Dear Parents,

I thought that this is an appropriate time to write to you to let you know a bit about how the Governing board has been working with the school to navigate our way through the lockdown. 

I’m sure you’ll appreciate that this has been a very difficult process for the school with many unique and previously unseen challenges. There are many different needs within the school and within our wider school family to consider and the team at Adel St John have done their best to help as many people and their unique circumstances as possible.

Being able to keep the school open from Day 1 has been a monumental challenge. Guidance from both the national and local government has been fluid at best but sometimes totally contradictory. Added to this, the school usually receives guidance and updates at the same time as the general public. This means it has been very difficult to make plans for running the school and be at the forefront with these changes. 

The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in school have been continuously working on contingency plans for every imaginable scenario to try to be prepared for the next government announcement. This necessarily means that a lot of their work is either modified at the last moment or not used at all. 

Throughout the lockdown I have been in regular contact with the SLT, some weeks on a daily basis. Aside from the administrative challenges, there continue to be a lot of practical challenges to manage. The biggest issue is keeping those in school safe. Social distancing measures, cleaning and sanitising, providing toilet facilities, meal times, play times, safeguarding and welfare to name a few.

The SLT at ASJ along with the governing board are continually monitoring the guidance of the government and we are continually looking for ways to bring more children safely back to school. 

This is our number one priority. 

A lot of the governors, myself included, are parents of children at ASJ and we face similar challenges, frustrations and, at times, anxiety on a daily basis. We would love the school to be open to as many children as possible and as soon as possible. This would be good for the children, good for the school and its staff and also good for you at home. 

This is the common goal we continue to work towards. 

Our teaching staff are working hard to give the children as normal a school experience as possible whilst also trying to give an engaging and rewarding curriculum to those children who are home schooling. Some of our teachers have been forced to stay at home for personal reasons and those that can come into school have to manage bubbles across several year groups with the added concerns around keeping everybody safe. It is a difficult task to satisfy the needs of every individual child at ASJ but a challenge the team take on every day to get the right balance. 

I hope that you saw the comment from our teachers in last week’s newsletter saying that they would love to receive emails from the children. This is genuinely meant and, the reaction my son had to his response email from Mr Routledge, showed me just how much it means to both the teachers and the children. Please do encourage your child/children to email their teachers and also continue to use the online Twitter page, it really is a useful tool to keep us connected and it is wonderful for the teachers and ASJ parents to see the work the children have been doing at home. 

I’ve also seen emails that parents have sent into school, some highlighting specific concerns and some expressing praise for the efforts of the school. Again, I encourage you to stay in touch with the school. All concerns and frustrations are absolutely valid and will be addressed either by the SLT or myself. 

At the same time, I’ve seen the affect that a few kind words of praise from parents has had on our staff and I’m very grateful to those people for giving the staff a lift. 

In the same vein, I would like to issue a few thanks. Firstly to the SLT and the administrative staff for all their hard work in writing new procedures, risk assessments and plans to allow the school to function. Without this work, the school would have been closed. Secondly, I would like to thank all teachers, teaching assistants and support staff for all that they have done and how they have adjusted during the pandemic, whilst also taking feedback on board about the online home schooling work and adjusting where possible. 

It’s been a real group effort and it continues with your support so thank you for being patient with this. 

Keep in touch with us and stay safe.

Best wishes, 

Andy Neal

Chair of School Governors