National Lockdown : Stay at Home
As of January 5th 2021, England is under a third National Lockdown. People must not leave their home other than where reasonably necessary for work - if you cannot reasonably do so from home - for education, open air recreation and essential activities such as medical appointments and to buy food. These restrictions are in response to rapidly rising Covid-19 cases and to help to limit the spread of the new variant of the virus.
At Croft Early Years, we feel it is vital to provide you, our parents and carers with the most up-to-date guidance and for us to continue to provide your child and our staff with a safe and secure environment. The children are very aware of how we’re keeping safe throughout this situation.
- Early Years settings (including nurseries and childminders) remain open.
- You must not leave, or be outside of your home except where necessary. If you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always stay local to where you live. Although you may leave your local area for work.
- You may leave home to meet your support bubble or childcare bubble where necessary, but only if you are legally permitted to form one.
- You must not meet socially with anybody you do not live with or have a support bubble with.
- You may exercise on your own or with one other person, while maintaining 2m distancing, in public outdoor places.
- Non-essential retail outlets must close. Essential businesses, shops and venues can remain open and continue to operate in a COVID-Secure manner.
- Hospitality settings, such as bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must close except for takeaway, delivery, drive-through and click and collect services.
For full important information on the restrictions, see the Gov.UK website and the Warrington Council website. Both provide full information on what you can and can't do within the current restrictions.
When visiting Croft Early Years, we ask you to please follow these guidelines:
- Face coverings to be worn by adults for dropping off at/collecting from Preschool/Nursery.
- All members of different households to maintain a 2m distance at all times.
- Clean or wipe down any items that move between home and school e.g. water bottle & lunch bags.
- We kindly request that no rucksacks are brought into the setting - for health and safety reasons (to limit virus transmission, and also as we have limited space; small lunch bags are fine); this is also stated in our fire, emergency evacuation and bomb policies.
The Government have released guidance for the Early Years and Education sector on how we must operate this term. There are several precautionary measures that we must take in order to maintain a ‘Covid-safe’ environment to ensure the safety of children and staff whilst attending the Preschool/ Nursery.
Please note that these measures and plans which we have made may alter due to changes in rates of infection. For this reason, we ask parents to remain flexible and to keep up-to-date with the response to the pandemic. We intend to keep you updated as much as possible during these unprecedented times.
Important information and Absence Flow Chart
We have prepared 5 new documents which will give you complete details of how we plan to operate this term. These can be found to read and download on the Parents Zone page.Please take the time to read all of these documents carefully.
Our Flow Chart will help you decide if your child/children should attend pre-school if they are unwell in any way. Please email any absences or other messages by 8.30am, or call/leave a voicemail.

The following links to pages on the Gov.UK website will be useful to help you to understand the guidance for parents, the steps we are taking and ways to support your pre-school children:
Gov.UK: What you need to know about the lockdown.
Gov.UK: Early Years and childcare This page contains links to various other pages of advice and guidance specific to early years settings.
Gov.UK: Education and Childcare guidance.
Gov.UK: Supporting your children's education
Gov.UK: Protective Measures in childcare settings.
You will also find news and advice in our Newsletters.
Stay safe and well.
Penny
Manager
On behalf of Croft Early Years' Management Team
Excellence in Action
Croft Early Years has been established since 1967 and is a registered charity.
We are staffed by experienced and qualified early years practitioners, supported by volunteers and students who are undertaking training. We are registered to care for 31 children.
Our Early Years sessions are organised to give your child the chance to explore new situations and practice important skills. Doing this through play and first hand experience in a fun and relaxed way.
Ofsted Inspection 2016: "Good"
The Ofsted inspection of September 16th 2016 awarded us a "Good" assessment in all areas including the quality of learning, effectiveness of the management and outcomes for children. The Inspector said: "Children are happy and enjoy their time in the pre-school. They benefit from a good range of activities that promote their interest and development. Staff plan fun and challenging experiences, so that all children are motivated to learn."To read the full report, it's available to download as a .pdf file here.
Coronavirus / COVID-19 Update
Information for all families
The situation with Coronavirus (Covid-19) is changing on a daily basis and we will continue to keep you updated with any changes that effect the pre-school that we receive from Public Health England and we will post links and useful guidance on our website for you to access.
STAY ALERT TO STOP CORONAVIRUS SPREADING
For current government advice, tap on the banner below.
There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with coronavirus. Please follow the advice given on the Gov.uk website.
Full NHS guidance can be accessed on the NHS.uk website
Looking after your health and wellbeing - to help yourself stay well while you're at home:
• stay in touch with family and friends over the phone or on social media
• try to keep yourself busy – you could try activities like cooking, reading, online learning, watching films
• do light exercise at home, or outside once a day
For more advice, see:
• Every Mind Matters: 10 tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus
• Every Mind Matters: how to look after your mental wellbeing while staying at home
• Strength and flex exercises you can do at home
Pregnancy Advice
If you are pregnant and worried about coronavirus, you can get advice about coronavirus and pregnancy from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
RESOURCES TO HELP SUPPORT YOUR CHILDREN...
•Home Learning resources - Twinkl.co.uk.
•Activity Booklet by TTS-Group.co.uk.
Mental Health and Well-being
•CosmicKids - making yoga and mindfulness FUN for kids
•Annaka Harris - Guided Meditation for children
•BBC Super Movers.
•NHS Change 4 Life.
•Stop, Breath, Think!.
Wishing all our Children, Parents, Carers and Staff Good Health and Well-being during these unprecedented times,
Penny,
on behalf of the Management Team
How we promote Healthy Eating at Croft Early Years.
We regard snack and meal times as an important part of our day at the pre-school. Our Food and Drink policy, which is available on the Resources page, explains how we promote health, well-being and hygiene.Facebook
For more news about what's happening, visit our Facebook Page. It's set up as Private, so if you are a parent or carer and don't already have access, please request access using the "Join" button on the Facebook page or speak to one of the staff about it.

Close links to local Primary Schools
We have close links with the local primary schools and children from Croft Early Years will usually move on to one of these:
St Lewis' Catholic Primary School
Culcheth Community Primary School
St Vincent's Catholic Primary School
Christ Church C of E Primary School
Easy Fund-raising for Croft Early Years
Croft early Years is a not-for-profit pre-school and a registered charity.
All extra funds we can raise go towards providing a better learning experience for the children. You can help our fund raising just by doing your online shopping! We have joined easyfundraising.org.uk to help you to help us raise funds every time you buy almost anything online.
Easyfundraising.org.uk is a great way to raise money for charities, schools, sports clubs, community groups, and other good causes just by shopping online. You don’t pay anything extra - the donation comes from the retailer - most of the major shops are there to choose from. Please sign up today and bookmark the page, so that you always start your shop at easyfundraising.org.uk.
Full details of the scheme are available on the easyfundraising website.
Staff Vacancies at Croft Early Years
We currently have no vacancies at the Pre-school.
Change4Life Award

Croft Early Years are very proud to have gained the Healthier Together Award, in recognition of the quality of the healthy food that we provide to the children.