Small children don't seem to be as severely affected by COVID-19. They also don't appear to contribute significantly to disease spread. Transmission of COVID-19 has mainly been from adult to adult.
ECEC services should feel confident that increasing hygiene practices and social distancing at their service will help prevent the spread.
The following lists frequently asked questions related to the current COVID-19 restrictions for early childhood services. Please read and be familiar with the information provided in order to prepare for, prevent and manage COVID - 19 situation.
Frequently Asked Questions Related To The Current COVID-19 Restrictions
Can education and care services located in lockdown areas remain open, including vacation care services and family day care residences/venues?
Yes- education and care is considered an essential service and can continue to operate throughout NSW.
Can children attend services within locked down LGAs regardless of where they live?
Yes- education and care is considered an essential service. Families are able to travel outside of their LGA for the purposes of education and care if required.
Can children attend services in other LGAs if they live inside the lockdown area?
Yes- education and care is considered an essential service. Families are able to travel outside of their LGA for the purposes of education and care if required.
Can services outside of locked down LGAs take children who live inside the lockdown area?
Yes - education and care is considered an essential service. Families can travel to and from their education and care service as required.
Can educators still work in services that are not in the lockdown LGAs if they have been in locked down areas in the last 14 days or reside in locked down areas?
It is recommended that staff work from home wherever possible if they reside or have been in locked down LGAs in the last 14 days. As education and care is an essential service, services should use their discretion to staff services appropriately according to required ratios, and staff in this category may still attend services to work, if they have no symptoms of COVID-19.
Can educators travel to an education and care service to work if they live in a locked down LGA?
Yes - education and care is considered essential work. Services should use their discretion where staff may be able to undertake other duties or where lower levels of staffing are appropriate for anticipated child attendance levels.
Can parents come onto education and care sites if a service is located in a lockdown area/Greater Sydney?
Parents can attend services for the purposes of pick up and drop off in Greater Sydney, but need to wear masks and follow the Public Health Order. On school sites inside the lockdown areas, families should not enter past the school gates and services should consider procedures to support pick up and drop off from the gate.
Do parents/carers have to wear masks when they drop off or pick up their children?
Parents and carers need to wear masks and follow the Public Health Order when dropping off or picking up children in Greater Sydney.
Do Educators have to wear masks?
Educators in early childhood education and care settings are exempt from the requirement to wear masks whilst they are providing education and care in a service but may choose to do so. Educators may choose to wear masks.
Can services still go on excursions?
Services in locked down LGAs should not participate in excursions. Services located outside of the locked down LGAs should not participate in excursions within the locked down LGAs. Services outside of the named LGAs and intending to participate in excursions outside of the named LGAs can proceed with appropriate caution, following their COVID-19 safety plans.
Can visitors come on site to our service, including to deliver incursions, in the four named LGAs?
At this time, non-essential visitors should not be allowed on site in the lockdown areas.
Drop-offs and Pick-ups
Social distancing between adults at your service should be maintained wherever possible. Drop-offs and pick-ups should be arranged in such a way as to minimise the need for contact between adults. This may be managed in many ways, for example through staggered drop-off or pick-up times, or some services may prefer to have their staff collect children from outside the service.
Individual services should evaluate what is most appropriate for their service and their unique circumstances.
It is important to note that there is no requirement for families not to enter services.
Temperature Checks
There is no requirement to check temperatures of children or staff. You can check temperatures if you wish but note they aren’t always effective at picking up people with COVID-19. This is because a significant proportion of people with COVID-19 don’t have a fever. Temperature checks can also cause queues which prevent people from maintaining physical distancing.
You can usually use your own judgement to assess the health of a child – you typically know the children at your service well enough to recognise when they aren’t feeling well.
Stay up to date of current information and for more details: COVID-19 guidelines for ECEC services
Note: The information above is current as of 26th June 2021 and referenced from COVID-19 Guidelines For ECEC services, NSW Government