Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19)

Update: 19 July 2021

With reference to the latest Department for Education guidance, most COVID-19 restrictions in education settings will be eased under step 4 of the national lockdown.

The governments priority is for training providers to deliver face-to-face, high quality education to all students.

It is no longer necessary to keep students in consistent groups (‘bubbles’).

Any close contacts will be identified via NHS Test and Trace.

Face coverings are no longer advised for students, staff and visitors either in classrooms or in communal areas.

In line with the above guidance, BET will still have a number of control measures in place.
– Good hygiene will be encouraged for everyone.
– Frequent and thorough hand cleaning will remain a regular practice.
– The ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach continues to be very important.
– Appropriate cleaning regimes will be maintained.
– Occupied spaces will be well ventilated.
– Temperature checks will continue for students, staff and visitors who attend the centre.

BET will follow public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19.

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Update: 26 February 2021

Resumption of Face-to-Face Teaching

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister on Monday, schools and further education providers including BET have been given the go ahead to resume face-to-face teaching for apprentices from Monday 8 March.

Over the past few days, BET staff have reviewed apprentices progress with online learning and assessed our timetable for the academic year, considering the outstanding units that apprentices have missed or had disrupted since the beginning of the pandemic.

Following this review, we have detailed below our plan for the coming weeks and months to all apprentices.

We will be asking that all Apprentices continue online learning until at least Friday 5 March, after this date, as detailed below, some apprentices will return to college from Monday 8 March onwards, others will be required to continue online learning for a short period until Friday 26 March, enabling us to pick up face-to-face teaching more easily after Easter.

All Apprentices that were due to attend college between April and August 2021 will receive new attendance dates for the coming months within the next week.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all apprentices and employers for their interaction and support over the past 6 weeks. We have had 85% apprentice attendance during this period, which is well above our expected engagement level.

Day Release – 1st & 2nd Years

All Day Release Groups will return to college from Monday 8 March onwards and will revert to their original college day prior to learning moving online.

1st Year Block Release

• BET/N/20 – will be required to attend BET from 15 March, as detailed in our original attendance plan, but for 3 weeks. They will be then issued new dates for the rest of the year.

All other first year block release, will need to continue online learning until Friday 26 March. Prior to this, new college dates will be issued to employers and apprentices for the rest of the academic year.

2nd Year Block Release

• BET/H/19 – will be required to attend BET for 1 week on Monday 8 March as detailed in our original attendance plan. New dates will be issued for the rest of the academic year.

3rd Year & 4th Year Apprentices
• New college dates will be issued for their college attendance for the rest of the academic year.

There are a small group of both 1st and 2nd Year Apprentices that have either not engaged with the online learning or have been unable to due to employer work commitments, BET staff are aware of this and will be contacting apprentices and employers to discuss their options.

Part of the Prime Minister’s announcement was that Independent Training Providers such as BET will be able to access Home Testing (Lateral Flow) Kits for apprentices and staff from the end of March. It is our intention to use these for our staff, and also where we can, for our apprentices. Once we have further information, we will communicate this.

As many apprentices and employers will also be aware that our training officers have been undertaking telephone reviews and not attending site for 12 months. With the availability of testing, it is our intention from the late March (earlier if possible) our Training Officers will be able to resume onsite reviews and assessments for apprentices (pending employer and site approval).

If any apprentice or employer has any questions regarding the contents of this email, please contact our office on 0121 616 0700 or email info@betltd.co.uk.

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Update: 4 January 2021

Following the Prime Ministers Announcement this evening, BET will close for Face to Face Teaching for all Apprentices until further notice. Apprentices should not attend college from Tuesday 5 January 2021 onwards and should contact their employer and return to work as normal.

BET staff will contact Apprentices in the coming days outlining BET’s Online and Remote Learning Plan for the coming weeks, this will detail online lessons and have details of how to use our digital learning system Its Learning during the national lockdown. We would encourage all apprentices to engage in this remote learning in order for them to continue with their apprenticeship and not fall behind.

Your Training Officer will be in regular contact over the next 6-8 weeks, undertaking remote Progress Reviews. They will also be available to contact during this time by their usual contact numbers. All Apprentices should continue working on their NVQ Logbook Portfolio and collecting evidence from their workplace.

During the National Lockdown our office staff will continue to work as normal and will be able to provide help and support to apprentices. If any apprentice has any questions please contact our office staff on 0121 616 0700 or email info@betltd.co.uk during opening hours and they will be able to assist.

For customers enrolled on our Electrical Short Courses, undertaking ECS Tests or have booked an AM2 Assessment, our office staff will contact you in the coming days to discuss options regarding your bookings.

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Update: 1 December 2020

Training: COVID-19 Secure Measures

In line with government advice and to enable all staff and customers to comply with social distancing rules, Birmingham Electrical Training has introduced COVID-19 related measures, for all visitors and customers to our sites.

In order to attend Birmingham Electrical Training, candidates will need to adhere to the following guidelines. These measures have been put in place to keep both our staff and other customers as safe as possible and reduce the risk as best we can, while continuing to operate. If customers do not feel able to follow these guidelines, we will unfortunately be not permitted to undertake any training at Birmingham Electrical Training.

COVID-19 Secure Measures

– Temperature – All customers/students will have their temperature taken on arrival to the centre, using a contactless thermometer. This will be recorded daily. If the individual has a high temperature, they will be asked to leave the building and return home.
– Sanitise – All customers will be asked to regularly sanitise, using the sanitiser around the centre.
– Handwashing – We would encourage all customers to wash their hands regularly throughout the day.
– Social Distancing – All our staff and courses will be observing strict social distancing, we would ask customers to follow the floor stickers around the centre and to reduce contact of less than 2 metres with other customers.
– Face Masks – All customers attending BET will need to wear a face mask for their duration of their time in the building. Candidates can bring their own, otherwise we will supply you with a disposable mask each day, if needed. Face coverings should be worn in areas in tiers 2 and 3 by staff, visitors and students when moving around indoors in corridors and other areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain.
– Enhanced Cleaning – BET have increased cleaning each evening, cleaners will be enhancing cleaning measures to make sure our centre is as safe as possible.
– One-way systems – Around the centre, one-way systems have been introduced, please follow these where possible.

Main Symptoms
The main symptoms of coronavirus are:
– A high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back.
– A new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24-hours.
– A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.

Most people with coronavirus have at least one of these symptoms.

What to do if you have symptoms
If you have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus:
– Get a test to check if you have coronavirus as soon as possible.
– Stay at home and do not have visitors until you get your test result – only leave your home to have a test.
– Anyone you live with, and anyone in your support bubble, must also stay at home until you get your result.

Please see the NHS website for more information.