The announcement in March that the country would lock down to slow the spread of Covid-19 meant that BPCA’s most popular residential training course was postponed until further notice.
Following the lifting of these Covid-19 restrictions, and after much discussion, we decided to finally hold the Level 2 Award in Pest Management (General Pest Control) course at Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire.
WORKING TOGETHER
To take into account government guidelines and prepare for being Covid-19 safe, there was a lot of work to do before the course began on 12 July.
Working with the venue, which had its own Covid-19 charter in place, our training and technical teams had to prepare a comprehensive risk assessment.
This took into account how many people we could safely book onto the course, the layout of the training room and how we would carry out modified activities to keep people from potentially becoming infected.
Delegates, as well as those attending the exam at the end of the week, were sent a risk assessment, Covid-19 health questionnaire and code of conduct, all of which had to be completed, signed and returned before the start of the training course or exam.
The course usually involves a lot of group work, with exercises that require teams to handle laminated question and answer sheets between them.
Instead our training team had to prepare individual sets, so there could be no cross-contamination between delegates.
This required a lot of extra printing, laminating, cutting and collating!
DURING THE COURSE
The training room was set out to enable social distancing, as was the outdoor activity, with hand sanitisers placed around the room.
The venue had installed a large number of sanitiser stations around the venue, especially around the refreshments area.
They also introduced slightly staggered meal times, with one person to a table and marks on the floor while waiting to be served. There was no buffet service; instead food was served by restaurant staff, with some food placed in individual boxes or bags, such as salad and puddings.
The work that was put in to ensure that the event went smoothly and safely for all was fantastic, with an enormous amount of credit going to the venue, trainer Paul, the support team and our technical manager, Dee.
HOW DID LEARNERS FIND IT?
Delegates have since given their feedback and it was very positive.
One learner fed-back, “just a quick thank you for last week.
“It was great to meet you and, whilst the circumstances were far from ideal, you still managed to facilitate the delivery of the training in a challenging time. Thank you.”
Another person who attended the course took the time to write us some detailed feedback. We’ve printed it in full here:
“I'd just like to say a massive thank you to Paul, Clare and Karen.
“I was on the course this week and I’m so grateful for how the course was run faultlessly from start to finish.
“Given the circumstances of how difficult things were due to Covid you all handled the situation amazingly and I know this took some hard, long hours of work. I loved every minute (except for exam time).
Normally I drift off in training but not this time! Paul you are a major asset to the pest industry and a brilliant mentor!
“We all felt so welcome and nothing seemed too much for any of you, as you were always there to help no matter what we required.
“The training Paul gave was intense but was so enjoyable. Normally I drift off in training but not this time! Paul you are a major asset to the pest industry and a brilliant mentor! I don't believe anyone would have as much of a broad knowledge as he had and the way he delivers the training is outstanding.
“I will not hesitate to recommend BPCA to anyone in the future (especially if Paul is the trainer). Keep up the good work and again, thank you so much.”
Training Administrator, Clare Penn, commented:
“It was brilliant to see how the delegates were respectful of each other and the rules throughout the week. They were a real credit to themselves, their employers and to BPCA.
“The feedback is a testament to the hard work our teams put in to make sure this residential course was possible in the current circumstances and I’m proud of how smoothly the week went.
“We’re now preparing for the next residential course in September and we’re really looking forward to welcoming a new group of enthusiastic pest technicians in the making.”
BOOK A PLACE
Find a course now
If you can't make our residential course in September but want to get qualified before the end of the year, we'll be back at Yarnfield Park again between 6-11 December.
If you’ve got questions about taking our Level 2 Award in Pest Management residential course, get in touch.
training@bpca.org.uk
Source: Online