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More and more schools are now opting to convert to academy status. With high numbers of staff and pupils attending your premises on a daily basis, the provision of a clean and safe environment is essential. Learn more here about making the right choice for your academy cleaning services.
Academies in the same way as traditional schools, require all staff to be highly vetted to fulfil safeguarding requirements, and need to know that anyone working on their premises is 100% trustworthy.
Time and time again we hear from academies that have engaged the services of a national cleaning company that have promised the world, but failed to deliver. A lack of local presence will often mean little or no support when you most need it, and can result in a less thank sparkly academy.
With us providing daily cleaning services to schools and academies of all sizes throughout Hampshire, West Sussex East Sussex and Surrey currently, we have written this article to help you make a safe choice, and ensure you can focus your efforts on developing your pupils, and not worrying about the cleaning of your academy!
"Since joining Shoreham Academy as our cleaning contractor, Green Fox have made a huge improvement in the way the cleaning contract operates, with a strong emphasis on personal support from the management team, who have always taken a keen interest in ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Kelvin Coburn - Site Manager - Shoreham Academy
Our input is now quite minimal as Green Fox take care of all our needs – we are certainly in very capable hands. ‘Small enough to care, big enough to cope’ - Green Fox are all that we hoped for in a cleaning contractor and more."
Top 5 questions to ask when selecting a company for academy cleaning services
There are a number of key considerations when selecting a commercial cleaning company for your school cleaning services. Here are five key points we would recommend you ask any company when they come to quote for your school cleaning services.
Don't be afraid to ask this. Some companies use subcontractors and "self-employed" staff to avoid needing to pay pension, holiday pay etc. What this means in reality is they have little or no control over who is coming through your door each day.
All Green Fox Cleaning staff are directly employed by us. Our academy safer recruitment process involves the highest levels of vetting and selection. Our process will include background checks through various sources, enhanced DBS checks at all academy sites, where the highest levels of vetting for safeguarding compliance are required. With our company Directors being former Police Officers with over 30 years service between them, you can be assured that client safeguarding is at the top of our list.
Time and time again we hear horror stories of cleaning companies placing untrained staff to clean in academies, and don't even induct them on essentials such as the location of fire exits! All Green Fox Cleaning employees are trained by our in-house British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) trainers and receive a detailed and paid induction before starting work at all of our academy sites.
Turning up in the morning to find your academy has not been cleaned is pretty much the worst case scenario when outsourcing your daily school cleaning services.
At Green Fox Cleaning, we operate a live GPS employee attendance management system which is monitored 24/7 live-time by an on-call manager. In the event a cleaner doesn't arrive as expected, an on-call manager is alerted immediately and will investigate, and deploy one of our mobile team if required, to ensure you NEVER turn up to a dirty academy!
Many national cleaning companies delivering academy cleaning services do not have access to a good local team, able to respond to unexpected sickness or other absences. We hear horror stories of site managers having to clean their academy when unlocking in the morning, where their cleaning company has failed to deliver the contracted hours and fully clean the academy.
With Green Fox Cleaning, our local approach with local offices and local staff means you will always have the support you need for your academy. Our friendly local management team are always on hand with our 24-hour client and employee support line, and will be familiar faces when completing regular site visits to ensure the highest standards are being maintained.
A good commercial cleaning company offering academy cleaning services should offer the best equipment, to deliver the best results. This will of course come at a cost, which it is essential you consider the VALUE being offered by any commercial cleaning company quoting for your academy cleaning services, rather than simply the annual cost on paper.
Things such as the site team having to clean where areas are missed, or having to call and complain about the poor service received are all hidden costs to your academy. At Green Fox Cleaning, we offer the latest cleaning chemicals in dosage systems, massively reducing our plastic usage. Our investment in the latest cleaning machinery also ensures great results, day after day with our academy cleaning services.
We hope you have found this article on academy cleaning services useful. Asking the right questions at the beginning of your search for a great commercial cleaning company will save you time in the long run.
With OFSTED inspections and the focus on the ability for you to be able to tackle any viral outbreaks, there really are no second chances or compromises when it comes to delivering the highest levels of cleanliness, day in, day out.
We hope you have found this article on academy cleaning services useful. You can click here to learn more about our School Cleaning services throughout Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and Surrey.
