From tiny seeds

By ATLP CEO Richard Gill

Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope you enjoyed a relaxing Easter break in the sunshine and managed to spend some time relaxing and catching up with friends and loved ones (albeit via email or telephone).

A huge thank you to our schools who remained open throughout the holidays, providing a valuable service to the families of key workers, along with other children and young people.

It’s been a busy Easter in education. I’m delighted to announce the launch of the Oak National Academy this week, a new online education portal of lessons and other resources, created by 40 teachers from across the country. I am proud that the ATLP has played a small part in this innovative ‘virtual school’ thanks to some of our dedicated secondary school teachers, who have provided their time and expertise to produce some superb content and lessons. Enormous thanks and praise to those who have volunteered their services so that our colleagues – and ultimately children – can benefit. These impressive resources are available for schools, parents and students and you can find out more here: https://www.thenational.academy/

Look at what we can achieve when we work together.

This is reflected in all areas of society. I am equally heartened to see that local schools have been working in unison to support healthcare workers by producing and delivering vital PPE equipment. The collaboration and community spirit has been incredible.

You’ll have seen or heard the speculation about when schools might re-open their doors to all pupils. This is simply noise; media speculation which we must ignore. The truth is, we have no answers as to when our schools will re-open for all students. In the here and now we must continue doing what we can to support our school communities and keeping in touch with each other.

Your personal, physical, mental and emotional health is more important than anything else right now. As such, it is important to recognise that you are not ‘working from home’ but you are ‘at your home, trying to work in difficult circumstances’. For those of you with children, they need to be loved and cared for more than ever. They will remember how they felt during this time. Make no apology for giving them this time. You should not try to compensate for lost productivity by working longer hours. Please do keep looking after self and, where possible, look after each other. I’ve seen some lovely screenshots of ‘team meetings’ that have made me smile.

We are only as good as our people and I am confident to see that our collective commitment to supporting and serving our communities is stronger than ever. This may be a national emergency, but we are at our very best right now. We are capable of more than we thought and our capacity for compassion, love and kindness and our core purpose of putting children at the heart of everything we do, guides us as always.

Sincerely,
Richard