Oratory Schools Association
The Oratory Schools Association consists of a prep school and an independent boys’ boarding school in Woodcote, Reading. With over 750 pupils, 180 boarding pupils and six boarding houses, the laundry room can get quite busy – and that’s before factoring in the towels and sports kit generated by the school’s state-of-the-art sports centre!
Here, Martin Halsall, the Bursar of the Oratory Schools Association, explains why they chose JLA to provide them with a complete laundry solution.
Martin was impressed with JLA right from the start: “When I first approached JLA, their professionalism was demonstrated in the ability to completely redesign a system that had been in place for many years and to come up with something that was far more innovative and radical,” he says.
The school needed to be able to wash large quantities of linens in order to provide pupils with fresh, clean bedding, towels, sports kit and other linens. After working with a JLA consultant, the Oratory Schools Association chose a JLA washer, as well as a JLA SD3535 SMART Stack Dryer, providing them with a fast and effective way to do large quantities of laundry.
The washer is also equipped with JLA’s ground-breaking OTEX ozone disinfection system, which gives Martin and the school staff peace of mind as they know that the laundry is thoroughly cleaned. “It’s important to us that we get the highest standards of hygiene we can get,” he says. “We have to be able to rely on the cleanliness of the bedding and other aspects of boarding life that the children use. OTEX gives me that confidence.”
“The machines demonstrate a high level of reliability, which in a school environment, well, boarding school is full on. Boarding school does not take a breath, from the beginning of term to the end of term,” he adds.
Through Total Care, Martin can also rely on JLA to keep the laundry room up and running if breakdowns occur. “I was attracted to JLA’s Total Care solution because I wanted to have peace of mind. The package looks after all aspects of maintenance and repair, and means that I can guarantee that the machines can continue to provide excellent service, or if there is a hiccup, that hiccup will be sorted rapidly, so that we only lose the minimum amount of time,” he says.
“The last thing you need is a laundry that breaks down every five minutes, and with JLA equipment, I have the confidence that the laundry will not let me down.”
Martin thinks that JLA has certainly topped the league tables when it comes to laundry equipment and servicing: “I would recommend JLA to other boarding schools – I’ve been really pleased with their professional approach and the equipment they’ve supplied. I’ve used them twice and I would use them again.”
– Martin Halsall, Bursar, Oratory Schools Association