As we move into a new year, it is commonplace to find ourselves in a time of reflection. Frequently this is focussed on ourselves, on what we are proud of, but more often than not on how we have improve, how we can better ourselves and setting goals (however unachievable they maybe, sometimes!). But this …
Tag Archives: trust
Learning to Lead
I’ve been a headteacher for 6 years now. That whole time has been a massive learning process. Every day throws something new at you, and every day you learn something new about yourself, leadership, people and education. Here’s a few thoughts on things I’ve learned about leadership over my time as a head and how …
Here’s Why It Matters
Lots of talk yesterday and today about Johnson, Sunak, fines, law breaking and, around teaching and medical, Fabricant and his scurrilous claims around teachers and nurses popping into the staffroom at the end of the day together for a drink. Many people are trying to sweep under the carpet. We all broke a few rules, …
The House of Cards
I spent many a time in my youth trying to build a house of cards. Hour after hour spent delicately balancing just two cards that where so carefully placed that they would support each other. The joy of getting just two to stand was immense. Then I started on the next two and somehow managed …
Things You Need to Hear
Everyone is exhausted. Everyone. It’s been an absolutely manic half term. For some it’s over today, for many of us there is still a week to go. If you’ve made it…well done. I think we all thought this half term might be different. A return to some kind of normal. And to an extent is …
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Back to School We Go
This week brings the return to school for lots of us. I’m sure, like me, most people are experiencing the the mix of positivity about getting, lamentation for the end of the holiday and nerves over Covid and what the future will bring. There are people who want to get back to normal, people who …
Treat the Grown Ups Like Grown Ups
Yesterday I put out a tweet about why people fall out of love with teaching being nothing to do with the actual teaching part of the job. It seems to have struck a nerve in what became a quite disheartening thread about the reasons people have left teaching. It filled with stories of how they …
Leadership, A Little Less Distilled
Following this tweet https://twitter.com/secretHT1/status/1352892060798513154 I’ve fleshed out some of my thoughts on the most important aspects of leadership. 1) Put Your Ego to One Side Yes, we’re in charge of something. Yes, we’ve been given a place of responsibility, but don’t let it get to ours head. There’s still a lot we don’t know about …
Dear Mr Williamson, further to my previous letter.
Dear Mr Williamson, It has been a while since I last wrote to you. In a number of ways many things have changed. We have welcomed back almost all pupils and greeted them with smiles, warm hearts, cheeriness and sensitivity as they have returned to school this term, no doubt anxious about what it would …
Continue reading “Dear Mr Williamson, further to my previous letter.”
Dear Mr Williamson
Let me begin by saying that the last 6 months has been an undoubtedly difficult time. What has occurred has not been seen in 100 years and difficult decisions have had to be made – life changing decisions, unenviable decisions and often impossible decisions. I understand that and very few people would want to be …
Why Do I Trust?
We see a lot of values in schools now. This will always be high on my personal list. It is so powerful and can be an absolute game-changer in so many ways. I’ve already written a blog on how to build trust as a leader, but this will dig a little deeper into why it …
Leadership in Lockdown
So, the confirmation that the government intend for schools to re-open to more pupils on Monday seemed like an apt time to write this blog. I’ve been reflecting a lot recently about life during lockdown, and how so many of things I have done have been completely alien. The old saying ‘you couldn’t make it …
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 …
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 …
Can’t Please Everyone? Maybe we can.
I know this is an old hat topic, but I heard something new about it which changed my thinking about it. It came from a non educationalist, but it really resonated and is something I am going to try to build more explicitly with my parents over the coming months. This was a new leader …
The Secret Headteacher 