Pandemic Policy and Procedures

Amended Policies and Procedures, September 4, 2020

 These new policies and procedures will be in effect for the foreseeable future and must be adhered to until further notice and replace any other policies and procedures outlined as per our family contract.

 Schedule:  BIMS will offer care Monday to Thursday 8:30 am to 3:30 pm and Friday 8:30 am to 12:45 pm.  In order to minimize the number of transitions and decrease the number of daily points of contact, children have enrolled primarily in one of two cohorts, Monday Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday.

 Enrolment:  The total number of children to be on site at any time will 8 children with one educator. There will be no drop-in care available at this time.

 Tuition:  the cost of care will be based upon the current fee schedule. Tuition will be paid in advance and there will be no refund for vacation, sickness or any other type of absence.  BIMS will continue to offer the fee reduction initiative by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and families may also be eligible for the Affordable Childcare Benefit.

 Health Policy:  based upon guidelines provided by BC Ministry of Health 

If you are ill-stay home.

If you have been instructed to self-isolate-stay home.

This is non-negotiable! 

Within our learning environment, children, parents, and educators who are ill with fever, have cold, influenza or infectious respiratory symptoms of any kind must stay home. If children or adults have any of these aforementioned symptoms, the individual needs to be assessed by a doctor and/or get a negative COVID-19 test,  before returning to BIMS.  All members of the BIMS community spending time at our facility must do a daily health check-in including taking their body temperature as part of a daily assessment to determine attendance.  Any individual experiencing even the mildest of symptoms, including a runny nose, cough and slight fever, will not be permitted to be on site.      Please do not treat any of these symptoms with medication and bring a child into care!

If a child shows signs/symptoms of being ill while in care, the parent/guardian will be called for immediate pick-up and will be asked to isolate in their cubby.  A child must be accessed by a doctor and/or have a negative COVID-19 test before returning. If you are at all unsure of your health status, the BC Centre for Disease Control’s online assessment tool (https://bc.thrive.health/covid19/en) can help you assess whether you should stay home or not. If an educator shows signs/symptoms of being ill while at work, parents/guardians will be called for immediate pick-up and the educator will seek a medical assessment and a negative COVID-19 test before returning to BIMS.  This may create a situation where BIMS may be unexpectedly closed.

Parents/guardians will be asked daily at drop off to confirm that the child does not have any symptoms of common cold, influenza, COVID-19 or other respiratory disease. Temperature readings may be taken routinely throughout the day.