The emergence of the Omicron variant has seen Goodstarters across more than 660 centres adapt to new ways of working to protect the safety, health and wellbeing of children, families and themselves.
Goodstart’s Chief Safety Officer Matthew Little said there are five key controls in place at every Goodstart centre to maintain the highest safety standards and reduce the risk of transmission.
“When it comes to safety, we never stop improving what we do,” Matthew said.
“While we have been managing COVID over the past two years, the Omicron variant has resulted in extremely high transmission rates in Australia requiring us to adapt, adjust and update the controls we had in place.
“That’s why, we’ve made the decision to keep all Goodstarters and their COVID-19 vaccines up to date. This means families can have confidence that not only are all Goodstarters currently fully vaccinated, but they will get a booster once they are due, if they haven’t already.”
Matthew said Goodstart’s fully vaxxed status coupled with a range of other initiatives and controls will support Goodstart centres in adapting to the next stage of working and living with the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and maintaining high standards of safety.
5 key things Goodstart is doing to keep every family and child safe during our transition to living with COVID-19
1. All Goodstarters were double vaccinated in December last year and we’re going to keep our vaccines up to date by getting a booster six months after our second vaccination.
2. While the risk of transmission is high, we will use external child drop-offs and pick-ups as this helps to minimise COVID-19 transmission in our rooms.
3. We are working to our own ‘COVID-19 Shield’ plan, which ensures the highest level of protective controls are in place for our families and teams based on the current local COVID risk. As the risk reduces, so too do our centre controls.
4. We take health and hygiene very seriously:
- Where necessary, our team members wear their masks indoors because we know this keeps the spread of COVID to the absolute minimum
- We conduct regular touch point cleaning throughout the day to make sure any of the frequently used spaces and surfaces are clean and hygienic – with a professional clean every evening
- Air conditioning units are on all day long, with doors and windows open for optimal ventilation – because we know fresh air is important in stopping transmission and we’ve installed air filters in our foyers
- Wherever possible, children are spending as much time as possible outside.
5. We’re supported by a range of experts who ensure we have the most current advice and guidance on how we can keep everyone as safe as possible and we are constantly reviewing our safety measures.
In this video message, Matthew Little shares details with Goodstart families about the safety controls in place.
Goodstart’s highest priority is the health and safety of our children, teams, families, and the wider community.
In 2021, Goodstart received national recognition for its COVID-19 safety approach winning the ‘Large Enterprise Health and Safety Excellence Award’, at the national Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards. Learn more.
Safety starts with each of us, but at Goodstart it is more than that, being safe is who we are and what we do.
Goodstart’s Chief Safety Officer Matthew Little said there are five key controls in place at every Goodstart centre to maintain the highest safety standards and reduce the risk of transmission.
“When it comes to safety, we never stop improving what we do,” Matthew said.
“While we have been managing COVID over the past two years, the Omicron variant has resulted in extremely high transmission rates in Australia requiring us to adapt, adjust and update the controls we had in place.
“That’s why, we’ve made the decision to keep all Goodstarters and their COVID-19 vaccines up to date. This means families can have confidence that not only are all Goodstarters currently fully vaccinated, but they will get a booster once they are due, if they haven’t already.”
Matthew said Goodstart’s fully vaxxed status coupled with a range of other initiatives and controls will support Goodstart centres in adapting to the next stage of working and living with the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and maintaining high standards of safety.
5 key things Goodstart is doing to keep every family and child safe during our transition to living with COVID-19
1. All Goodstarters were double vaccinated in December last year and we’re going to keep our vaccines up to date by getting a booster six months after our second vaccination.
2. While the risk of transmission is high, we will use external child drop-offs and pick-ups as this helps to minimise COVID-19 transmission in our rooms.
3. We are working to our own ‘COVID-19 Shield’ plan, which ensures the highest level of protective controls are in place for our families and teams based on the current local COVID risk. As the risk reduces, so too do our centre controls.
4. We take health and hygiene very seriously:
- Where necessary, our team members wear their masks indoors because we know this keeps the spread of COVID to the absolute minimum
- We conduct regular touch point cleaning throughout the day to make sure any of the frequently used spaces and surfaces are clean and hygienic – with a professional clean every evening
- Air conditioning units are on all day long, with doors and windows open for optimal ventilation – because we know fresh air is important in stopping transmission and we’ve installed air filters in our foyers
- Wherever possible, children are spending as much time as possible outside.
5. We’re supported by a range of experts who ensure we have the most current advice and guidance on how we can keep everyone as safe as possible and we are constantly reviewing our safety measures.
In this video message, Matthew Little shares details with Goodstart families about the safety controls in place.
Goodstart’s highest priority is the health and safety of our children, teams, families, and the wider community.
In 2021, Goodstart received national recognition for its COVID-19 safety approach winning the ‘Large Enterprise Health and Safety Excellence Award’, at the national Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards. Learn more.
Safety starts with each of us, but at Goodstart it is more than that, being safe is who we are and what we do.