Chartwells staff and the Blue Team tackle Covid

By Elaine Law

Who hates COVID? Everyone, including you and me. We all despise it.

However, whether we’re able to be at school in person or have to go online, the Chartwells staff and the Blue Team are making their best effort to keep the school clean, sanitised, and safe for all staff and students.

The coronavirus pandemic has been with us since late 2019, interfering with our daily lives, forcing us to learn on Zoom, making us follow safety precautions, overwhelming hospitals, and generally being an awful nuisance to us and the rest of the world.

In the cafeteria, Chartwells has a new system for the pandemic. According to Natalie, a member of the Chartwells team, they serve meals in individually packed boxes that are prepared in the kitchen to avoid contamination. They also separate the different meal options to prevent students from congregating in one area. 

"We are now stricter about safety. We have to clean everything regularly. There are now also numerous sanitisers in various locations.," she explains. "We collaborate with the school as well to determine what they prefer and whether they have any concerns." 

The Blue Team focuses on sanitising and disinfecting the classrooms, toilets, and furniture, to keep them safe. They do this during breaks, lunches, and over the holidays, when they conduct a "big clean-up" of the school. 

"Because we're a little short on staff, we're all doing extra work. We need more volunteers and more cleaning equipment, and it's difficult to recruit new members," stated Mei Jie, a Blue Team staff member.

However, cleaning the school is easier said than done. Mei Jie says that many students have been playing with toilet paper or putting brooms in sinks for no apparent reason. The Blue Team's workload has increased as a result. "It's extremely frustrating," she explained.

As much as the Blue Team cares about sanitation, they also care about students’ health and safety. "We'll need to do some special cleaning to combat the virus, but we'll also need to think about the students' safety. We are concerned that the students will be allergic to the products' ingredients, so we select cleaning products with natural ingredients to avoid allergic reactions, " Mei Jie added.

We can all help by socially distancing ourselves, washing our hands frequently before and after meals, and, of course, wearing a mask.

Year 11 student Anxiang Gao learnt Chartwells hygiene protocols during work experience last year.