Buggy parking will be available but we recommend that wherever possible families walk to class without their buggy. This is because to keep our bubble of classes families separate from our bubble of school families we have a 15 minute window for all families to enter and exit the class and car park. Please bear this in mind when deciding what to bring to Paint Pots.

The disabled toilet on the ground floor with baby changing facilities will be reserved for our classes families and available to you throughout the class. As mentioned above we do have a quick window for families to exit Paint Pots and only one bathroom available, so please do use the bathroom during the session if needed to avoid queues at the end of the class.

We are rearranging our classroom to give adults space to sit around the edge of the room. Your child will be able to see you and come back to you for reassurance at any time.

In previous terms in our 12-18 month Heuristic Play class and our 18 months – 2years 6 months EMC, parents have been seated around the room. Once settled in your spot, your child can see you while engaging with any of the activities in the room. We have found this works really well as the children know where you are and can come back to you at any stage but also, supported by our teacher, they get the freedom to develop their independence.

The vision we have is that in the same way as these classes, the parents joining us in September will be able to support their child in the class by having a consistent base that they sit in each week. We will support every family in working towards your child confidently moving around the different areas of the classroom supported much more by the two teachers, rather than having all the parents moving to all the different areas.

The current government guidance for Nursery School children acknowledges that unlike older children and adults, young children cannot be expected to remain 2 metres apart from each other and teachers.

This also reflects the reduced risk of infection in young children who have a low number of social contacts during the week and the evidence that children who get COVID19 generally do not experience severe symptoms.

We hope to release more news about our online classes quite quickly in the Autumn Term

As soon as the government guidance and our risk assessments allow for the re-opening of more class spaces and classes. We will be keeping a close eye on this and will take this step at the earliest opportunity.

No. We ask all parents not to bring sick children to the classes. In winter particularly we recognise that colds and coughs are common and easily spread, particularly in your child’s young age group. We understand that it can be difficult to discern between a sniffle, or allergy symptoms and a full-blown cold. We rely on your judgement in the best interests of your child and the class. Please understand that if you arrive to a class and our teachers feel that your child is too ill to attend, we will ask you to leave – even if this occurs part way through a class.

The current COVID19 symptoms are …

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

If a child or adult becomes unwell with these symptoms while at Paint Pots we will ask you to leave the class immediately to start your self-isolation. If you need to wait to be collected a member of staff in PPE will accompany you to a separate room to await collection.

Whether your symptoms develop at home or in a class, we ask all children and parents attending Paint Pots classes (and their household members) who become unwell with COVID19 symptoms to get tested. To help us protect all our families please inform us immediately that you are getting tested and the results of your test.

If a child or adult becomes unwell with COVI19 symptoms we will inform all classes families so that they are aware to be extra observant of symptoms within their household.

We will then inform all families the results of the test.

If the test is positive then all our classes families, children and teachers (and their households) will be asked to start a 14 day self-isolation. During this time our classes will continue online.

Our classes are ready to move online. While nothing will replace the experience of being together in person we do not want children at Paint Pots to miss out for another extended period of time. We have already been running a weekly music session through June & July and have a wealth of ideas for online activities that we can do together virtually. We have found that the children have been active and engaged throughout these sessions – no passive screen time here!

If we have to close due to COVID19 we will move to an online offering consisting of …

• one 30 minute online class based on the activities you will have been doing in the classroom
• on a separate day another 30 minute Storytelling class
• on another day a 30 minute 1:1 for either child or parent
• and we will send out weekly Paint Pots From Home emails

We are aware of articles in Late April that sensationalised and misrepresented the World Health Organisation statements on screen time. The NHS have made a statement against these dramatic headlines here. At Paint Pots the welfare of the children we work with is the highest priority. Our online offering is designed to balance the need to retain social contact, enrich learning experiences through the week and keep routine while also limiting the quantity of daily screen time and ensuring that is is active and engaging.

We will not be offering refunds or credits for classes that move online in these circumstances.

No. To be able to keep the children & adults attending each weekly class consistent we will not be offering taster classes while social distancing measures are in place.

No. To be able to keep the children & adults attending each weekly class consistent we will not be able to swap and change the families attending our classes from week to week.

Additionally due to limited number of spaces in each class we think that every class space will be booked. As such we will not have available space to offer to any make up sessions.

To be able to keep the children & adults attending each weekly class consistent we will not be able to swap and change the families attending our classes from week to week.

If our classes are still running and your are not able to attend, no refunds will be made for sessions missed during the term.

To be able to social distancing within the class we can only admit one adult to accompany each child. We ask that families choose one adult and keep that person the same when accompanying the child each week.

We welcome mothers bringing small babies to the class.

Please note this is only possible for as long as they are content to stay in your arms and seated with you for the full class time.

If you are giving birth during the term please do speak with us about who will accompany your child to our classes in the weeks following birth so that we can ensure they have recieve dthe information about what to expect and what to bring to the class.

Siblings who are more mobile and would not be content to sit with you for the 2 hour class, while ignoring the enticing activities in the classroom, will not be able to attend the class unless a termly space is booked for the them.

To adhere to current government guidance we must keep the children & adults attending each weekly class consistent.

As such we will not be able to swap and change the children attending our classes from week to week.

We ask all new families to pay the £35 Family Membership Fee with their first booking.

This Family Membership fee covers the enrollment administration in your first and future classes, it also covers the administration involved in giving our families priority booking for classes in the following term.

This Family Membership Fee then covers any future Holiday School, term time or siblings bookings with Paint Pots Creative Classes.