I’m sitting in my garden on a warm summer evening. Like many of you, like a deep sea diver forced suddenly to the surface, I’m experiencing the rapid decompression which comes from going from a high stress, high tempo and emotionally demanding role to… well… nothing. My friends outside teaching look incredulous when I talk […]
In 1981 my mother was terribly offended by my Year 2 teacher at a Parents’ Evening. 45 years later – and well into her eighties – she still brings it up… “A used car salesman!” Arthur Daley was not at all what my mother had in mind for this son of Nuneaton (a small railway […]
I’m trying to figure something out: why is it that, in some contexts, school improvement is really simple and in others it’s really bloody hard! For the past 15 years I have been in the privileged position of working alongside school leaders to try and improve outcomes, both within my own schools, within the Leaf […]
“The staff really aren’t happy…” I looked around the SLT. My most trusted and candid colleagues. They looked uneasy. Luckily, I have/ had a team of leaders who have no problem voicing their thoughts. “It’s just…well… a lot” chimed one. “Morale has taken a hit for sure” added another. I couldn’t deny it was hard […]
After seven years of waiting, OFSTED finally inspected Blackhorse Primary on 25th November – the final week of the ‘early volunteer’ group of schools who had put themselves forward to be first under this new toolkit. My other school, Emersons Green Primary, which has also been waiting seven years and also put itself up to […]
Reflections on the new inspection framework: 1742 days under the lottery finger My school and I have spent 1742 days in the OFSTED window (our last inspection was Feb 2018). 1742 days where, on any idle Monday (and until recently Tuesday and Wednesday) the phone could ring and inspectors could arrive at my door. Four […]
How will the school leaders of 2125 judge us? I have always been fascinated by what teachers a hundred years from now will think about our current societal norms. From the vantage point of modernity, we scoff at our ancestors and their foolishness. At days when driving home drunk… and pregnant… and smoking a fag, […]
There are some days where I as a leader absolutely smash it, endlessly ticking off those big and important jobs on the ‘to do’ list. I am strategic. I am purposeful. There are other days when I achieve literally nothing, have been insanely busy from the moment I arrive until the moment I leave. I’ve […]
This week Blackhorse Primary School turned 20. Well… almost… the current ‘new’ building turned 20 – the school itself existed on another site since 1958. And to celebrate this milestone, we held a special day of celebration with children displaying their work focused on the school’s history, and with my good friend (and the Deputy […]
Miss Smith, my Year 3 teacher, gazed out of the window and sighed, drumming her fingers on the carton of cigarettes which sat openly on her desk. In 1982 teachers did not take kindly to unexpected meetings with parents on a Wednesday evening. My mother, a teacher herself, was unperturbed and wanted to know why […]
