June 2020
Hi all – just a quick update for you – we are now just weeks away from summer playscheme and we are going ahead! This year will be very different to our normal summer playschemes BUT we are teaming up with some exceptional providers, including Jade at Spectrum Community Arts, Nathan Sounds and Aga to make this summer the best it can be – think creativity, fun, rainbows, and the usual BDCPS magic! More will be revealed in time…!
The delivery of playscheme will mean we have new stringent safety measures in place and additional procedures to protect our young people, staff and families as best we can. There will be small groups onsite and we will be at Ridgeway School. The days will be shorter and as we are going to be taking less young people, we are extending our playscheme for one extra week and we will also increase our virtual activities.
All staff and volunteers will complete a risk assessment which will help us to safely plan. We will be providing PPE to all staff and volunteers, which includes face masks, scrubs, visors or eye goggles in addition to our usual protective wear.
We understand that it is a very uncertain time for many and that you may have worries or concerns. We are here to answer any questions you have and hopefully we can put your mind at ease.
The government have provided an update for education and childcare providers which you can read here.
17/4/2020
Thank you everyone for your continued support during this time. We hope you had a lovely Easter weekend, and managed to enjoy some sunshine safely. We are continuing to follow the social distancing and government guidelines on COVID-19 and the office team are continuing to work from home.
We are planning for ‘Skool’s Out’ summer playscheme, but this is of course something we that may change but we will keep all updated when we have more information nearer the time.
Summer bookings have been sent to all parent carers, so please do get these back to us with your requests, as soon as you can. We are planning one of our brilliant performances in the final week of playscheme (10th-14th August) so if booking our final week, we need you to be available to attend as many of those days as possible!
To keep spirits high we have planned a number virtual activities to keep everyone at home occupied. There will be opportunities for young people and parent carers to meet up virtually, which include Spectrum Community Arts Zoom sessions led by the wonderful Jade; our parent carer choir will continue to run on Zoom; we will be holding fortnightly quizzes, which are FREE to enter, but optional donations can be made using this link. Keep looking out for other activities we have coming up!
23/3/2020
We are informing you of the changes to BDCPS services following the recent Covid -19 outbreak and recommendations from the government. We have developed a COVID 19 policy and we highly recommend that all parents, carers and staff & volunteers read it carefully.
The key points from government include:
- Everyone in the UK is now being advised to avoid “non-essential” contact with others and “unnecessary” travel
- People are being asked to work from home where they possibly can and avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and social venues
- People are being advised to stay at home for 14 days if they, or anyone in their household, has either a high temperature or a new and continuous cough
- Those in at-risk groups will be asked to be largely shielded from social contact for 12 weeks
- The UK is to scale up Coronavirus testing in the coming weeks
- Mass gatherings will no longer be provided with emergency workers
Our number one priority is the health and safety of our children and young people and because many fall in the at-risk group we feel it is in everyone’s best interests to cancel all our clubs, play schemes and parent carer activities for the recommended time of 12 weeks, which takes us to mid June. We will be constantly reviewing and following government guidelines and further decisions will be made once this period of time is over. We will of course keep you fully updated on this throughout. We will continue to support parent carers in these difficult times in the best ways that we can. We regret that we will be unable to provide any care as this has health implications to you, your families and to our staff.
Instead we have a very keen team of staff and volunteers who have offered their support in terms of shopping, collecting prescriptions and medication, taking post to the post office, walking dogs or a simple chat via a telephone call. If any parent carer finds themselves unable to leave the house through self-isolation or any other reason we are here to help. Please drop us an email or call us on 01234 351759 to request help.
We will be continuing to work from home and will continue to be there for all of you as much you need us, to try and keep spirits high in the months ahead. Our office telephone number is on a divert so we will get your calls and voicemails you leave. We know it will be a scary time for many, so we want to reassure everyone that we are there for you.
We would also like to reiterate that any payments already made by service users for schemes and clubs will be automatically added as a credit to your account. If you would prefer a refund, this is absolutely fine just please get in touch.
We will continue to update you as things unfold but please continue to stay healthy, safe and well.
With all our love
Team BDCPS