Stop the spread at childcare
COVID-19: Childcare Centre Support
IMPORTANT: Service Closure
You will be notified by the state or territory regulatory authority if your service should be closed. If you voluntarily chose to or are advised to close your service by authorities, you must notify your state or territory regulatory authority within 24 hours.
If your service is open, here are 5 steps you should consider taking to safeguard your children and educators against the spread of COVID-19 at your centre:
- Controlled child drop-off/pickups: restrict the number of parents in your foyer or reception area by asking parents to remain in their cars and wait for a team member to come out and collect the parent for drop off, or pick-up of the child. Even better, if your service is using mobile sign-in/out, your team members can collect the child from the car without the need for the parent to come into the service. Scheduling staggered drop-off times can also help.
- Hand santising on entering the service: Put hand sanitiser or soap at the reception desk and make it a requirement of every person (parent, child or team member) entering the service to clean their hands. Share updates via administration posts with your parents to remind them of the importance of this to protect the children at the service and themselves.
- Wipe down kiosks after each sign-in/out: if your service is not using mobile sign-in/out yet and parents are sharing a kiosk, keep an anti-bacterial or sanitising wipe available next to the kiosk, and ideally have team members wipe down the kiosk after each use (or at least every 30 minutes). Some software services like Xplor also offer the potential to do sign-in/out with QR codes on the kiosk screen which means that parents do not need to touch the screen and can simply scan the code with their personal mobile devices, reducing the spread of the virus.
- Encourage parents to use contactless sign in/out (or make this mandatory!): given that the coronavirus can survive for up to 72 hours on surfaces (like plastic)- you should be looking for ways to reduce contact with any shared surfaces. A number of CCS software providers provide the option of having parents sign their children in and out of the service via their mobile phone (when they are in the vicinity of the service)- which means that parents do not need to physically enter the service or touch a screen or pen.
- 30-minute wipe-downs: set a rule for the reception team that every 30 minutes all door handles, reception desk, pens, keyboards, and other surfaces are wiped down and disinfected. Centre-wide you can also implement regular handwash times for all team members (and children). You can set reminders in your Xplor Playground app (or whatever educational apps you are using). If you are using parent engagement software (like Home), we encourage you to capture & post this information as well to provide peace-of-mind to parents.
If you’d like support or further guidance on how to implement the above in your service, click here.
Further information
- Visit the COVID-19: Childcare Resources for the latest news updates, understanding your responsibilities are to parents & children during the COVID-19 pandemic, when you should close your service, and how to get financial advice & assistance, and other key childcare-related information.
- Please visit the Department of Education, Skills and Employment Frequently Asked Questions for more information for providers and services and Coronavirus (COVID-19) for the latest education and training sector fact sheets.
- The CCS Helpdesk is available to assist with information for services to help them manage the impacts on their business. Please email the CCS Helpdesk on ccshelpdesk@dese.gov.au, send in your query via an online form or call 1300 667 276 between 9.00 am — 5.00 pm (AEDST), Monday to Friday.
Please make sure that if you are a child care provider or service you have subscribed to receive communications from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment.
