EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS


‘The New Normal’ - one of this year’s buzz phrases that has been worn out by overuse. Yet, for school groundsmen, sports coaches and pupils, it


describes how they are making school sports work and providing the physical and mental boost needed in such a difficult year. Grounds Manager James Munn talks to Jane Carley about life in lockdown and beyond


Grounds Manager James Munn A


Dean Close School in Cheltenham, part of a Foundation with extensive sports facilities managed by a small team


t the Dean Close Foundation, which has co-educational day and boarding schools in Gloucestershire and Wales, this means adapting the use of


facilities for sport and play to allow pupils to use them in their ‘bubbles’, reducing the risk of any infection spreading. “It’s a different way of working,” explains Grounds Manager James Munn, who came to the Foundation four years ago having previously worked at the site as a landscape contractor. “We mark out pitches to help coaches keep pupils in their bubbles, and they play in forty minute sessions before a changeover instead of, for example, having all the senior school pupils out on the sportsfields at once on a particular morning or afternoon. Play areas for the pre-prep school have temporary fencing to help the teachers maintain their bubbles.” Despite the increased regulation, pupils are clearly delighted to be back in school and playing sport once again, and James says that the ‘feel good factor’ extends to the grounds team.


PC December/January 2021 93


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