Why it’s important that Leeds City College remains open during the lockdown

As we’re now in the midst of a second lockdown, it’s important that the college continues to operate effectively and safely, as we have been doing since reopening in September.

The four-week lockdown has been partly introduced to protect education. Whole sectors have been shut down in order for education to continue safely, so we must carry on learning at college as we have done over the past months. 

It’s normal to have concerns about coming to college during lockdown, but we’ve put many safety measures in place so our students can keep progressing and learning. Not to mention, it’s a welcoming and inclusive environment which is positive for students’ wellbeing and mental health. 

At Leeds City College, the number of students testing positive for the virus has always been a small proportion and the amount of cases are slowly declining. 

We have an effective system in place for reporting positive Covid-19 tests; there is a dedicated team looking after this process who are always on hand to inform potentially impacted students and staff. If needed, we collapse student bubbles for 14 days and make sure everyone in the bubble is self-isolating. When this happens we’re supporting students with their wellbeing too, so they are in a good position upon returning from isolation.

We understand that students may be feeling nervous to attend college during this time, however our health and safety measures have been working well to protect our students and staff. These measures include:

• Bubble systems in place at college. Each section of the college is divided into zones, with bubbles (groups of students) allocated to a zone of the college.
• Face coverings worn in communal areas such as corridors or libraries.
• All college staff maintain 2 metre distance from all, and where this is not possible, PPE is worn.
• Any personal protective equipment that is risk assessed as being required is provided.
• Zones are cleaned before different bubble groups can use them.
• All campuses have one-way systems in operation.

If you have any concerns or questions about attending college during the lockdown, please get in touch by calling 0113 386 1997 or email contact@leedscitycollege.ac.uk.