Stratford-upon-Avon Living Jan - Feb 2021

SUPPORTING BOARDING SCHOOLS
How boarding schools are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic
Like all organisations, boarding schools
have quickly had to adapt to a ‘new
normal.’ In recent months, they have
supported pupils and parents through
first-class online learning, and we have
organised a variety of seminars for schools
to help them modify their teaching and
learning styles for this new world. Here
Robin Fletcher tells us more.
Through our BSA Academy, we’re
continuing to offer a comprehensive range
of online learning on a variety of subjects.
These include the possible impact of
COVID-19 and lockdown on the mental
health and wellbeing of students; how to
create positive and healthy routines for
young people during the pandemic, and
students’ future mental health. We have
also just announced our ‘BSA COVID
Conference: lessons learned and planning
ahead,’ which will be taking place virtually
on November 18.
Supporting the health and wellbeing
of boarding students is at the heart of
everything we do; never more so than
during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. In
response to the pandemic, we developed
our COVID-SAFE Charter, which schools
can voluntarily adopt. The charter offers
reassurance to boarders and their parents
/ guardians that schools have done
everything they can to ensure their safety
and it has been welcomed enthusiastically
by the boarding family across the world. We
also translated the COVID-SAFE Charter
into several different languages to keep
international parents informed and also
delivered a series of webinars to parents
and agents in China, Hong Kong and
Germany, designed to reassure them that
UK boarding schools were safe places for
their children.
The main concern schools reported to us
was that parents / guardians wanted to
know their children were going to be as
safe as they could possibly be when they
returned. For example, they wanted to
know what cleaning protocols the schools
had in place; what their procedures were
for testing students for coronavirus and
what measures would be implemented for
isolating pupils if there was a positive test;
whether students could wear face masks or
coverings in class if they wished, and that
students would have an opportunity to raise
any concerns. We responded by creating
a COVID-19 supplier list to help schools
find suppliers of products such as face
coverings, sanitisers, testing and tracking
devices and temperature camera systems.
We’re continuing to work with a range of
government departments to ensure all our
member schools and staff receive the most
comprehensive, up-to-date information as
the coronavirus pandemic continues. We’re
here to support to all our member schools
and provide any advice and guidance
they may need – we’d encourage them to
contact us as soon as possible if they do
require any assistance.
Robin Fletcher, CEO, BSA and BSA Group
A copy of the BSA COVID-SAFE Charter
can be viewed by visiting their website
www.boarding.org.uk where you will be able
to link onto their advice.
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