The Scottish Government has provided further guidance on ‘What is meant by a key worker’. They state:

“Local authorities should put in place provision to ensure that children of key workers, for example, NHS and social care staff, have continuing access to appropriate learning and childcare that allows their parents/carers to participate in the national response to COVID-19. There should be a presumption that, if parents can make their own childcare arrangements within the community, they should do so. If one parent is a key worker and the other is not, the non-key worker should normally be expected to provide childcare.

A definition of key workers is provided here. There should be a particular focus on:

Key workers in posts which ensure that essential services can be delivered and cover tasks within the local community which support the vulnerable and aid community resilience. This may be slightly different in each community to allow the country to address local priorities. Whilst decisions will be taken at the local level, we would expect this to include consideration of:

Category 1 – Health and Care workers directly supporting COVID response, and associated staff; Health and Care workers supporting life-threatening emergency work, as well as critical primary and community care provision; Energy suppliers (small numbers identified as a top priority already); staff providing childcare/learning for other category 1 staff.

Category 2 – All other Health and Care workers, and wider public sector workers providing emergency/critical welfare services (e.g Fire, Police, Prisons, Social Workers, etc), as well as those supporting our Critical National Infrastructure, without whom serious damage to the welfare of the people of Scotland could be caused.

Category 3 –  All workers without whom there could be a significant impact on Scotland (but where the response to COVID – 19, or the ability to perform essential tasks to keep the country running, would not be severely compromised).

Local authorities should be guided by this definition and prioritise the provision of arrangements accordingly. They should consider any circumstances that mean that specific classes of worker are critical in their local contexts”.

The guidance for educational and Early Learning and Childcare settings has now been updated and incorporated into the following general advice for all non-healthcare settings: https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/covid-19-guidance-for-non-healthcare-settings/.  You will see it has some specific material for educational settings in Section 2, as well as other advice that applies more generally.

The guidance includes useful Educational resources for use in childcare and educational settings on page 12.

NHS has also provided us with a short animated video to support conversations and developing our children’s understanding of the virus – ‘Child-friendly explanation of Coronavirus (COVID-19)’

Being and becoming a funded ELC Provider

Saturday 25^th April 2020

Click here to read about this free event.

For childminders who are not able to attend but would like to know more – content and any presentations from the day will be made available after the event and posted on the Knowledge Hub in a group open to all stakeholders: Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland – Discussion Forum and Documents.

If you are not already a member of the Knowledge Hub and would like to join please email: [email protected]

An exciting free Continuous Professional Development opportunity organised by South Highland Outdoor Woodland Learning to encourage and support practitioners wishing to take learning outside more. 

Hosted by Juliet Robinson and South Highland OWL

Saturday 21^st March

10am – 1pm

Nethybridge Community Centre

Find out more at:

https://facebook.com/events/s/woodland-beastie-hunt/429450877697104/?ti=as 

Scottish Government have provided the following link to assist schools, early learning and childcare settings and other educational settings in providing advice for children, pupils, students, staff and parents or carers regarding  

• the novel coronavirus, COVID-19
• how to help prevent the spread of all respiratory infections including COVID-19
• what to do if someone confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 has been in a school or other educational setting
• what advice to give to individuals who have travelled from risk areas within the last 14 days

Click here to access

The Care Inspectorate has also shared a further link to guidance for healthcare providers on healthcare workers who have travelled to a risk area for COVID-19 Click here to access