highlights from the Spring half term
Despite some unusual weather, the holiday the February half term was a great success with all Bright World students either spending the holiday with their host family or flying home. With the holiday almost over, we take a look at all the main headlines.
storming into the holidays
UK Met Office weather warnings
If our students were hoping for good weather during their half term holiday, they have been left sorely disappointed. The UK has been battered by a succession of storms in recent days, starting with Storm Dudley, 16th to 17th February and followed by Eunice, 18th February, then Franklin, 20th - 21st February. The UK Met office issued Amber and Red weather alerts for large parts of the UK and advised people to stay at home.
School closures and cancelled flights
Not only did the storms dampen our students spirits, they caused massive disruption across the UK, leading to grounded flights, cancelled trains, power outages and school closures.
Many schools took the decision to allow parents and guardianship host families to collect children early while it remained safe to travel. This presented a mammoth task for the Bright World Guardianship Care Team, who had to re-arrange collections and coordinate between host families and schools, to ensure all of our students were picked up safely.
A number of students who travelled home for their half term break were subject to cancelled flights, with several asked to remain with their guardian until their school was able to reopen.
This February half term has certainly presented some challenging situations for us. Due to the storms, some schools closed a day early and students' trains and flights were cancelled. Unfortunately a couple of schools were unable to open after half term due to power outages. This meant that students had to spend additional nights with their host families.
positive tests
Covid-19 continued to cause disruption for our boarding school students this half term. Several tested positive during their regular school testing and had to isolate in their boarding houses into the start of the holiday. The Guardianship Care Manager on duty, on the Bright World Emergency Phone, carefully coordinated with school staff on follow up testing and once the students had received a negative test on two consecutive days, arranged for them to go to their host families as planned.
Two Bright World students tested positive for Covid-19 whilst staying with their host families. Both students showed only mild symptoms and their host families stepped up to help and support them throughout their isolation, in line with Bright World's Covid-19 Safe Plan for Host Families.
While I was the Care Manager on duty at the start of the half term break, two of our students were isolating in their boarding houses. The student's Guardianship Care Managers worked closely with the Accommodation Team, to ensure that everything was in place for them once they could leave isolation. Thanks to their hard work and the support of the boarding staff at their schools, I was able to easily coordinate arrangements, so that the students could spend the remainder of the break with their regular host families.
Covid-19 restrictions end in England
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced this week that all remaining Covid-19 restrictions will end in the England, starting from 24th February. This includes the legal requirement to isolate, following a positive test. As of 21st February, asymptomatic testing of staff and students at most UK schools will also end and daily testing will no longer be required for close contacts. The new 'Living with Covid plan' set out by the UK government aims to return normality to peoples lives after two years of restrictions and emphasises personal responsibility over government mandates.
Bright World will continue to follow the DfE schools Covid-19 operational guidance closely to ensure our students are kept safe.
a birthday celebration
On a lighter note, one of our students, Inaya, celebrated her birthday during the half term break. Her host family planned a celebration for her, complete with DIY pizza making and a cake.
