Felstedians experience a Felsted lockdown

Felsted School responded to the decision to close by the Government on Friday 20th March. However, thirteen international students were not able to get home due to restrictions in their home countries, cancelled flights or no flights at all! Felsted’s duty of care to these students put them at the front of any decision making process by the School, at a stressful time when the students were very concerned for their own families and just wanted to be at home.

Headmaster, Chris Townsend, decided to make Follyfield House, one of Felsted’s senior girls’ boarding houses, home to the 13 boys and girls aged 14 to 18 years of age who were unable to travel home to Bermuda, China, Italy, Malawi and Russia. Three experienced members of the Felsted staff made up the House staff team; Caolan Wukics, Lewis Mann and Isobel Nicholson.

As the first week of school closure was the last week of term, students were able to follow the school timetable and complete any work teachers were setting remotely on Google Classroom. Felsted is already an established user of Google for Education so this transition was relatively easy to implement.

Over the past three weeks of the Easter Holidays, each day has been split into three different sections to give some structure to the day whilst also appreciating that it is a school holiday period! Each day has incorporated an academic skills session, leisure time and a social period. After a leisurely start with breakfast, students have had the opportunity each morning to ‘upskill’ themselves. One student decided to start learning French, whilst another started to read books recommended by his previous Housemaster. Some of our Lower Sixth girls used this time to continue with school work and start preparation for their UKCAT tests. Another student enrolled herself on an online course which will see her earn a diploma in business before starting university in Rotterdam in September.

Each afternoon, students had the opportunity to relax and recuperate; these have included making fresh bread and cakes, getting creative with art and origami projects and playing board games. Students have been able to make use of the extensive onsite facilities, playing hockey, tennis and taking part in a pilates session run each afternoon. They have also had the pleasure of being able to go on lovely walks around Felsted with Lewis and his dog, Vinnie.

Evening social activities have ranged from board games, directing mini films, quiz nights, a table tennis tournament, movie night, pamper night or ‘the saucepan game’!

Headmaster, Chris Townsend, comments; “Operating as a ‘small household’ the main aim has been to ensure each students’ wellbeing, health and happiness, and to give them some structure to their day. As such a unique group, everyone has got to know and respect each other really well, blending numerous cultures, languages and experiences in the process. It has been evident that all the students who have had to stay at Felsted have approached this unprecedented situation with maturity and courage, with some having to face challenging journeys in order to get home. They will certainly have a story to tell in years to come!”

The support team at Felsted have been unfoundering in their support during this time, particularly those in the domestic, works and catering teams to ensure the students and staff always felt safe, clean and well fed! Much time by various members of School staff has also been put in trying to secure repatriation flights for these students to return to their home countries. Of the 13 students, only 5 remain and we hope to have them secured on flights home very soon.

Felsted has also been home to a number of training paramedics with the East of England Ambulance Service over the past few weeks. The School was able to answer a call for help by offering accommodation to them as they prepared for front line service. PPE items have also been donated to Broomfield Hospital and visor production is in the pipeline for the coming weeks.