Safety at School – Olchfa School

Olchfa is one of Wales’ largest schools, with over 1800 students aged between 11 and 18, it thrives on its diverse and busy day-to-day curriculum across the campus.

Having been awarded an outstanding report from Estyn, Olchfa prides itself on excellence across all aspects of the school, from teaching to extra-curricular activities, through to pas-toral care and parent/teacher relations.

However, prior to Mrs Buckét joining the school’s team, Olchfa felt that the standard of cleaning from the school’s external agency simply didn’t align with the school’s ethos of excellence.

The overall quality was affecting the staff and the students of Olchfa and was incredibly disruptive during school hours. Not only this, but it had a notable impact on the school’s in-ternal facilities and management team who had to spend extra time cleaning themselves when a job wasn’t done properly.

Olchfa appointed Mrs Buckét in 2018 and were quick to commend us for the fresh approach that was brought in from the outset of our working relationship.

At the beginning of 2020, we faced the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large hurdle none of us had seen coming. It was crucial that we put measures in place to keep the staff and the students of the school safe and well, especially as they returned in the late summer months.

What did we do?

• Introduced strict measures into the school’s cleaning regime to ensure all areas were san-itised and deep-cleaned. This included using our state-of-the-art ride-on sanitisers, elec-trostatic cleaners and EN14476-approved chemical which kills all coronavirus pathogens once every 30 days.
• Put in place regular communication with the school’s staff to update them on cleaning methods and processes, giving them peace of mind during this worrying time.
• Ensured that all our cleaners were visible throughout the school day sanitising touch points and problem areas, showing students and staff alike that their safety is para-mount.
• Kept the senior team, especially our CEO Rachael, visible throughout the whole contract, establishing an honest, open and trusting working relationship

The results?

Throughout the two years that Mrs Buckét has worked with Olchfa, and most notably through the past seven months, we have ensured that Olchfa’s cleaning standards match its exceptional reputation. This allows the staff and students to have the peace of mind they deserve, boosts morale and, especially now, provides an extra level of safety and security for all within the school.