Young Discoverers Nursery

Cleaning and Infection Control Policy

In line with government guidelines on the control of the spread of the Coronavirus ( Covid – 19) we have a duty of care to our staff , children and parents to ensure we react effectively to reduce the risk of infection.to safeguard our children and staff we will conduct the following procedure in the setting

• Good basic hygiene practices such as regular handwashing (practitioners and children) 
• Staff will have access to sanitiser gels either on their person and at designated areas across the setting.
• Supervise young children to ensure they wash their hands for 20 seconds more often than usual with soap and water.
• Clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces using anti-bacterial spray or wipes which must be disposed of appropriately.
• Staff must follow instructions on the use of the antibacterial sprays as some require the spray to remain on the surface for a 5 minute period before wiping.
• Waterproof dressing to cover on any existing wounds or lesions.
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) such as aprons and gloves are used as necessary.
• Regular stock checks to be made and the manager informed in good time to enable products to be ordered to avoid stock not being available.
• Work surfaces to be cleaned regularly and floors swept and mopped as required.
• Immediate cleaning of spillages of blood and other bodily fluids and disposed of in a double bagged system and placed in bins outdoors.
• Only the designated cook should enter the kitchen. The cook will wear PPE when transporting the meals throughout the setting. Hands must be washed when returning to kitchen and sanitiser applied.
• Any items that come into contact with mouths such as cups, bottles and straws should not be shared and must be placed in the dishwasher for cleaning.
• Disposable aprons and gloves to be worn when cleaning and disposed of when duty completed.
• If a child who is unwell has been isolated in the staffroom, the window must be left open. Once the child has vacated the setting, the room should be cleaned. tabletops, work surfaces, door handle and light switches. the staff member must wash hands and sanitise before returning to duty.
• Children will be discouraged form touching plates and cups, they will be handed to them by a staff member, they will also not be permitted to self-select foods from shared containers, staff will hand this to them.
• Comforters for children are to be discouraged. If they are required, they must be placed in an airtight clear bag and stored away from other children and only be used at sleep time. Once used it must be returned to the bag. Parents are to be informed of this practice prior to their child attending. 
• Dummies must be provided in an appropriate container clearly labelled by the parents. These will be stored in a designated cupboard and only used for sleep or distress. The children will not be permitted to walk about with a dummy in their mouth and supervised to ensure they are not used by other children.
• Staff will not make physical contact with each other e/g handshakes or hugs and will be reminded not to touch their faces. If this occurs, they must handwash immediately.
• Only one staff member will access the staffroom at anyone time and they must ensure all utensils they have used are returned to the kitchen after use.
• Where the staffroom is in use and another staff member wishes to take a rest period, they will either be asked to wait or use their vehicle as a place to rest if appropriate or outdoors.
• Staff will wash hands before entering the staffroom and again before returning for duty.
• Staff must not travel together to the workplace and if using public transport, follow the government advice.

Reference to other policies:

Sick child policy

Baby change procedure

Health and safety policy

Dummy policy

Food and drink policy

This policy was written by Kathy Wainwright 7th May 2020

Date for review May 2021