I hadn’t intended to take over a school in difficulty. It wasn’t the plan. But on an April evening in 2007 (as I was stepping out of the door for my leaving do at the school where I was Deputy) the phone rang. It was the Chair of Governors at the school where I was due to become Head after the Easter break …

“4 children have just tried to burn down the school,” he said ” what would you like to do?”.

And so it began.

Since then I’ve been Head of two schools in difficulty (the first by accident, the second through choice) and have supported many more. School improvement is a lengthy business with few short-cuts. However, as the new Head, you only get one opportunity to make the right impression and set the tone and pace of the school improvement work to follow. This is where the first hundred days come in.

Leaders from all walks of life often talk about the importance of their first 100 days. It is the brief honeymoon period where, unencumberd by complex issues which are of your making, leaders have the opportunity to create some momentum and push through quick wins and big ideas. In a school in difficulty the Head gets only one shot at this – so using those first hundred days well is a must.So here are just a few lessons which I’ve learnt along the way.

1. Doing nothing isn’t an option

Being a bloke, my internal heroic monologue casts me in any number of heroic movie roles. As such, the only way I can describe starting your first Headship in a school in trouble is like the beginning of Private Ryan where Tom Hanks, having landed on the Normandy beaches in a hail of murderous machine gun fire, cowers behind a metal post pinned down whilst his platoon are cut to ribbons around him. He doesn’t know what to do, so he does nothing. It isn’t until a private shouts “What would you like us to do sir?” that he remembers that he’s in charge and doing things is what’s expected of him.

Taking over a school in trouble can feel a bit like that (although without the murderous machine gun fire – we’re Headteachers not proper heroes). The size of the challenge can feel immediately overwhelming and the temptation is to do nothing, or (just as risky) ‘watch and wait’.

In any normal headship ‘watching and waiting is a good strategy – it gives you time to get to know the strengths and weaknesses of the school before planning the best strategy to move the school forward. However, a school in crisis can’t often waste time, as usually there has been an extended period of inactivity and/or chaotic leadership and there is a need to inject a sense of urgency into the school’s work. In these rarefied circumstances, doing literally anything is better than doing nothing. And doing things is kind of your job.

2. Your first INSET and assembly is loaded with hidden meaning

The first time you address the staff or pupils, or parents for that matter, everything you say (or don’t say) will be scrutinised for hidden meaning so think very carefully what your key message on the first couple of days will be and keep it very simple. At my first school the most pressing problem was poor behaviour (when asking a Y6 boy to walk quietly into the hall for that first assembly on day 1, he calmly told me to ‘fuck off’). The message therefore was about the importance of mutual respect and agreeing the basic school rules which we would all live by (I immediately excluded the sweary Y6 boy for 2 days as everyone was watching to see whether I meant what I said). At my second school the children (and a few staff) had very low expectations of what they could achieve so the key message was about being ‘Champion Learners’.

Once you have decided on this early message it is then a case of repeating it constantly, putting up displays and other reminders that ‘this is the thing that matters most right now’.

3. Get a skip – Controlling the environment 

The first piece of advice I give all the new Headteachers which I mentor is ‘Get a skip’. The second piece of advice is ‘get another skip’.

I learnt this from the brilliant Simon Rowe, Headteacher at Waycroft Primary school. I asked him, a couple of weeks into my headship what I should tackle first. “Environment, then behaviour, then teaching.” was has unequivocal response. Changing the physical environment is a very visible statement of intent. I have yet to find a school in trouble which is tidy and organised, so this is a good place to start. Change the foyer (as this is the gateway to the school) put up any awards in nice frames, make it the image of the school which you want to create. Tell the staff to throw away every last piece of junk. It’s a quick win and everyone feels better for it.

Controlling the physical environment shows the staff that you are a Headteacher who is taking control. It is the physical manifestation of change. At my first school, within the first month, I’d told the staff that I’d be in school on the following Saturday and would be having a Spring clean should anyone like to join me.  Nearly every member of staff (along with many parents) turned up. We filled 3 skips (of the 17 I’d order that year) and at the end of the day the school felt cleansed and renewed.

You can’t improve a school when there’s crap everywhere.

4. Values, aims and a vision – why does your school exist?

In my experience, every single one of the vulnerable schools which I’ve worked with have forgotten why they exist. They may have values and aims pinned up about the place but they rarely get referred to and enevitably aren’t ‘lived’.

In your first 100 days define 4 values which you want to be built into the DNA of every child. Be bold – look forward to a future where the school is Outstanding and define the child which you want the school to create. Next, create 5 aims (‘Every child will…’ statements) which define in short sentences what qualities and skills a child at the end of every day, week, term and year  should exhibit.

This must be a collaboration with parents, staff and children all contributing. In the headlong rush to get things done, Heads sometimes dream these up alone and present them as a done deal. In the urgent rush to improve this can feel like a tempting approach but this is one area which must be agreed as a community. The conversations which you have in agreeing them will allow you to find out what staff truly think their school is capable of. Recently, I had a long conversation with a member of staff at a school who didn’t agree with the aim that ‘All children will achieve high standards’ instead wanting the word ‘most’. This was illuminating and allowed us as a staff to discuss a point of view which encapsulates the very essence of the school’s struggle to improve.

As I mentioned, at my current school we chose the slogan ‘Champion Learners’ as our motto. At the time the school was 3rd from bottom in the county league tables, but we needed something bold to shake the school from its unambitious slumber. This year – 7 years later – we expect to top the league tables in every subject and every Key Stage.

5. Loose lips sink schools – so tell happy stories

The language which you use around school from the first day of your Headship (or accept from others) will define the professional standard adopted by the whole school team. Prof. Tim Brighouse in his excellent free book ‘Essential pieces of a successful school’ talks about the power of language around a school. If you allow yourself to moan and be negative around colleagues, don’t be surprised when they do the same. Likewise, allowing yourself or other members of staff to talk negatively in front of the children about a particular subject or activity is akin to telling them that it is pointless. Worst still, allowing conversations which start with lines such as ‘the problem with the kids at this school is that they can’t do X’ provides a ‘get out of jail free’ card for any teacher who has low expectations.

Conversely, positive and ambitious language can have a huge impact on staff morale and expectations. Starting sentences with ‘when the school is outstanding…’ convays the message that you believe that success is the inevitable outcome of everyone’s best efforts to improve the school. Likewise, taking up little successes in assemblies and walking the school and praising the values which you are looking for in the children has, if done consistently, an almost immediate impact.

A member of staff once told me that, in those dark early days when the success of the school precarious, he needed the weekly celebration assembly as much as the children – as it reminded him that, little by little, the school was winning.

6. Symbols and rituals have extraordinary power

Schools are essentially a tribe. As such, psychologically, staff and pupils often act tribally, ascribing meaning to symbols and rituals which may appear insignificant. On more than one occasion I have caused a huge upset by cancelling or changing something which I assumed meant nothing but actually meant everything to the tribe. Unpicking the hidden meaning in existing symbols and rituals can be a good way of standing the school’s USP.

Likewise, creating your own symbols and rituals which underline the values and aims  which you are trying to establish, can result in the tribe adopting them on a most more authentic level. My first school was C of E, so we wrote a school prayer which was based on our aims and values and which was recited at the end of every assembly – simple, yet powerful.

More ambitious still, at my second school, before the first 100 days were out, we had created a new school uniform and badge (with the new ‘Champion Learners’ motto emblazoned across it). From then on we told the children that, whenever they pulled on their school sweatshirt, we should see them transform into champions – the characteristics of which we discussed at every assembly of a year.