Soft toys, play dough and the sandpit will be removed from Rotorua early childhood education centres as they get ready to open in level 3 next week.
The centres support Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's decision to open schools and early childhood centres on April 29 for children who cannot learn from home or whose parents are going back to work at alert level 3.
Earlier this week Early Childhood Education Council chief executive Peter Reynolds told NZME the council was recommending its centres stay closed due to the risk of spreading Covid-19.
However, BestStart deputy chief executive Fiona Hughes said the company planned to open its Bay centres in Rotorua and Tauranga for parents who need their children cared for in level 3.
"It's our intention to open all after the level 4 alert is lifted based on the demand for the service," she said.
"It's important that we're available to care for the children of parents who need to work."
Hughes said the company was relying on the expert advice provided by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to determine how social distancing worked in a preschool environment.
"The expert guidance we have received has restricted each room in a centre to a 'bubble' of up to 10 children and their teachers only."
Asked her response to public fears of an outbreak if early childhood centres opened in level 3, Hughes said: "We know that the experts have considered this and we are following their advice."
Eric Hollis, curriculum leader of The Ole Schoolhouse Early Childhood Centre in Rotorua, said the centre was in the process of deciding whether to open.
Hollis planned to speak with all of the centre's families today to gauge their needs but said the mood was generally positive about reopening. All were willing to work bar one, for personal health reasons.
He said the Government advice was still that anyone who could keep their children home should do so and he expected only the children of essential workers would be returning.
"Needing a break" was not a good enough reason, he said. Level 3 also allowed parents to slightly expand their bubbles, which might help with childcare and he expected up to 14 of the centre's usual 50 children would need to return.
They would be split into two bubbles of up to seven, each with three staff members.
The bubbles would be kept completely separate in the centre, entering through separate entrances.
Every person would have their hands sanitised and temperature checked before entering - with parents asked to give assurances their child had not had Pamol or any medication that might bring down a high temperature.
The centre would remove access to any toys that could not be regularly cleaned, including soft toys, play dough and the sandpit.
"There will be a lot of singing and dancing."
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website
The bubbles would take turns on the playground, which would be sterilised between uses.
Doorknobs would be sterilised every hour and the centre would have an extra deep clean every night.
Hollis believed it would not be hard to keep the older children apart, but he had sought guidance from the Ministry of Education for younger toddlers and babies.
He said he had "huge confidence" in the Government's handling of the pandemic, including its reviews of research around children and the virus.
The Ministry of Education had "really stepped up", he said, providing good communication with centres.
In a statement provided to the Rotorua Daily Post, the Board of the Rotorua Childcare Centre said: "We have a significant number of children whose parents are Government workers who have been working through level 4 and will continue to work at level 3.
"We are working with key industry and Government advisers in regards to implementing a plan that sees our centre reopening and operating in a safe manner for level 3."
The ministry said it was already working closely with the sector to develop systems that meet public health requirements to keep learning places safe.
"We are also working on providing more detailed guidance very soon to support the planning for schools, kura, kōhanga reo and early learning services to physically reopen.
"We know that we are not in ordinary circumstances, and we will work with education leaders in the lead up to the physical opening."
All of its decisions to be ready for opening will be in line with Public Health advice, guidance and agreement.
The ministry said the alert level 3 approach in early childhood education or school environments was designed to limit the number of people that children have contact with.
"At this point, our advice is to limit this to 10 children in each group, but this could be increased to up to 20 children once schools have all their procedures running smoothly."
Additional reporting - Samantha Motion
Specific public health measures to reduce the chances of respiratory infections including Covid-19 to be taken in early learning centres are:
• Indoor temperature needs to be increased to 18C.
• Increase the minimum licensed indoor space for children from 2.5m per child to at least 3m per child. Outdoor requirement of 5m remains.
• Initially, the number of children must be limited to 10 in an early learning bubble, but this can be increased to 20 once all processes are running smoothly. There can be multiple early learning bubbles on a site but there must be no mixing between bubbles (working this through).
• Parents are asked to keep any sick children at home. If a sick child comes to the centre, send them home.
• Ensure all children regularly wash and dry their hands.
• Ensure hand sanitiser is available but teachers/staff supervise its location and use in order to avoid a child accidentally drinking it.
• Put in place staggered entry and exit times to avoid all children coming into or exiting the centre all at once and parental drop-off at entrance to limit numbers entering site.
• Ensure that children have their own food containers and do not give and take food to and from each other. Food can be supplied in accordance with public health guidance.
• Meal breaks should be staggered.
• Put away any toys that cannot be easily wiped down or cleaned frequently.
• Disinfect and clean all surfaces daily.
• PPE is not required or recommended as necessary in any educational facility by the Public Health Service.
• Contact tracing registers must be set up to record who is on site in each physical space each day, who visits, eg, parents.
Source: Ministry of Education