With the new announcement that follows the Government’s reopening milestones, residential trips in the UK will be possible from 17th May, which means that the summer term now presents an opportunity to replace some of these lost experiences.  

The vast numbers of survivor testimonies already published on ‘Everyone’s Invited’ have struck hard and deep at the core of everything schools are expected to stand against, which is why it is so shocking and difficult for schools to respond to. Particularly those schools that the testimonies have shone the spotlight on whilst many others are waiting, hoping the light doesn’t shine in their direction.  This short article seeks to establish how schools could respond to such a crisis, what they could do to prepare before it strikes and how this whole experience might be used to help prepare…

From packing up to new beginnings… A year ago today, we made the difficult decision to pack up our office and ask our team to work from home. 365 days ago, this was an alien concept, now the norm.  Our office is a small, cosy space; not particularly great for social distancing so the safety of our team was our priority.  The bizarre memory of shoe-horning office chairs and iMacs into car boots will stay with us for some time!

The media keep saying that pubs are ‘among the worst affected’ by Coronavirus but we all know that there has been no ‘eat out to help out’ equivalent grants for the travel and adventure sectors.  For many of our clients in these sectors, they have seen zero income since March and no sign yet of when they will be able

As part of our work in advising client schools on their COVID control measures and risk assessments, one control measure in particular relating to kitchens has been flagged by a local Public Health team as a common cause of transmission in schools currently (this also applies to all offices with kitchens). Of course this will be of relevance to others too…

Usually at this time of year, we’d be in the office, writing cards, munching mince pies, chocolates and perhaps a cheeky mulled wine.  Not this year.  Like the rest of the year, this year’s Christmas preparations are different. But not all in a bad way…

Juggling the need for a warm classroom with sufficient ventilation to keep Coronavirus transmission cases under control can be tricky. Pharos Response’s classroom ventilation management process may assist – free to download.

At Pharos we have spent the past couple of months helping schools with their COVID-19 risk assessments and management plans and more recently in responding to positive cases.  In doing so we have identified a few common areas where schools can further improve to help reduce the impact of a positive case on the school and ultimately to make schools