It seems a common thread amongst the media, friends and online interactions is related to some of the things that we can’t wait to do when we ‘get back to normal’. Going back to normal would be the worst thing we could do. We should not return to the state we were in before this […]
Author Archives: secretht
Ask a Headteacher Anything – Part 2
Twitter could ask me anything – and they did! Here are all of the questions I was asked, and my answers. Who do you turn to when you don’t know what to do? I’m fortunate, I have a supportive wife, a great deputy, a cluster group and great governors, so I go to them. Perspective […]
Don’t Stress About the Home Schooling
I’ve seen so many different views on this. Daily work, weekly work, home work packs, must log on, don’t have to log on, remote lessons, live lessons, pre recorded lessons, phone calls home, threatening letters to parents, too high expectations, too low expectations, have to do it, don’t have to do it. I’ve seen it […]
When the going gets tough, the tough…feel pretty awful.
This week was a tough week. Nothing major, and people, I’m sure, are dealing with much worse. Just a multitude of little things all piling up at once…governor meetings to prep for, lots of staff absence, few niggles here and there, safeguarding and social care issues, a high level of cover needed from me. Coupled […]
Teacher Hacks
Always leave the book you don’t want the HT to see on the top of the pile if they do drop-in book samples. No self respecting headteacher takes the one from the top. If you are called to the HT’s office, don’t worry. Simply go in and report something worse that someone else is doing […]
An Open Letter To Teachers Everywhere
Every day you do something amazing. You might not think it, you might not feel it, but you do. Every day you get up, go in and work your hardest for those kids you are giving them something special, something they might not be getting anywhere else. You give them trust, honesty, challenge, confidence, fun […]
What is Great Teaching?
In a world of Ofsted, Learning Walks, Observations, drop-ins (formal or informal), judgement, accountability and everything else teachers have to contend with it is easy to lose what great teaching is. We can fall into the trap of jumping through the hoops and working to what we think people expect to see of great teaching, […]
Just What Do You Do All Day?
After being posed the question ‘Some headteachers just sit in their office all day, don’t teach and never come out, what do you do all day?’ I thought I’d walk you through my day, just to give a little glimpse of life as headteacher. Arrived at school at 8am. Caught up with the teacher I […]
Building Trust as a Leader
For me this is the most important part of leadership. If you don’t get trust and buy in from your team you aren’t going to achieve much. I’ve written in the past about the fact that people will never be completely satisified with what you can deliver. I know for a fact that I had […]
How do you know if you’re ready for leadership?
Is there an age limit on when we are ready for leadership positions? Are there factors that mean we are ready or not ready? Do we need a set number of years experience before we put ourselves forward? The flight controllers at NASA that put Apollo 11 on the moon had an average age of […]
