Reflections of an ex-head teacher

I have probably been a bit premature with the title of this post, as we are only at the end of February. The worst day of weather we had here last year was during April, when the highest tide of the year corresponded with the strongest winds for several years, creating what was referred to as a once-in-a-generation storm. I live on the sea front in a little coastal town, and I remember going out for a walk in it and being worried about being washed away by the tide as it rolled over the sea defences. Still, the sun is shining, and I am sitting at my desk, reminiscing about what spring meant to me as a teacher and headteacher, so let's hope I am not jinxing things! Anyway, here are my top five signs of spring: 1. Getting home before it gets dark. This has a huge impact on mental health, perhaps even more than the next point. I appreciate that we are not quite there yet, assuming a return home of around 6 p.m., but we are getting there! Something about feeling that the day was not ye...

It's a lovely sunny day today, and it genuinely feels like spring is just around the corner now. As it was a bright morning, I decided to take a stroll along the beach to get some air and, hopefully, some inspiration for my next post. I was in luck, as a few minutes into my walk, I spotted a smooth white object partly buried in the sand, which I bent down, cleaned off and picked up for a closer look. I had a pretty good idea what it was, and picking it up confirmed that I had found a cuttlefish bone. Immediately, I knew what I wanted to write about. If I was still teaching, I would have taken my find to school and asked the children if they knew what it was. Maybe if any of the families had a budgerigar, then one of the children would have known, but if not, I am sure it would have stimulated some research. Once it had been identified, it would probably have been left on the side for a bit before being thrown away. That would have been a shame, and no doubt I would have started rem...

Today is, if not a time to celebrate, at least a time to take a breather. I have finished my manuscript, and it has just gone to a publisher for their consideration. I have been a bit quiet on my blog recently, but I have accumulated a good few ideas for posts whilst finishing my manuscript in the last weeks, so I will be producing more content here once I have had a break. Hang on though, I am sure that any writer reading this is thinking, 'Wait, does he not have a publishing deal?' The answer to that question is a definite no, but I knew I wanted to write a book following my exit from the teaching profession, so I thought I might as well just get on with writing it and worry about the other stuff later! It feels like it has been a long and tortuous process, and it has taken six months to get to this stage. I have no idea if that is a long time for a first book, but it's not like I have been doing much else while writing it. Things took a right turn (not in a political sen...

The inspiration for today's post came recently during a walk around the town in which I live. I have spent the past two decades residing in what could loosely be described as a small but popular resort town, the type that only has a low-cost supermarkets in its centre. I was entering one of these recently when I came across a family who were clearly having an off-season break, probably in one of our many holiday-focused establishments. They didn’t actually say as much, but their 'city ways' certainly screamed this to all the locals present. The parents were obviously keen to pay for their purchases, but the children had not finished looking at sweets, so they did not follow them towards the till. As a result, the clearly annoyed mum turned and yelled to the children to get a move, using that old trick of using first and middle names as an indication of how serious they are about what they are asking. I don’t remember the name of the boy, but the girl was definitely called ‘...

For today's post, I have included part of a chapter from my manuscript on managing the relationship with your governors from a wellbeing point of view. Chapter 11 - How to survive working with governors The relationship between a headteacher and their governors is a very complex one. It is one of the peculiarities of the profession that a school is essentially controlled by a group of volunteers, many of whom will have little or no experience of working in a school. The main reason for someone wanting to be a governor is the desire to provide support to a school, but the balance between the two governor roles of support and challenge can be a tricky one to achieve, and a souring of the relationship between the head and the governors can have a huge impact on their wellbeing. In this chapter, I will share my experience of the challenges of working with governors so that you can use it to navigate and even avoid some of the common pitfalls of the relationship. The relationship betwee...

As a headteacher, I used to get lots of odd emails. Sifting through my inbox is an aspect of my job that I do not miss! Once in a while, we would get a variation on the Nigerian Prince scam email, which was always a good laugh, but most of them just went straight in the bin. Very o ccasionally, there would be something out of the ordinary in my inbox that genuinely intrigued me, and today's post is about that kind of email. My initial reaction was that it was probably a scam, but something about it piqued my interest. It purported to come from the location manager of a TV company who was interested in using my school for some upcoming filming. The email didn't give much away but requested a meeting at my school, so I said yes. So there I was a few weeks later, showing around not just a location manager but also a producer, who explained that if the director approved the setting, the school would be part of a huge prime-time show with some major stars involved. At that point, I ...

I know I am not exactly 'hot off the press' but this week I have been taking some 'me' time away from blogging and editing my manuscript. Anyway, here are my thoughts about the proposed changes to the way that Ofsted is going to inspect our schools. Sir Martyn Oliver's forward to the document starts with some positive words about teachers, which makes me wonder what's going to come next. Perhaps that is just me being old and cynical though, so let's wait and see. Ugh, it doesn't take long for the word tool kit to appear, doesn't it? I hate that word. Early years, inspections will have a different approach to school inspections. What does that mean for schools with a preschool attached? Will they send an extra inspector, will they get somebody who's trained for both or will they get option C? It reads like they don't think headteachers have been doing self-evaluation forms over the last few years! "Take concepts into better account, under...

In the last few years of my time as a head teacher, we did a lot of work with our children on a document called ‘The Five Ways to Wellbeing.’ I believe that this coincided with the drive for all schools to have a mental health champion when we had training funded by the DfE. I have since learned that this piece of work was an adaption for schools from the NHS’ Five Steps to Mental Wellbeing and I have been delving a bit deeper into these on the NHS website this weekend, ready to write about them in my manuscript.  Incidentally, my manuscript (I don’t think I can call it a book until it is published) is undergoing a major rewrite at the moment. I realised that wellbeing was a thread through a lot of what I had written, so the new version has the draft title of ‘The Wellbeing Toolbox—How to Build a Successful School through a Wellbeing-Centred Approach.’ For those of you who are not aware, the five steps to mental wellbeing suggested by the NHS are: Connect with other people Be physi...