Legacy during COVID19
The resilient legacy of our co-produced approach has been born out during the terribly difficult times of the COVID19 crisis.
During this time the relationships we built up together have proved to be invaluable. We have seen how our parent community have used resources like our whatsapp group to share practical and emotional support with other parents. Immediate responses to the pandemic rightly focused on supporting parents with the essentials that they needed, with accessing food parcels, housing support, financial advice and sign-posting to local organisations. Parents also shared many online resources, providing emotional and practical help to parents trying to care for their children at home when all local practical support has closed.
Over time parents involved with the nursery spoke candidly about the pressure, guilt and stress they were experiencing parenting alone during COVID, trying to keep their children active and engaged in play and learning, especially when finances are under pressure and housing conditions are problematic. Local support infrastructure like stay and play groups and drop-ins all closed due to COVID so parents didn’t have any opportunities for local connection, apart from ‘virtual’ WhatsApp and facebook groups.
Parents from the nursery, some with a firsthand experience of being single parents, worked together with our staff to develop ‘play bags’ for local families. The aim was to create positive activities for parents and children to do in their own homes and provide a route to connecting with other local parents (virtually) to grow local emotional support networks. The Play Bags activities were also used with the nursery children, enabling the children already registered to enjoy the resources too.COVID required changes to the way the nursery operates, with new policies and resources required. We were able to work closely and quickly with play build play to construct long lasting equipment, such as external hand sanitiser stands, to meet the nurseries needs and blend in to the design of the setting.
Play Bags
We made 30 play bags a week for 8 weeks. They were distributed to local parents between February and May, whilst they were navigating the second national lockdown staying at home with their children and facing financial pressures. Each play bag contained a book, play materials and guidance for high quality, low cost, low stress indoor education and play activities that can work in any home. Local parents collected a play bag from the nursery to take home and use it with their child - deliveries were made if families we isolating. Parents taking part were also encouraged to join our closed facebook page to connect with other local parents and take part in weekly Zoom playgroup sessions.
The play bags also included information signposting parents to other local sources of support, such as the local baby bank that opened during the COVID pandemic. The facebook group was run by parents to share their creations, to connect with each other and form a safe network of support. Phone data cards were available for families that needed them in order to participate.
During this time the relationships we built up together have proved to be invaluable. We have seen how our parent community have used resources like our whatsapp group to share practical and emotional support with other parents. Immediate responses to the pandemic rightly focused on supporting parents with the essentials that they needed, with accessing food parcels, housing support, financial advice and sign-posting to local organisations. Parents also shared many online resources, providing emotional and practical help to parents trying to care for their children at home when all local practical support has closed.
Over time parents involved with the nursery spoke candidly about the pressure, guilt and stress they were experiencing parenting alone during COVID, trying to keep their children active and engaged in play and learning, especially when finances are under pressure and housing conditions are problematic. Local support infrastructure like stay and play groups and drop-ins all closed due to COVID so parents didn’t have any opportunities for local connection, apart from ‘virtual’ WhatsApp and facebook groups.
Parents from the nursery, some with a firsthand experience of being single parents, worked together with our staff to develop ‘play bags’ for local families. The aim was to create positive activities for parents and children to do in their own homes and provide a route to connecting with other local parents (virtually) to grow local emotional support networks. The Play Bags activities were also used with the nursery children, enabling the children already registered to enjoy the resources too.COVID required changes to the way the nursery operates, with new policies and resources required. We were able to work closely and quickly with play build play to construct long lasting equipment, such as external hand sanitiser stands, to meet the nurseries needs and blend in to the design of the setting.
Play Bags
We made 30 play bags a week for 8 weeks. They were distributed to local parents between February and May, whilst they were navigating the second national lockdown staying at home with their children and facing financial pressures. Each play bag contained a book, play materials and guidance for high quality, low cost, low stress indoor education and play activities that can work in any home. Local parents collected a play bag from the nursery to take home and use it with their child - deliveries were made if families we isolating. Parents taking part were also encouraged to join our closed facebook page to connect with other local parents and take part in weekly Zoom playgroup sessions.
The play bags also included information signposting parents to other local sources of support, such as the local baby bank that opened during the COVID pandemic. The facebook group was run by parents to share their creations, to connect with each other and form a safe network of support. Phone data cards were available for families that needed them in order to participate.