At the beginning of this week, many colleges across England opened their gates to welcome back a proportion of students after campuses were closed for most learners. Leaders and FE staff have spent weeks poring over plans for reopening and putting safety measures in place to protect staff and students. 

Here, three college principals share what the first few days of reopening have been like. 

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Coronavirus college reopenings: 'Start small and build confidence'

When I reflect on our return to college on Monday, I’m caught by a phrase which guided all of the planning for that critical moment. That mantra that I held was that we had to "start small and build confidence". It’s simple. Bite-size.

Field Marshal Montgomery once said that any strategy that exceeded a page was too long to be effective. And while I feel there are strategies that need to run a touch longer than that, for Monday’s return, hinging all that we did on that key phrase was really crucial.

I knew that reopening our six sites that would normally serve some 3,000 16- to 18-year-old students every day to a mere 100 would feel like a real moment of gravity. Taking that step into what felt like the unknown for staff was always going to be an anxious moment for them. So, starting small and building that confidence was key.

When we did reopen our doors to welcome those 100 students across our six colleges, you could feel that it was a symbolic moment. It illustrated clearly to all of our colleagues across our group, that it was OK, and that we could deliver provision safely.

Seeing our students acting in the most mature way, socially distancing and focusing on what they needed to do to help ensure a safe environment for everyone, brought me real pride in them, and watching our committed staff guiding learners through their studies and supporting them again felt wonderful.

It was at that moment that I knew that the reopening to a handful of students was worthwhile. All the planning between curriculum staff, support staff, unions and college leaders to open for that 100-student cohort was bearing fruit, because it showed that we could continue to reopen. And, as they say, from small acorns do great oak trees grow.

So, while we won’t be bringing the whole 3,000 students in next week, what we can now do is continue with our phased reopening, building the numbers as confidence grows throughout our community until we’ve fully moved into our new normal that ensures we still continue to deliver for our students, our staff and the communities we serve.

Graham Razey is the chief executive of EKC Group 

'Students were just so happy to see people's faces'

The past few months have felt like a constant snow day, mixed with an Ofsted inspection, with us simultaneously risk-assessing everything in sight. I’ll admit it, while being clearly focused on the only job that truly matters – keeping people safe – I’ve continued to sweat the small stuff. I think that’s just human nature. 

The plans that we put in place for this week’s reopening have been extensive. Strategically, we have been working with our corporation and recognised trade unions as part of our planning, risk-assessment and sign-off process.

Practical preparation for opening this week has involved installing thermal cameras, sanitising stations, 2m social distancing signage, stickers and lines, ensuring each room was deep cleaned and sanitised, implementing a campus one-way system and providing personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning equipment for each room. Sitemark Ltd also audited our site, at our request, to check our processes and cleanliness factors, which involved swabbing surfaces to spot check hygiene. 

Virtual live safety briefings were completed with every staff member and student prior to returning, with students also signing a revised code of conduct. Timetables were staggered to support public transport flow and students were asked to arrive in PPE and brought their own lunches in.

It’s been a mammoth task and the relief I felt when the first student I met on Monday morning told me that they were just so happy to see people’s faces and pleased to be back was genuinely palpable. 

The students have been fantastic this week. They have followed everything that we have asked them to do and the feedback is that they feel safe. Many students have completed their practical assessments ahead of schedule. 

Looking back over the week, it’s clear to see: the preparation has been worth it.

Jo Maher is the principal and chief executive of Loughborough College 

'The days of students coming in five days a week are over'

Anyone passing Milton Keynes College this week might be forgiven for not realising anything has changed. We have 3,000 full-time students and apprentices, and the maximum we are now seeing back in college on any given day is 25 – I’m delighted that is so. 

Virtual learning has gone so well that we’ve only needed to welcome back some apprentices and those from engineering, electrical and motor vehicle required by their awarding body to complete assessments.

The last time I was on campus was 20 March before lockdown began and I still have no need to return. With term ending on 26 June, it seems totally wrong to throw everything up in the air for a few days. I decided that it would be better to wait until September before we see how many students we are actually going to be able – and need – to accommodate. 

We’ve learned so much over the past term. It’s proved to me that you don’t have to funnel people into a brick box to teach them. Every part of the business has changed, from recruitment to teaching to welfare support. 

In planning for a safe and productive restart, we’re not just working on how to continue to innovate the use of digital pedagogies, we’re having to engage in new thinking around workshop capacities, the cleaning regime – even the Student Code of Conduct is being updated to include social distancing.

It may have all been caused by a ghastly tragedy, but some results are very positive: rather than only being for class representatives, we opened our student conference up to everyone and had twice as many virtual attendees as we usually have physical ones. In fact, attendance has been up on a lot of courses. 

Many courses will be a blend of face-to-face and digital but the days of students routinely coming in five days a week are over. That said, we will prioritise on-site attendance for those struggling with access to and the use of technology from home.

We’ve got better at social media because we’ve had to, we’ve got better at all digital communication because we’ve had to. Where students have finished their syllabuses early, we’ve already started on the next level material with the relevant staff guest lecturing. They’re getting a real buzz from the acceleration of the learning process. We’ve also taken advantage of relatively unoccupied campuses, undertaking building work and IT upgrades ready for a strong start to the next academic year.

Chris McLean is the principal of Milton Keynes College