Today's post includes two stories that reflect the importance of making a good first impression. I hope that, if you find yourselves in similar situations, you will learn from my mistakes.
Speech Time
I am standing out on the playground trying to look relaxed and welcoming. It is my first day as head teacher and families are starting to trickle through the gate and assemble on the playground for the start of the new term. Going up to 'strangers' and introducing myself is not a strength of mine, but fuelled by adrenaline and two coffees I think I am doing quite a good job. The previous head teacher was not exactly helpful when it came to any kind of handover, so I am meeting 99% of people for the first time today. Most of the parents seem friendly, and the younger children are happy to chat. It's obviously not cool for the older ones to do that though, and they are more interested in finding their friends.
I do what I usually do in these situations, and I latch on to a particularly friendly group and focus on them. Our conversation peters out and I notice that the playground is now full. We are only a small school but the entire village seems to be here, waiting for the bell. At 8:45 the teachers appear from their classrooms, and a particularly keen child marches on to the playground ringing what appears to be a Victorian school bell. That's a nice touch, I think to myself, very 'traditional'.
Even before the bell starts ringing, some of the children sprint towards the teachers, desperate to be first in line. There is some pushing and a couple of the teachers have to step in to sort it out. Soon the whole school are assembled in neat-ish lines and the teachers are stood at the front of their classes ready to go in and start the day.
But nobody is moving.
I can tell without looking that someone is standing behind me. I turn round to see the deputy head with a half smile on her face as she quietly whispers to me that the previous head would always start the day by addressing the parents and children, letting them know any news etc. She asks whether I would 'like' to do the same. Ok, so that is why everyone is waiting, they are expecting me to give some kind of speech to mark my first day in charge.
With a cold sweat, and an increasing heart rate, my 'fight or flight' response has been well and truly triggered. I am not one of those people who can suddenly pull a coherent speech out of my ...
So I do nothing. I tell her that I am not going to speak to the parents and that the teachers should collect their children and begin the day. I can feel the disappointment descend on the village, not just the playground, as I walked into my office moments later. Was it a mistake? Yes, definitely. Was the deputy trying to shaft me, probably (they were the acting head for the last few months and I think they wanted the permanent job). I realised that I now had my work cut out to undo the disappointment felt by many and give them the confidence they needed in my ability to do the job. Would I have done it differently on reflection? Yes. I would have said something short and to the point, probably something about not being a big talker but being happy to be there. I would have been myself, but I would have added 10% for the occasion. I think that the parents, and the staff would have appreciated that.
Bingo Night
The first social event that I ever did as a substantive head teacher was about three weeks after I started in post. My school was a very traditional village primary, so I was very much viewed as an 'outsider' as the new head, particularly as I was not already part of the local community. The previous incumbent had been there for many years and he was definitely 'one of them', whereas I was not. Being that kind of place, we had a very active PTA, and the first event of the new term was a family bingo night. Eager to make a good impression, and to start to forge links with the parents, I volunteered to be the 'caller' for the course of the evening.
Those people who know me could appreciate that I was 'taking one for the team' by doing this. Bingo is the game they play in hell, and I would literally rather do anything than spend an evening taking part, let alone leading a game of it. There I was though, with my list of bingo phrases and my bingo number generator, sat in front of a group of about 100 children, parents and governors, ready for some fun!
It all started ok and I thought that I was doing well. I even managed a bit of banter as I thought that my role as caller warranted such, and the night was starting to warm up. Then the migraine started. It began initially as a bit of flashing in one eye but soon spread and after a few minutes I was having trouble seeing the numbers, let alone the faces of the crowd in front of me. I made it to the half time interval and managed to down a can of coke with some ibuprofen, praying that the caffeine and chemicals would do their thing and I would be able to get through the evening. I am proud to say that I made it, although I did have to stop on my way home to be sick a couple of times.
Feeling quite pleased with myself, and after a good nights sleep, I arrived at work the next day. I was really sure that I had got off to a good start and that the memories of the previous head teacher would now been fading fast in the families that attended the event the previous night. By the end of the day that feeling had been completely blown out of the water though, as the feedback from the parents was that I had looked like I didn't want to be there and that I was really not interested. I am sure I heard some of them muttering something about the last head teacher in the playground at the end of the day, but I knew that things had not gone as I had hoped. Perhaps I should have protested and explained about my migraine, but I felt that it would have sounded like I was making excuses, so I vowed to put the experience behind me and start again with building up my reputation in my new role.
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