Guidance for Coaches: COVID-19

Coronavirus Support for Our Coaches: Remembering What is Important

Coronavirus is at the front of everyone’s mind at the moment. Discussion of the virus currently dominates our news, conversations and thoughts, with an overload of information available at every turn. Amongst this climate of distress, it’s important to focus on what is important.

At CoachBright, our wonderful community of social justice warriors are of paramount importance to us. This is what has been at the heart of our decision to postpone the remainder of our programmes and events. 

Our amazing coaches are in a unique position of largely living in temporary locations close to their universities, often away from their loved ones and in sometimes unfamiliar surroundings. We have had so many lovely messages from our coaches updating us with their travel plans and sharing their appreciation for being part of our programmes. This has brought so much joy to us across our regions and this is a huge testament for what kind people you all are. Thank you all for joining us with such enthusiasm, compassion and diligence in fighting for social mobility and social justice throughout the UK. 

We are indeed living in unprecedented times and we would like you all to remember the following three aspects to focus on what is important for you.

Mental Health and Wellbeing  

Often the most neglected area amongst global panic, it is essential to remember to look after your mental health and wellbeing in however works best for you. We recommend:

-       Getting fresh air and appreciating natural beauty wherever possible. Could you take 5 deep breaths at your front door/an open window in the morning? Could you take time to appreciate the night’s sky?

-       Increasing digital connection with those closest to you through regular online check-ins and sharing positive content. Could you send a song of the day to your loved ones?

-       Limit exposure to new updates as much as possible. Could you implement a news-free hour a day? Could you follow @thehappynewspaper on Instagram for positive updates?

Personal Health and Safety

-       Please follow Coronavirus advice from the NHS online

-       Make sure you are aware of how to stay safe at home

-       Keep updated with latest Government guidance

Maintaining the Safety of Others and your Community

-       Always remember to be kind and think of the effects on those less fortunate.

-       Support those in your local vicinity wherever possible. Could you text your neighbour to check how they are doing?

-       Think about acting in a way that best supports everyone you live with, especially those who are more vulnerable.

What’s next for our programmes you may ask? All graduation events will be rearranged for a later date that will be communicated to you all at first instance.

JOIN THE CAMPAIGNS

In light of current events, we’re also launching a couple of campaigns and would love your help in rallying for the cause!

Virtual coaching

We’re currently looking into the best way for us all to be able to continue to support our pupils no matter where we are. This will be through virtual/online coaching! You can sign up to join the coach community and provide valuable help at bit.ly/virtualcoachbright. We’d also love your friends, family and anyone else that can help out to sign up and help us make this a (virtual) reality.

Campaign against holiday hunger

We’ll be writing another blog post soon about our campaign to help reduce the holiday hunger that will undoubtedly be faced by our free school meals/pupil premium pupils in the coming weeks. You can find out more by keeping up to date with us on social media, through this blog and by checking your whatsapp groups/emails.

The CoachBright Team

Guidance for School Partners COVID-19

To our school partners,

We understand that we're negotiating difficult times at the moment amidst the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation. As this continues to develop, please be assured that we remain committed to safeguarding the health and security of pupils, our volunteers and everyone else in partnership with CoachBright. We are keeping up to date with policy changes and are adhering to the latest government guidelines and university policies across the UK. 

We want to reassure our partner schools that we will shed as much clarity as possible as soon as there are updates. This blog will help us to send out these updates in real time. 

For the time being, CoachBright has made the difficult decision to postpone all current and future sessions and events in London and Plymouth until after the Easter holidays. Sessions in Birmingham and Exeter will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and in line with school visitors guidance. This is based on yesterday's briefing from the PM on 16/03/2019 alongside many universities closing doors to face-to-face teaching. 

We understand the big impact that this situation is having on schools and communities at the moment, but most importantly on the pupils. For all of our pupils, but particularly many of the year 11s/13s that we work with, times are difficult and uncertain. At CoachBright we want to try to play a part in making some of this a little easier. 

In the coming days and weeks, we will be emailing our partner schools with resources, websites and links that might be useful for moving to online learning. We'll also be starting a campaign to tackle the 'holiday-hunger' aspects of isolation that will no doubt have an impact on many of our pupils, particularly those who rely on your school for meals during the day. You can expect emails from Jen, Trish and the rest of the team with news on this. 

Of course at this time, we want to support our partner schools as much as possible.  If there is anything you need from us, please do not hesitate to contact us through your head of region (details below). 

Thanks, 

The CoachBright Team 

Jennifer Love, jennifer@coachbright.org, 07384 113269 - West Midlands and South West

Patricia Mbangui, patricia@coachbright.org, 07511 982773 - London and South East