We recently received this update from TPH. Also, we would like to remind everyone that daycare is for healthy children. Please stay home if you are sick. If your child is exhibiting any of the symptoms on the screening tool please make sure that they stay home and follow proper protocol. The only thing that changes is the duration that you need to stay off.
If you choose to stay off for the 5 days, the child must still be free of any symptoms.
Please note that we have distributed an antigen test for your use. If you need more please let us know and we can provide you with them. Please remember that we are still asking parents to wear a mask when you come into the daycare.
We wanted to reach out and share with you some new information shared by Toronto Public Health.
Below you will see information regarding:
Update from TPH on their new reporting tool and attached a letter on Omicron updates.
Information on COVID-19 vaccination appointments.
Update from TPH
Please read a letter from Toronto Public Health regarding COVID-19 Omicron updates, which is to be distributed to child care parents and guardians.
Toronto Public Health has developed a new reporting tool for child care operators when there are gastrointestinal outbreaks. Information on these types of outbreaks and the reporting tool is available here:
If you have any questions about the letter or new reporting tool, please contact Toronto Public Health at ChildCareIPAC@toronto.ca
COVID-19 vaccination appointments
Please share the following information with your agency staff and families.
Given the emergence of the new Omicron variant and ongoing community transmission of the Delta variant, TPH urges all adults and eligible children to book their first, second or third-dose (if eligible) appointment.
This morning, Toronto Public Health opened 8000 additional COVID-19 vaccination appointments for adults and eligible children for this Sunday, January 16 and Monday, January 17.
The five City-run immunization clinics continue to add new appointments for first, second and third doses of COVID-19 vaccine. These locations include:
To book an appointment, click the blue “Book a Vaccine” button on www.toronto.ca/covid-19 or call 1-833-943-3900. City-run clinics are easily accessible by transit and offer free parking on site. Other Toronto health providers and local pharmacies continue to provide vaccination appointments in addition to the five City-run clinics. To easily connect to resources including vaccine appointment bookings and information on vaccines, text “VACCINE” to 1-833-750-0888 or 1-833-943-3900 for more information through the City’s VaxTO program.
We will continue to share updates from TPH and vaccination opportunities as they arise.
Here is the most updated screening tool for children that we have received.
Please note the changes on the tool before sending your child to daycare.
We do understand that this is a difficult time but we are doing our best to keep our community safe.
Please note that Toronto Public Health (TPH) has updated the COVID-19 Children/Students Screening Tools to align with recent Ministry of Health revisions:
We want to thank everyone with all the thoughtful wishes and acknowledgements that staff are receiving. We appreciate all the good wishes.
Due to the ever growing case number we proceeded with our Christmas party yesterday with caution. Santa came in the morning and brought the children their gifts as he greeted them through their classroom doors. They were all very excited to see him and some of the groups performed their special songs and poems.
Hopefully you all enjoyed the special gifts that the children made for you in their classrooms. The staff have been doing a lot of holiday activities with the children as you can imagine. .
From all the staff at Arpi Nursery School we want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season with your loved ones. Stay safe and enjoy the snow.
We would like to remind you that we are closed on Thursday July 1st. for Canada Day. If you are taking Friday off as well please let us know ahead of time so that we can also schedule some staff time off.
Reminders.
As we move into stage 2 of reopening it is very important to remember all our safety protocols are still in place. We still need to do our due diligence with our screening every morning for the safety of all our community.
As the summer time approaches please inform us of any holidays that you may have scheduled. Again this will help us with our staffing requirements.
We will try and do some special activities during the summer. Please make sure that your children always have sunscreen, a hat, and a change of clothes at school. We cannot do pool activities but we will try and get creative with some water spraying during these hot days.(please send light top or jacket as there is air conditioning in the school).
Our pick up time is still 5:30, I do understand there may be more traffic on the streets but please account for the delays when coming to pick your child up. When you are delayed our staff is delayed in all that they need to do.
Again if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to call the daycare.
Thank you for continuing to follow the public health and safety measures that have kept early years and child care programs open and safe. It is our collective effort that continues to ensure your children can learn with their friends in our program.
On April 7, 2021, the government announced a province-wide Stay-at-Home order starting April 8 th for at least four weeks until May 6 th in response to worsening trends in key community health indicators across the province.
During this period, child care and before and after school programs will remain open to support families. EarlyON Child and Family Centres may not offer in-person programming during this period, but may continue offering virtual programming during this time. Day camps will also be closed for this period.
As we head into this time-limited government action, we want to take the opportunity to highlight the importance of continuing to follow public health and safety protocols in child care settings and in your day-to-day activities. With spring break and the nicer weather around the corner, it is more important than ever that we continue to follow public health advice and do our part to keep COVID-19 from spreading in our communities.
At this critical point in the pandemic, here are some public health measures, intended to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, that we ask you to continue to follow if your children are attending early years and child care programs:
Screening every day, including during spring break, for COVID-19 symptoms before attending child care. (The COVID-19 School and Child Care Screening Tool is available to assist families with symptom screening);
Practicing good hand hygiene habits throughout the day;
Practicing physical distancing;
Providing a non-medical mask or face covering for your child to wear each day (masking is mandatory for all children in grades 1 and above, and recommended for children age 2 to senior kindergarten); and
Avoiding sharing objects, toys, food, water bottles or other personal items.
Strictly following these public health measures is of the utmost importance in ensuring schools and child care settings stay open and safe during the province-wide Stay-at- Home order.
Outside of child care settings, we encourage families to continue to:
Socialize with your own household.
