Nurseries and pre-schools will receive air quality monitors next term

Earlier this week, the DfE confirmed that carbon dioxide monitors would be provided to schools from September, so staff can quickly identify where ventilation needs to be improved.

While the Department for Education has now confirmed that nurseries and pre-schools that receive early education funding are included in the scheme, Ofsted-registered childminders are not.

A spokesperson confirmed to Nursery World that CO2 monitors will be in state-funded education settings including nurseries, but did not comment on the situation regarding childminders.

Ministers said that the new monitors will enable staff to act quickly where ventilation is poor and provide reassurance that existing ventilation measures are working.

Letting fresh air into indoor spaces can help remove air that contains virus particles and is important in preventing the spread of Covid-19, the department said.

Jonathan Broadbery, the National Day Nurseries Association director of policy and communications, said, ‘NDNA has been told by the Department for Education that private, voluntary and independent early years settings will be included in the scheme for Carbon Dioxide monitors. This is a welcome recognition that early years providers are a part of the national education infrastructure.

‘Nurseries and childcare settings have operated throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and have gone, and continue, to go to great lengths to keep children and staff safe. Access to the right tools will help providers understand some of their areas of risk and help to ensure everyone remains safe. We want to see detailed guidance of how this scheme will operate and what support will be available to settings if ventilation issues are identified.'

Childminders excluded

Meanwhile, the Early Years Alliance and the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years have criticised the DfE's exclusion of childminders from the CO2 rollout to educational settings, and urged ministers to include them.

They have been told by the DfE that this is because most childminding settings ‘are not an appropriate space for CO2 monitoring due to low occupancy density’.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said, 'Despite being a crucial source of care and early education, childminders have been treated as an afterthought by the Government throughout the pandemic, and the news they have been excluded from the rollout of CO2 monitors to educational settings will understandably be a huge source of frustration and anger for those working in this vital part of the early years sector. 

'How is it that, after all this time, we are still having to explain to ministers that the fact a childminder works within their own home does not make that home any less of an educational setting than a nursery, pre-school, or indeed a school or college? 

'Childminders are qualified, Ofsted-registered early years professionals, some of whom employ their own staff and look after large numbers of children. Like nurseries and pre-schools, they have remained open during the pandemic at significant risk to their own and their family’s health - and given all we have been told about the increased risks of Covid transmission in home environments, surely good ventilation is just as important in keeping their settings safe as any other setting? 

'We urge the Government to urgently rethink this decision and ensure that all educational professionals, including childminders, are given the resources they need to continue to deliver vital care and education as safely as possible.'

Liz Bayram, chief executive of PACEY, said, 'Once again childminders have been left out of Government measures designed to keep practitioners and children safe whilst in education. We disagree that childminding settings should be excluded because, as the Department for Education has stated, they are considered to have “low occupancy density”. Registered childminders care for large numbers of children in any given week and we remain unclear how their settings can be considered so different to a nursery or pre-school. We have now asked the Department for clarification on how occupancy levels for entry to this scheme have been determined.

'After a year and a half of financial hardship (keeping their services open to support children whilst putting their own staff and families at risk), childminders are now left to either purchase these expensive devices themselves or go without. Childminders have already faced delayed access to the home testing rollout; have missed out on deliveries of PPE and now are not to be supported in how they improve ventilation in their setting.'

Schools

The Government has also launched a trial of air purifiers in 30 schools in Bradford, which is designed to assess the technology in education settings and whether they could reduce the risk of transmission.

Teaching unions have welcomed the funding for CO2 monitors, which follows a joint letter last week from seven unions representing staff working in schools who wrote to education secretary Gavin Williamson asking the Government to "urgently' provide air-monitoring and ventilation equipment for the start of the new school year.

However, they have also stressed that the Government would also need to support schools with funding to improve ventilation.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said, 'It is essential that this now becomes part of a comprehensive national strategy to ensure that every school and classroom is properly ventilated.

'We need to remember that identifying problems with ventilation, whilst absolutely necessary, are not the same as solving them. Where inadequate ventilation is identified, this needs to be addressed without delay, and the necessary resources provided. There is no escaping the fact that this is likely to require further investment from Government.' 

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said, 'It follows examples set by administrations in New York City, Scotland and Ireland. Sadly, Gavin Williamson failed to get on the front-foot over the summer but the initial investment of £25m in CO2 monitors is welcome now and will start to make a difference. It is vital, though, that Government must also commit to supporting schools to address any ventilation problems identified by these monitors.'   

Wales

Funding for more than 1,800 ozone disinfecting machines and over 30,000 CO₂ sensors will be provided for schools, colleges and universities throughout Wales, the Welsh Government said today (Friday).

The time and cost of cleaning rooms was identified as an issue for schools and colleges early in the pandemic.

To address the issue, the Welsh Government funded Swansea University to establish an Ozone Classroom Decontamination Project. Scientists at the university have developed an Ozone disinfecting machine, now in production.

£3.31m will be provided for the new ozone disinfecting machines, to reduce cleaning times, improve disinfection and reduce costs. The funding is expected to supply more than 1,800 machines, at least one for every school, college and university in Wales, the Welsh Government said.

The machines can be used to quickly disinfect classrooms when clusters of Covid-19 or other communicable viruses are identified, such as norovirus.