Reflections of an ex-head teacher

The summer term was always a strange one. It was usually the longest term of the three, or six if you qualified after 2010, but you never had enough time to do everything you were supposed to do. I guess that could apply to every term now, it's just that this term always felt particularly frantic. As the term is about to begin, the issue of transition rears its head. This will become a focus for everyone over the next few weeks, whether it is children moving classes, schools, or staff changing year groups, leaving for pastures new, or preparing to join your team in September. Throughout my years in education, I have witnessed, experienced, and implemented a wide range of transition strategies, some of which were successful and others that didn't achieve their intended objectives. With the levels of anxiety in pupils and parents skyrocketing since the pandemic, it is more important than ever to get it right, so I thought I would share my top ten tips for effective transition. 1....

  “Seven turns on the highway, Seven rivers to cross. Sometimes, you feel like you could fly away, Sometimes, you get lost.” The Allman Brothers Band The Navajo people believe that there are seven times in your life when you are required to make a significant, life-changing decision. Making the right decision will continue your journey, but making a wrong one will mean that you have to retrace your steps to make further progress. I find this idea captivating, and since I heard the song 'Seven Turns' over twenty years ago, I have regularly pondered which of my decisions were part of the seven big ones that have been allocated to me in my own life. As well as personal decisions, I like to consider career choices as being part of my 'seven turns'. School leadership certainly feels like a journey, with hills and valleys to negotiate, one on which it can feel like you are travelling in vehicles from bicycles to supercars, sometimes even on the same day. There are many unexp...

Last week, I spotted quite a bit of online condemnation of the current Secretary of State for Education, so I decided to investigate. I wanted to see if the criticism was justified or politically motivated. Although she was in the media following an announcement of increased funding and support to tackle the mental health crisis in young people, the focus seems to be on her use of the word 'grit'. She used the word in the context of young people needing to show more grit, which she qualified as meaning the same as resilience.  Whilst anyone who has worked in education cannot argue that our children and young people need to be supported to become more resilient, the press have jumped on the use of the word 'grit', and I can see why. The word really does not sit comfortably within our enlightened vocabulary and definitely harks back to a different age, where we were all taught to 'suck it up and get on with our lives'. If you really listen to what she was saying, ...

This week is the first 'SATs week' since I left teaching. Although I am no longer part of the process, I have been thinking about it a lot over the last few days, and it would be remiss of me not to write a post summarising my feelings. I have seen lots of examples on social media from compassionate and creative teachers explaining how they have gone above and beyond to make the week as pleasant as possible for their children, as we did. I applaud them, of course, but instead of feeling inspired by their commitment to their children, it just makes me sad. Yes, school should be challenging, and we should have high expectations, but it cannot be right that we expose the children to something so unpleasant that we have to counteract it by spending our own money on them just to 'get through' the experience. Some argue that we are preparing the children for the next stage in their education by teaching them how to 'do' exams in the relatively friendly environment of ...

Are you a has-been celebrity worried that your fifteen minutes of fame are up? Are you an up-and-comer who just wants to 'grow your brand'? Are you struggling to cover the cost of a spiralling cocaine habit? Have you already tried releasing an album of fifties covers? If the answer to one or more of these questions is yes, why not write a kids' book? Someone will help you write it if you struggle with writing, which you probably do, as you were at stage school from age 5. Publishers will love it as they know that lazy parents will know your name, so you will sell millions. You will probably get it adapted into a TV show at Christmas too, if so... kerching! Don't worry too much about the story. Make it about princesses or dinosaurs, and the kids will eat it up. Teachers will try to direct children elsewhere, to better books from better authors than you, but they will just be swimming against the tide. Luckily, the tide in question is next to a sewage outlet, so the smell...