THE WYKEHAM JOURNAL 2020
his knowledge of epidemiology . When case numbers were still low , he realised the scale of the problem . He explains that he could see the numbers increasing tenfold every week : ‘ I could see that one week there were 300 cases , the next week 3,000 cases , and that after that there would be 30,000 , then 300,000 . That ’ s what the curve was telling me .’
Concerned that his calculations could be wrong , he checked them with the Senior Housemaster , a mathematician , who confirmed that they were accurate . And so , in early March 2020 he went to the Headmaster with a stark warning : ‘ I ’ m not sure we ’ re going to make it to the end of term .’ Already boys and nurses were showing symptoms , and it was becoming apparent that urgent action was needed .
By the time the UK went into its first lockdown on 23 March , 2020 , the school had closed and Dr Cullerne deduced that it was unlikely to re-open for many months . The week before the students left , he and Winchester ’ s IT department created a template for teaching online and he piloted it with one of his classes . In the last week of term , with the boys gone , the school trained the entire staff on how to teach remotely . Technological advancements which would normally have taken years were introduced in weeks .
The Phillips machine counter weights to balance the reservoir representing the number of infected individuals
‘ The amazing thing was that we had no idea COVID was going to break . We had no idea it was going to happen to us !’
‘ We absolutely had to make sure that our teaching provision was the Rolls Royce of remote teaching . I was also looking ahead and imagining a system of hybrid teaching where , using Microsoft Teams , cameras and microphones , we might be able to teach boys in the classroom and others remotely at the same time .’
At the start of Cloister Time , lessons were transmitted live from home to home across the world , as the school stayed shut . Links were sent to each boy ’ s computer calendar and instead of walking corridors they moved from lesson to lesson with a click . Art , Music , DT , Drama , and PE training were taught online . ‘ We even had Uber Div during lockdown ,’ says Dr Cullerne . ‘ It was about being uplifting and trying to maintain as much contact with the boys as possible .’ There were concerns that boys and staff could become ill or lose loved ones . Every morning a remote roll call identified any who didn ’ t show , and their situation was followed up by Housemasters and Matrons .
But the greatest challenges were yet to come . In the autumn , as Short Half began , schools were permitted to re-open . John Cullerne had spent the summer reading up on how to isolate groups in ‘ bubbles ’ to reduce infection . His plan put each of Winchester ’ s 11 boarding houses into a bubble , with everyone spending the first two weeks of term isolated in their houses and with online classes . Winchester also acquired a testing device known as a SAMBA II , a machine which had originally been designed to test for HIV . It was invented by a Cambridge technology company called ‘ Diagnostics for the Real World ’ ( DRW ), and Dr Cullerne ’ s goals
36