an early start to Autumn 2020 and we are ready
After months of planning and wondering what will happen in September, it seems that things are moving fast now at Bright World Guardianships. We have wondered for months if flights would be available, if students would want to come back and if parents would want to send them back. The news is that most students ARE coming back and, of course, with the quarantine rules in place, many are coming back much earlier than usual.
Bright World is ready for this and we are adapting our programme after discussions with schools to make the start to the year as safe as possible for everyone.
a virtual start to the year
We have been speaking to schools over the past few months and have been very impressed with all the measures they are putting in place to avoid the spread of infection within the school. One of the things they have been discussing is their visitor policies.
Understandably, schools want to limit the number of outside visitors to school which will dramatically reduce any risk of infection being brought to the school.
With this in mind, and also to protect our staff, Bright World has decided to keep the first term of the year a virtual one in terms of communications and visits and meetings with schools and students.
arrival visits - what will be different?
Instead of going to the school boarding house and meeting our students when they first arrive, we will be inviting them to a Zoom call or a Facetime meeting with their Bright World Buddy. This will be coordinated in liaison with the Houseparent as usual and will follow our Online Meeting for Staff and Students Safeguarding Policy.
Our Local Coordinators have all kept in touch with their students in this way since schools closed back in March, so they are well versed with the online platforms available and have been finding the meetings useful, as have our students.
one of our virtual arrival reports
Scottish schools open much earlier than those in England. For this reason Sarah, our Bright World Buddy for Scotland has already welcomed students back and has began conducting her virtual visits. Parents will still receive a full Arrival Visit Report via our Parent Portal, Blink when the visit is complete. Below is an example of what Sarah wrote about one of her students. We have called the student Jane in this article for the purposes of confidentiality.
"I had the pleasure of talking to Jane over Zoom today during her quarantine at school. Her house parent helped me to set up the meeting, and during the call Jane gave me her UK phone number and email address to use. I also gave her my direct phone number and email address so that she can call/ text/ email me at any time if she has any questions or concerns.First, we talked about her flight over to the UK. She said that she is nervous about long flights, but hers was good and there were no problems. At the school, she is restricted to her house until her quarantine period is over. She has been keeping busy with stretching and exercising in her room. She says that the weather here is good and that it is not too hot. The food, on the other hand, will take a little while to get used to. The cooking is quite different from home, and she misses the normal hot meals of home. This is very common, and students become accustomed to it through their first term. Though they are always happy to go home to good cooking!Jane said that she was looking forward to doing some drawing while she waits for her quarantine to be over. There are other students at school quarantining with her, so they can keep each other company.I asked Jane if she had any questions for me, and her only one was if her Host Family would pick her up and drop her off at school for half term. I assured her that her host would be picking her up. We went through the Student Charter and Handbook online to go through some of the guidelines while she is at school. She seemed happy with everything and hoped to be able to visit Edinburgh while she is here. She told me that she had been to the UK before to visit London over Christmas, but never to Scotland. Scotland is far less busy than London, so I am sure she will have no problems.Jane is very polite and well spoken, and I look forward to hopefully visiting her at school soon!All the Best,Sarah"
the all brand-new Bright World student app
With an in-person visit to school, which is what we normally do, the Bright World Buddy takes along a welcome pack to each student in the form of a membership card showing our emergency contacts. There is also a handbook and a Student Charter with our rules.
To better handle this year's virtual arrival visit, we have been working on a brand new Bright World Student App that contains all the information and data that was in the previous welcome pack. Bright World Buddies will be encouraging students to download the app and will be showing it to them during the meeting by sharing their screen.
We are so pleased with the new app and this is here to stay. With our policy to reduce our carbon footprint and to avoid printing literature and having a paper-free working environment, this really fits in with our company ethos. We hope that students will be more likely to read and refer to our handbooks and information on the app, rather than in a booklet that they more than likely will lose along the way.
listen to our latest podcast about our virtual start to the year
Listen along to Jalpa Lai, Bright World Buddy for London and Surrey talking to Lana Foster about a virtual start to the year and how she is preparing to welcome her students back.
Bright World is part of Safe Schools UK
We are delighted to be part of a forward-thinking cooperation of schools and guardians called Safe Schools UK.
The objectives of the initiative are:
- Facilitate our core purpose of education to be continued with minimal disruption
- Standardise a minimum level of precautionary measures across U.K. boarding schools
- Ensure the safest possible environments for boarding students
- Bring the sector together with a strategic and considered approach
Bright World upholds the AEGIS Covid-19 Safe Charter
Our Managing Director, Lana Foster, is a Trustee of AEGIS, The Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students. Bright World is pleased to endorse and follow the standards set by AEGIS during the Coronavirus Crisis and while we head towards the healthy and safe return of our students in September. We are proud to have achieved GOLD standard accreditation of this important inspectorate.
our Coronavirus policy
View our Coronavirus contingency plan
Find out more about our guardianship programme
Please also get in touch with us if you are are a parent who needs assistance with guardianship or quarantine accommodation and you are not yet registered with Bright World.