Activities or playdates with those outside your household should be held outdoors and limited to no more than five people, with physical distancing and masking where distancing is not possible.
Stay home and get tested if you feel ill.
Refrain from travelling.
Refer to Ontario.ca/covidresponse to learn what public health measures are in place in our community based on the COVID-19 response framework. We also suggest checking out Toronto Public Health website as it may also have helpful resources and supports.
For the week of April 12-18, pharmacies that currently offer testing and assessment centres across the province will accept appointments for children attending child care and child care staff for asymptomatic testing. The Ministry of Education will be working with school boards to offer school-based clinics. Parents are encouraged to take advantage of this testing capacity to have their children tested to support a safe return to school on April 19 and continued safe operation of child care.
Please stay at home as much as possible and continue following the direction of public health officials so that we can keep schools and early years and child care programs open.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Thank you for your efforts in these unprecedented times.
We want to thank all the parents for their consistent communication with us at the daycare.
We are working together to keep everyone at our daycare happy and safe.
As many of you saw today we have our Christmas tree at the front entrance. The children and teachers will be making decorations for our beautiful tree.
They have already been having fun in their groups decorating their rooms. We do realize we started early this year, but we all needed something to keep spirits up.
We will try our best to take some pictures and have them on the TV (at the screening area) for your viewing.
Teachers are trying their best to touch base with you at least once a week, either in person or by a phone call.
Christmas Traditions
It has been our tradition to host an International Buffet every year on the same day that Santa visits our Daycare and visit with the children.
Traditionally we ask that each family bring in something that represents their own culture. Children enjoy feeling that they have contributed to their buffet that they participate in.
We at the centre traditionally provide the Turkey dinner and the families would bring in a side dish or dessert.
As we face these pandemic times we have been struggling with how to celebrate safely and yet make families feel that they are a part of the event.
We have come up with an idea that would require your participation: If all families could provide a recipe that is culturally theirs, we would then try and put it together for families to share.
If the recipe is one that is child friendly we may even be able to try it out at the daycare for all children to taste.
This is a new idea and would need your participation. Please make sure that all recipes are in by December 9th 2020
On December 24th we will be celebrating Christmas here at the daycare.
We will have our Turkey lunch and Santa will have dropped off the children their gifts ahead of time as he is very busy this year.
Holiday time is a busy and pleasant time to spend with family and friends. If you have made plans to spend time at home with your children, please inform us ahead of time allowing us to do the same for our staff.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the staff at Arpi Nursery School
We know the weather is changing and children will get a cold (runny nose, sneezing). It is very difficult navigating day to day routines during these colder months and our COVID protocols.
We are committed in providing a safe environment for the children we have in our care. As you all are aware daycare is for healthy children and they must be able to participate in all activities at the center, (including going outside).
In the past we have been able to accommodate parental wishes if they did not want their children to go outside. But during these time we unfortunately cannot accommodate your request as the children are not allowed to join any other cohorts (groups), therefore your child’s class would not be able to go outside.
We know that going outside daily is an important part of our program, especially during these times.
Therefore moving forward if your child is not well enough to participate in all aspects of the program please keep them home until they are able to do so.
We do understand that parents do need to work but we are all working together for the benefit of all.
Please remember to notify us when your child will be absent and we would need to know the reason why.
As we mentioned in the previous post, the weather is changing and it is very important that the children are dressed for the fluctuation weather. We do go outside daily and they do need the fresh air. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately everyday for outside time.
Halloween time
Thank you for all your suggestions. We have decided to do a modified Halloween at the centre. We will accept children coming in costume and we will have a small makeshift party in each classroom. The children will have a small parade to show off their costumes but still stay with their own groups.
We will provide all the treats (this year we will not accept treats from home).
We understand that this is a fun time for the children and we will try our best to make it special for them as trick or treating will be different for them this year.
Costumes
We ask that they are not very elaborate as they will need help to remove them during routine times (washroom, sleep, lunch). Please make sure they have a change of clothes at the daycare and everything is labelled.
We do realize that it is very hard for parents not to come past the screening area but we do want to assure you that the kids are busy in their classrooms. As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact.
We have been open since August 4th and we want to thank all our parents and staff for making this transition a safe one.
You may have heard, there were some changes to the guidelines in the screening process.
We have decided to continue doing an in person daily screening of our children, staff and essential visitors. We have some new children that take a bit more time during drop time as we need to collect more information to make their child’s transitions easier. So your patience is appreciated as wait outside.
If you are in a rush at pick up time, you may call 10 minutes before you arrive and we will try our best to have your child ready. Please understand that the children have more things to put on as they come out to you.
If you do not see anyone at the front door, we have installed a door bell to let us know that someone is there.
We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe long-week end. We will be closed on Monday October 12th.
Please remember that your choices on the week-end will impact the whole daycare, so stay safe.
Halloween is at the end of the month and traditionally it is a great fun filled celebration for the children at our centre. We typically have the children trick or treat in costume room to room and have the children do a small parade down our hallway.
We are still deciding as a staff how we can continue our tradition and still keep everyone safe. If you have any suggestions please reach out. We will let you know in the next week what our final plans are.
Reminders and Notes:
The weather is getting cooler and we ask that your child is dressed for outside conditions everyday.
As it is getting colder and wetter it is a good opportunity to get boots (rain or winter) slip on ones for outside, and slush pants.
As always if you have any questions or just wish to speak to your child’s teacher please call the daycare between 10am and 3pm and we will try to accommodate you.
