Wellbeing of staff is key at ASFA

The wellbeing of staff at the Academy of St Francis Assisi (ASFA) remains to be a key factor this term.

Since returning to school, the senior leadership team have reworked systems to ensure that the wider team have felt safe and well looked after during the COVID-19 pandemic. The academy also decided to dedicate their recent inset day to the wellbeing of all ASFA staff.

The day began with COVID-19 antibody testing for all staff which gave everyone an enormous boost and feeling of relief. The COVID-19 antibody testing was carried out by AKEA Life.

Ben Paglia, CEO of AKEA Life, said: “Providing this kind of service to schools, colleges and universities is key to our core strategy of supporting the public sector through providing specialist health services.

“It was wonderful to see the positive impact that this had on staff morale. It has been a difficult term in schools across the UK so it was a privilege to have such a positive impact on the Academy of St Francis of Assisi. They have a great staff culture at the school.”

Throughout the day, there was further training in Microsoft Teams, which prepared staff for continued blended learning across the year groups.

The senior leadership team have also introduced later start times for teachers that do not have a class first period, due to staggered start times for Year 11 students. This allows teachers to catch up on family life, for example, taking their own children to school, which many don’t get the chance to do.

Krista Walsh, head of maths said: “It is so nice to be able to drop my two boys off at school on a Monday. It sets me up for the week.”

Other team members have also carried out their own acts of kindness including the introduction of the ‘Chocolate Fairy’ who has secretly been delivering tasty chocolate treats into staff pigeon holes.

Kevin Maddocks, headteacher at ASFA, said: “The wellbeing of our staff is so important and I firmly believe that happy staff means happy students. The antibody testing was a simple but effective way of giving the team peace of mind and many were delighted to find out they didn’t have antibodies.”

“As we progress through this difficult time, we will continue to introduce new ways to support the mental health and wellbeing of our school community.”