should be sprayed on, and preferably left to air dry overnight. Where another session is coming in after yours, try and keep the disinfectant on for 30 minutes before wiping off.
A Reminder of the guidance in Ngā Kupu Oranga relating to Cleaning and Disinfecting:
Good disinfectants to use are things that contain hypochlorite (which is the main active ingredient in bleach) or activated hydrogen peroxide (0.5%). The Ministry of Health recommends that ECE services will need to use a disinfectant that has at least 2% hypochlorite.
Supermarket bleach is usually 5% hypochlorite but can be 2.5% or 10% for “premium bleach”.
Click here for the relevant licensing criteria then click on the “Guidance” tab for bleach mixtures.
Centre should use a 1-2% bleach solution to spray surfaces until wet and allow to air dry.
Frequency: Throughout the day for high risk areas (e.g. on the changing table between nappy changes), between sessions, as well as after sessions
For disinfection by immersion (e.g. soaking blocks), a contact time of 30 minutes is recommended.
Some Centres have purchased products like this which mixes the solution on use, rather than having to do up a mixture every day (this product Activate is only available to current customers of Hygiene House)
Hygiene
Good hygiene is an important part of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Centres are not expected to maintain social distancing between tamariki, but adults on session should try to observe the one metre rule with one another. Anyone with cold or flu symptoms should not attend Playcentre. Other important ways to maintain good hygiene:
Contact tracing
All businesses and services are required to display the official NZ COVID Tracer QR code posters in a prominent place at or near the main entrances to each of their premises. Click here to request another copy of your QR code
Effective contact tracing is one of our best measures of defence against COVID-19. It is therefore vitally important that anyone coming into our Centres signs in via the tablets – even if someone is just popping in to pick something up outside of session times. If you have cleaners or other contractors coming in, you should also be requiring these people to sign in on the tablets.
Groundskeepers who do not come into the building to do their maintenance (i.e. mowing of lawns) should be scanning the QR code, informing you when they are on site, and preferably having a regular day for their services to make it easier for you to trace if required.
Meetings
Centres do not need to observe restrictions on group sizes when holding business meetings as in this context we would be considered as a workplace. Members should be seated one metre apart and social distancing and hygiene practices should be encouraged. That being said, many of us have embraced online tools for meetings, and we encourage you to continue to make good use of these.
You can find information about using online meeting platforms in the Virtual Village.