BURSARS
A clean
CHALLENGE Covid-19 has taken hygiene standards and personal space to a new level. Bursar, Dr Dean White talks about how Stamford Endowed Schools have faced the practical issues of this highly contagious virus
B
ack in March the language of coronavirus was not dissimilar to a 1940s Pathe Newsreel. Government met as a ‘war cabinet’, the NHS was the ‘front line’ and we were going to ‘go to war with the virus’. By early April I wouldn’t have been surprised if the daily Downing Street briefing included a Dad’s Army style map showing how the virus was being repelled at the borders. But, despite the hyperbole, some of what turned the tide on Covid-19 was much
simpler – soap and bleach. If any army has allowed us to return to some semblance of normality, it has been an army of cleaners, or at least that is my experience at the Stamford Endowed Schools. Like all schools, Stamford closed to the majority of pupils in late March and moved overnight to remote learning. Through April and May we had children of key workers in school every day, and by the end of June we had managed to bring every child – who was able to travel
and who wanted to attend – back into school as the guidance permitted. There is no magic to how we achieved this, it was simply planning, teamwork, and some investment.
Planning and adapting
Involving many people in the planning stages proved key; this has been no time for the autocratic style of leadership that is often appropriate for immediate crises. Our Covid team has been broad, Autumn 2020 I schoolmanagementplus.com
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