One of the Government’s control strategies aimed at reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 is to ensure classrooms are well ventilated. Within the DfE’s guidance for schools, classroom ventilation is point 8, but evidence shows that this could be more important than its order on the list suggests.

While many classes returned in September to wide open windows, as the days are growing shorter and the temperatures drop, those windows are closing to keep in the warmth. Some classrooms don’t even have the facility for opening windows. As the Pharos team has seen a significant rise in requests from client schools for advice on how to manage ventilation while trying to maintain comfortable temperatures in classrooms, we thought our classroom ventilation management process might be helpful to other schools also.

If you’re in any doubt as to the benefit or need of ventilation in classrooms, please see this interesting article based on research in Spain about how the virus is spread through the air in a classroom both with and without ventilation.  Don’t forget that ventilation is just one of the control measures recommended by the DfE to reduce the risk and that these should be implemented together.

Staff responsible for safe school management should always follow the DfE’s most up-to-date advice but should you have any questions about how to interpret this or how to respond to a specific set of circumstances in your school, please don’t hesitate to contact our helpful and experienced team on +44 (0)1183 800 140 or at info@pharos-response.co.uk. When it comes to supporting schools with Coronavirus issues, there’s can’t be many scenarios we’ve not seen already!