For those of us in offices, lockdowns can be a blessing in disguise — working from home, zoom workouts and no traffic! But for essential workers like those in early education, it means so much more than not being able to go out on the weekend.
Let’s run through the things you’re changing to keep your service going through lockdown, and how technology can help make things transition easier for you, your educators and your families.
Signing In/Out
We can’t socially distance ourselves all day everyday, but it’s important to keep safe when meeting families. Whilst some centres stop families from entering the premises, regulatory guidelines for sign-in/out times still have to be followed. This would usually involve multiple people from outside of the service handling clipboards and iPads.
With OWNA, you can sign children in on your own devices and have parents/guardians confirm this on their parent app. Not only does this limit the physical contact you have with families — it makes sign-in more efficient, reducing stress for families waiting to get into the service, which in turn reduces the risk of families spreading viruses to each other.
You can also record children’s temperatures when signing them in, just like you would in the service, to double check everyone is healthy and safe.
Absences/Emergencies
Even though you can legally carry on giving children the vital care they need, there may be instances of increased absences, with people potentially in isolation, having illnesses etc.
CCS have required all software providers to integrate an API key (fancy word for a piece of software that communicates something from an app to the CCS department) to let them know you’re in an affected area, which allows you to have more absences.
The deadline for getting this in is December 5th, but due to the way things are at the moment, we put this in ASAP to make sure you’re feeling the benefit of this.
At a time when families may be running out of entitlements, it’s vital that you get them the CCS they need and in a timely manner.
Increased Communication
The need to update families now is greater than ever. Things change at the drop of a hat, and we need to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently about service changes.
We can’t rely on things like social media posts getting to families in their spare time. Nor can we rely on parents/guardians checking their emails.
OWNA’s free app allows you to communicate with families up to 20 times per day, so if you’re looking for a quick solution to introducing increased communication with families, you can sign up here.
By posting on the app, we can enable notifications and make sure they’ve seen the important updates you’ve posted.
Social Distancing
It’s impossible to remain socially distant all day in ECEC settings. We know that. But one thing a lot of centres are doing is splitting the children into smaller groups to help stop the spread.
It’s important that, as we do this, we adhere to the regulations, and seeing this in real-time is essential. The OWNA dashboard allows you to see exactly who is in which room at any given time, so you can keep on top of ratios.
We’re not expecting any assessors to come knocking during lockdown, but the need to be compliant still remains — and we can help with that.
Don’t Pay for Software ‘Just in Case’
Unlike most software providers would have you believe, using technology in your service isn’t an either/or choice when comparing a paper-based service.
Instead of paying over-the-top prices for a software you may need to use in an emergency, there are plenty of free options out there to meet your needs.
The main things you need to think about during lockdowns and restrictions are: sign in/out, absences and emergencies, increased communication, and remaining compliant.
With OWNA, you can do all of this for FREE. No gimmicks, just a quick solution to meet your service’s needs.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up to our FREE app today!
