Chevalier College is a grand old school nestled in the picturesque Southern Highlands region of New South Wales.
Their 100 acres have ample room for their 4 houses, 13 school building blocks, 2 halls and performing arts centre. A private, independent secondary Catholic school, Chevalier College has almost 1,000 students.
Kerrie has always enjoyed working at Chevalier College. She loves the students and the rhythm of the school year.
“There’s always something happening, from Open Days to parent/teacher meetings. It’s never boring!”
As the leader of a 13-strong cleaning team, Kerrie has a lot on her plate.
She is directly responsible for the presentation, hygiene and cleanliness of all facilities.
Through her role, Kerrie saw opportunities for improvement in the supply of hygiene consumables.
“Our hygiene supplies were being sourced from multiple companies, costing us precious time. We needed a streamlined point of supply, so my team wasn’t burning time in procurement and administrative work.”
Kerrie came to Veridia in 2016 with one goal: freeing up her team’s time by streamlining the supply process.
Kerrie says, since the start of the pandemic, hygiene is a number one factor in the facility’s continuing operation. It’s also a key issue in the minds of parents looking for great education for their children.
“The school is very committed to maintaining the heightened levels of cleanliness. It meant we had to change the way we work – my team had so much more to do in the standard 4-hour cleaning window.”
Kerrie’s biggest fear is one echoed in schools across the nation: a COVID-19 outbreak.
An outbreak of the coronavirus would expose Chevalier College to shutdowns, financial stress and negative attention.
During the 2020 NSW lockdown, Kerrie and her team went into hyperdrive, using the time on a thorough hygiene routine.
“The shutdown lasted for about 8 weeks. During that time, we carried out a deep clean of every building in the school.”
Once the students returned, Kerrie’s focus turned to keeping them safe.
“We had to make a lot of changes. My team had to have glove changeovers between rooms, they were wiping desks and touchpoints down before and after each lesson. It was really constant cleaning.”
It was a tough time, with her team battling a hugely increased workload from their committal to above and beyond standards of cleanliness.
But now, Kerrie’s years of hard work on her cleaning and supply systems are paying off.
Chevalier College has maintained a COVID-free environment. They’ve also seen a drop in regular student infections across the campus.
She says that she couldn’t have done it without Veridia’s help.
“We’ve had a great relationship with Veridia over the last five years. They have helped me out with emergency supplies too many times to count.
COVID19 is new to us all. We are such a small dot in the bigger picture, but it helps to have a company like Veridia to help us get through it.”
