Hello from Kids Takeover

Whilst we’re sure your email inbox has been inundated with messages from companies regarding their Coronavirus policies. It is really important for us to pass on yet another message to you.

We’ve been watching, not only the advice, but feedback from the general public closely. Following on from the announcement the government made yesterday evening, we thought you’d like to hear from us.

For over 13 years we have been providing sports and dance camps for children. The purpose of our camps is always and remains providing essential sporting skills and happy memories for your children during the school holidays.

However, we learnt very early on how important our service is for working parents too, and for years we have been passionate about providing an affordable solution to fulfil our purpose and enable our parents to work knowing their children are healthy, happy and well cared for at our camps.

The uncertainty of the Coronavirus is unnerving, so while it is still possible, we want you to know that we’ll be here for you and your children. A bit or normality in what can be a nervous and confusing time for our kids. (We’re all parents here)

While our facility partners allow, Easter camps will remain open. Large social gatherings are an issue, but like school we believe this is an essential service for working parents and an important learning opportunity for our children.

Our venues are on school premises, they are not open to the public and we have taken measures to improve the interaction at drop off and pick up to minimise risk, as well as monitoring potential illnesses at the venue’s.

The Department for Education and Public Health England have issued updated guidance for education settings on COVID-19, although we are not an educational setting, we feel this guidance applies best to our service and the main points are as follows:

1. staff and children should stay at home if they are unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature to avoid spreading infection to others. Otherwise they should attend education or work as normal.
2. if staff or children become unwell on site with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature they should be sent home.
3. we will disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces.
4. we will continue to supervise the children to ensure they wash their hands for 20 seconds more often than usual with soap and water or hand sanitiser and catch coughs and sneezes in tissues.

On another note, we are also exploring how, by managing numbers and locations we could offer a service to parents, should schools close before the scheduled holidays or remain closed after the Easter break.

We do need to know if this is something you want, so please express your interest by emailing info@firststep-sports.co.uk or answering our post on social media and share it with as many parents as possible.

This will help us move forward with the planning stages, we will only do so if there is interest and we can fall within the rules and guidelines that the government sets. We are aware that closure of schools may happen as a result of a full lockdown.

In the meantime, please secure your space on the Easter Camps. You will still need to pay before camp commences, but you do not need to pay to book your place. We are wary we may have to restrict numbers and we don’t want our regular children to miss out.

We want to work with and hear your opinions, this is a team effort from everyone. If you want to share concerns or offer your opinion, please get in touch.