Dear Parents/Carers,
One area of the Academy’s day to day functions that we continue to improve is the communication between families and staff here at the Academy. Having listened to our families, it is true to say that some feel distant from what we do onsite, particularly over the course of the last few years with the COVID-19 pandemic causing barriers and making physical visits difficult.
In order to further improve communication via Reception, we have introduced a “communications log” that enables us to have greater transparency and ensures that all queries are being answered in a timely fashion by our staff. We expect our staff to follow a ‘48-hour return communication’ policy so parents/carers can expect staff to respond within 48-hours to any queries, questions or other matters.
Please see below our schedule for SLT drop-in sessions, these are late afternoon sessions in which families can book a 15 minute appointment and be supported by one of our Senior Leaders with any questions, queries or feedback you have regarding your son’s/daughter’s education. This is offered to students in all year groups. By offering these sessions, we hope to give greater transparency also to what we do day-to-day and how your son/daughter is supported by us. The next four dates and timings are outlined below, and later dates will be available on our website.
- Wednesday 15th November, 4.30-6.30pm
- Monday 15th January, 4.30-6.30pm
- Wednesday 28th February, 4.30-6.30pm
- Monday 11th March, 4.30-6.30pm
- Wednesday 27th March, 4.30-6.30pm
- Monday 22nd April, 4.30-6.30pm
- Wednesday 8th May, 4.30-6.30pm
- Monday 17th June, 4.30-6.30pm
- Monday 1st July, 4.30-6.30pm
In order to ensure enough staff are available for the amount of visitors, we ask that you email into info@longfieldacademy.org to let us know the date and approximate time of your arrival and an idea of the topic/s you wish to discuss during the drop-in session. As an Academy, we naturally have lots of information, policies and/or resources that we use to operate, if you feel it would be helpful to have anything that aids the conversation available, please state this in the email. For example, if you wish to discuss your child’s timetable, please indicate this in the email and this will allow us to print the timetable in advance of the meeting.
Parents/carers that have any day-to-day questions or concerns can, of course, still telephone Reception as normal, or email info@longfieldacademy.org These SLT drop-in sessions are simply additional events that can help provide an opportunity for communication. We want a world class place of learning at Longfield Academy and we will only achieve this by continuing to strengthen in critical areas. We hope these additional methods of communication continue to strengthen access to the site and help families feel closer to us. The pandemic was, of course, very difficult to manage for educational settings across the United Kingdom and beyond. The feeling of being distant from the Academy, was a natural problem given the circumstances regarding national COVID-19 policies. We want to eradicate this potential feeling that may still exist between some of our families and our Academy. We hope this will further support all students as we work together to give the students the best possible education we can.
Lastly, thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to improve key aspects of the Academy so that we can provide the best education possible for your son/daughter.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Luke Anderson
Vice Principal
