APCM

Deanery Synod Report for 2026

The current Deanery Synod representatives for St John the Baptist are Keith Allen and Sarah Batchelor.

Deanery Synod meets three times each year, providing an opportunity to connect with other parishes, hear from guest speakers, and engage with wider Church of England matters.

2025 Meetings

February – St Mark’s, Lache with Saltney
This meeting included a contribution from four local members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Their presence and willingness to share personal stories gave insight into the realities of addiction and recovery.

June – St John’s, Ashton
The speaker was Sam Wilson, Parish Missioner for the Youth of Bowdon Parish. His talk, “General Synod: What’s happening and why it is important,” highlighted the significance of General Synod and the need for broader representation.

October – St Luke’s, Huntington
Informal social gathering, with refreshments and opportunities to meet and talk with members from other parishes. It was the final Deanery Synod meeting led by Revd Hennie Johnston in her role as Rural Dean.

Across all meetings, there are opportunities to build relationships with people from other parishes and to gain a wider perspective on the life and work of the Church of England.

If you would like to find out more or are interested in becoming involved, please do speak to us. Deanery Synod is a helpful and rewarding way to engage with the wider church community.

Worship Committee Report

The worship committee met four times since the last APCM.

The function of the worship committee is to assist the rector in planning the pattern of worship; this includes reviewing the format and pattern of the regular Sunday and weekday services as well as planning for festivals and special services and then reviewing them afterwards to identify what seemed to work well and what might be improved.

Current members are:

• The Rector
• Keith Allen (Reader)
• Rachel Barlow (representing the congregation)
• Jeremy Jones (organist)
• Clare Temple (representing the choir; co-ordinator of Readers + Intercessors rota)
• John Temple (Sacristan and responsible for co-ordinating Serving team) – co-opted in October 2025.

Our main focus since September has been to support Sarah as she gets to know the overall cycle of worship that we have been used to at St Johns, and to help her incorporate her own ideas and style of worship.  It has been a real joy to work with Sarah and to have the privilege of exploring new ideas and approaches with her to try to make sure that our worship is fresh and meaningful for all who take part.

Moving forward we want to look again at our service books and see how we can make them more accessible and easier to follow, especially for newcomers who may not be familiar with a formal liturgy.

We want to make sure that the worship at St Johns is meaningful and inclusive, and we would really welcome more feedback and input from the various congregations.

If anyone is interested in joining the worship committee please come and speak to Sarah, or anyone on the committee.

Clare Temple

Safeguarding Report

I do not intend to include any specific details about safeguarding concerns in my report in order to preserve confidentiality. 

I can share that over the past year I have had 6 areas of concern reported to me, some of which have been resolved and some of which are being monitored by me and the Rector, with support from the Diocesan safeguarding team if needed. 

All Safeguarding policy and activity in the parish is determined by, and in line with, CofE national and diocesan policy.  Sarah and I try to meet regularly to review parish safeguarding practice and to discuss any concerns that are ongoing.

The required safeguarding notices, giving details of how to report a concern are on display in church and are in a prominent place on our parish website. Recently I have also added notices in the toilet areas giving phone numbers for people to call if they have been a victim of abuse from within the church.

We have a safeguarding email address for people to report a safeguarding concern if they are unable to speak to me directly. (Please note: I have deliberately not given a phone number for safeguarding – this is for my personal protection.)

As PSO, I am in regular contact with the Diocesan safeguarding team, who offer support and advice as needed; they will also contact me directly if there is any specific concern or information that relates directly to the parish.

Generic support for Parishes includes regular meetings for PSOs when we are briefed on latest policy and where we have a chance to meet and support each other: the opportunity to talk to others who understand the details of the role is extremely valuable.

There is also an annual Safeguarding Service at Chester Cathedral to pray for, support and honour PSOs, and victims and survivors of abuse. The date this year will be on Tuesday 23^rd June.

Where we are as a parish

Part of my role as PSO is to ensure that our records are up-to-date on the Parish dashboard, an online portal whereby the Diocesan Safeguarding Team can monitor parish progress against statutory safeguarding requirements

Over the past year we have made good progress against many of the statutory requirements set out in CofE policy.  We have been promoted up to level 3 (top level) of the Safeguarding Dashboard and our completion rating currently stands at 91%.  This figure will fluctuate throughout the year as various aspects of safeguarding activity fall due for review.

Progress / Achievements:

• Progression from Stage 2 to Stage 3 on the Parish Dashboard – this means that we are compliant with all of the basic requirements and are working on the next level of detail.
• All of the 2025-26 PCC members have completed the required level of safeguarding training and have up-to-date DBS certificates in place.
• Most of the St John’s Project volunteers have completed the required level of training

Action points that we need to prioritise next are:

• Update risk assessments for pastoral visiting
• Ensure ‘hire agreements’ are in place for all activities in church that are not part of church activity – this applies whether or not a fee is being charged: the hire agreement includes clauses relating to risk assessments to meet Health and Safety requirements and also for Safeguarding purposes
• Ensure that we have up-to-date role descriptions for all roles in church – paid and voluntary
• Ensure Safeguarding training and DBS checks are up-to-date for all roles, paid and voluntary (This is an ongoing action point as safeguarding training and DBS checks have to be renewed every 3 years)

Thanks:

I should like to record my especial thanks to Sarah who has set aside time for meetings, and given me a huge amount of support and encouragement.

Thank you also to the churchwardens and to all of the PCC, to John, and to the congregation for the support that you have shown in various ways. 

The role of PSO can seem daunting at times and I could not do it without the support of others.

I should like to build up the Safeguarding team: if anyone is interested in helping, please come and talk to me or Sarah.

Clare Temple

Parish Safeguarding Office