Governor Blog November 2020 Helen Patterson Parent Governor

Date: 5th Apr 2022 @ 3:52pm

Well – what a year 2020 has been.  A pandemic, American election, home schooling, uncertainty and relentless change. As a parent, a NHS key worker and a governor I have had my fair share of challenges that have tested my resilience and patience. This has encouraged me, more than ever to reflect on my parenting, the current world my children are exposed to and what I can do to support and scaffold them emotionally and academically. At the same time giving myself permission not to be ok, to have a wobble and to practice self-care. What a steep learning curve!

This blog is written as a parent (Y5 child and Y3 child) and a governor; a parent governor, and my experience from ‘masked’ health club drop off,  playground pick up,  combined with what I have learnt about Boughton Heath Academy behind the scenes at a strategic level.  As you are all aware, you can access the minutes of the Local Governing Board (LGB) meetings on the Boughton Heath Academy (BHA) website if you would like more detail on what we discuss.   The board hasn’t been meeting face to face but we have been making full use of Microsoft teams and continue to challenge monitor and support the school’s strategy.

I am passionate about our children’s education and wellbeing both of which have been magnified during this pandemic. I am frequently floored by the effort, creativity, collaboration and motivation of the team in BHA.  I am sure that being human, they are, like me being challenged daily, yet they still give 100% for our children. I know this from governor meetings, from seeing the majority of children skip, chatter and smile at pick up, and from stories my own children are telling me about their teachers.

Ongoing creativity, collaboration and innovative thinking has put everything in place in school to support and continue to educate our children in BHA.  A learning environment where pupils and staff can be healthy and happy. There are outside sinks to ensure time isn’t wasted waiting for children to handwash.  Imagine if they all had to queue up to handwash in the toilets and the time this would take out of their day.  Our children know how to wash their hands properly now, as a parent of two reluctant hand washers this is a milestone! We have a fantastic resource in Teams so that children if off and isolating will not miss out.  Selfishly for me, this has the added benefit of enabling me to parent rather than teach my children – I simply do not have the patience, time and skills that our BHA teachers have.

I have seen evidence that our children have not been as disadvantaged as we all initially thought due to being locked down and stuck at home for so many months. Their overall reading and maths is going the right way. Writing is known to need more input and the teachers are on it!  I would like to make it clear that this is not just the BHA picture but the picture when benchmarked across the UK. BHA and our kids are not alone! For those of you who are interested have a look here https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hmci-commentary-findings-from-visits-in-october

This year the LGB are meeting in December 20 so we continue to monitor, support and challenge senior leaders and BHA during this very challenging time.  My specific role in the LGB is safeguarding and wellbeing.  I am often around at school pick up if you have any questions for the LGB.  So as the nights draw in lets continue to support, celebrate, collaborate and creatively scaffold the future for our children.  In the words of high school musical ‘We’re all in this together!’