With extensive planning, our child care program has re-opened and our hallways are filled once again with laughter and song. Our first week of operation has proven once again what an amazing team we have at Children’s Friend.
We have implemented new policies, procedures, and protocols ensuring the health, well-being, and safety surrounding our staff, children and their families. Each day, all staff and families check-in at the Health Screening Station before entering the building and we are limiting the amount of staff in each building based on essential needs. In addition, the areas to which staff and children can move throughout the building have also been modified. This helps to guarantee we can maintain proper cleaning precautions at our sites to keep everyone safe and healthy.
While our classrooms looked different, the children and staff enjoyed their first week back at school. The children were excited to reunite with their teachers and friends and have immediately fallen into their regular school routines. Although challenging to enforce at times, preschool children are practicing proper social distancing, and having smaller classroom sizes assists the classroom staff in having better control with monitoring this important practice. We hope to continue building on the success we have had so far, as we work to welcome more children back to our classrooms.
This summer we plan to re-open some of our Head Start classrooms and will prioritize enrollment for our five-year-old children who are transitioning to Kindergarten in the fall. We envision a curriculum with a focus on social and emotional health while incorporating outdoor learning and outdoor space for teaching. Ensuring that preschoolers are ready for Kindergarten remains our commitment and we look forward to a safe and fun summer experience for children in our high-quality learning environments.
Dana Mullen, Chief of Programs