(bell ringing)
(children chattering)
(gentle music)
- So I want to shout out a huge thank you
to parents over the
course of the summer term.
They obviously had a
very different experience
having their children at home,
and seeing at first hand
what was going on with them.
And parents were magnificent in terms
of trying to cope with the uncertainty,
providing some structure,
staying in touch with the schools.
And they indicated that
they wanted more support
from the schools over the summer.
And I now want to turn
my thanks to our staff
who really went above and beyond.
At the start of the lockdown period,
we very quickly established
there were three things
we absolutely had to do.
One, we had to do as much
learning as possible,
and we knew we had to do that differently.
The second thing was to check
up on everyone's wellbeing,
make sure that everyone felt
supported, and understood,
and had a place to go
to if they had concerns.
And the third thing was
simply to have some fun.
To spend some time together
enjoying each other's company
and each other's talents and skills.
So I really take my hat
off to parents and to staff
for working so closely together
for the benefit of our children.
I think the levels of respect
and trust in relationships
between people has gone up dramatically.
I think the relationship between staff
and the children has, in many
ways, become a lot closer.
But I also think, and some
of the most lovely stories
are the stories of parents
suddenly connecting,
I think, more closely with the schools.
And the parents, obviously,
concerned, uncertain,
worried having to cope with more.
But I think that the way that our staff
and our schools have
communicated with parents
has heightened that trust.
I think we've learned that
mentoring and coaching
and supporting is incredibly important.
I think we've started, maybe,
to unlock what some of the
obstacles to learning have been,
where we're actually exploring
a bit more with the child.
You know, when do they learn best?
How do they learn best?
With whom do they learn best?
And I think we can be moving to a world
where there are many
more different pathways,
many more different ways
of teaching and learning.
But the first thing, obviously,
is to say, we want to be COVID-19 safe.
We have diligently done risk assessments.
We did them back in the summer term
when we started to reopen the
primaries and the secondaries,
and we have diligently
been doing risk assessments
over the course of this summer.
We are very familiar with
all the government guidance,
all of the measures around hygiene.
All of the operational
processes in schools
are designed to make our
children and our staff members
absolutely as safe as possible.
And we stay on top of
the emerging evidence.
And if there are any
changes that are needed,
we will do that.
What I'm really interested in,
is certainly I want some normality,
I want to try and reassure people,
but I'd like to think
about a better normality
rather than a new normality.
I've been so impressed with the humility,
with the energy level,
with the mindset change of "I can do."
So I'd urge everyone at the
start of this new academic year
to really try and get a deep understanding
of how our children are.
I want us to turn the funnel upside down
and actually create more choices.
You know, what if all of our
teachers could get closer to
and deliver a greater variety
of choices for our children?
What if our children had
the confidence to say,
"I prefer to do it this
way rather than that way."
So what I really want,
and I think is a key test
of our future success,
is for parents to say,
"Wow, that is so much better
than my own experience of school,
and that is so much better
than what I see other schools delivering."
So, wouldn't it be absolutely fabulous
if every single child at
an AET school could say,
"I can find my remarkable at this school."
(gentle music)
