At the height of the Covid-19 lockdown and throughout, Hove Village remained open, providing essential childcare for our key workers. Read more. During this time, we introduced a number of new procedures in order to operate as safely as possible.

By planning ahead and introducing a number of contingency arrangements, we were able to avoid shortages in PPE and cleaning materials. As well as this, we experiencing no disruption to our catering provision. Indeed, we were able to donate vital PPE resources to local care homes.

We have invested heavily in safeguards, new equipment and all of our staff working at our nurseries received Covid-19 training, as well as receiving new policies and procedures.

Our new procedures included twice daily temperature checks (including on arrival) for all staff and children attending our nurseries, enhanced hand-washing routines, with hand-washing facilities located throughout our nurseries, rigorous cleaning routines, including the use of steam cleaners.

We also invested in a commercial disinfectant fogger machine and we used this with food-safe & environment-safe disinfectant to conduct extra out-of-hours cleaning of all spaces. We also had hand sanitising stations located throughout.

We limited the number of adults entering our nursery premises, with staff greeting parents and children outside during drop-off and collection time.

Finally, we introduced a ‘bubble’ system, where children and staff were grouped into their own small groups. These bubbles remained together and used their own resources. The idea was that children and staff only interacted within their bubbles, with social distancing in place to ensure that no two bubbles mixed. Staff worked wherever possible only within their own bubbles.

For children in our care, parents can have every reassurance that at Hove Village, we do everything we can to keep our families and our staff teams as safe and as healthy as possible.