Wiltshire College "ready" for lockdown challenges

Amanda Burnside has said Wiltshire College is ready for any challenges thrown at them and that she's not concerned about being open.

In the first lockdown schools, colleges and universities all had to close, but they will remain open for the next month.

Principal Burnside told Greatest Hits Radio that because of how well this term has gone, she isn't worried:

"I'm not concerned about remaining open, I've got my fingers crossed because obviously we could see a surge in cases in Wiltshire and we're monitoring that, but I'm less concerned than at the start of term because I've seen how well the precautionary measures we've put in place are working so we have restricted access to the campus, lots of office staff working from home, campuses are divided into curriculum zones, you can't sit in the canteens, so it's obviously not where we want to be but it's made the college a much safer place.

I feel confident we are doing the best for students and staff and certainly feedback from staff has been positive about the precautions we put in place and the advice and guidance we're giving."

The college was closed in March due to the UK lockdown.

They reopened for their first proper term of the academic year in September with a number of safety measures in place, which so far have been a success.

COMPULSORY FACE COVERINGS

One of those measures was students and staff having to wear face masks in all communal areas of the building.

This was put into place at the start of the term, and has remained there for the last two months.

As the country headed into it's second national lockdown yesterday (Thursday 5th November), it was announced that all pupils in secondary schools are required to wear a covering outside of their classrooms.

Amanda said it has worked at the college so far, and the students have reacted well to it:

"We put a kind of tiered system in place at the college, because of the different industries we cover like health and beauty, because we decided that was best practice and clearly we're bigger than schools but it has still worked well for us.

The students have been brilliant about it, the message to them was help keep the college open and I have to say the level of compliance with students wearing face masks has been excellent."

You can see the full education advice from the government by visiting their website.