“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 […]
22nd March 2020. The younger children skipped out to their parents as usual, blissfully unaware of the water rising up the school drive. First mentioned on distant shores. Then on Italian slopes. And now at our door. The older children were more frenetic, understanding the strangeness, but with no reference point with which to anchor […]
22nd March 2020. The younger children skipped out to their parents as usual, blissfully unaware of the water rising up the school drive. First mentioned on distant shores. Then on Italian slopes. And now at our door. The older children were more frenetic, understanding the strangeness, but with no reference point with which to anchor […]
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 […]
Being a Headteacher was what I wanted to do since I first stepped into the classroom in 1996. I turned 50 last week. Properly old! I’ve also been asked by the lovely people at Bloomsbury to write a book about what it is to be a Headteacher, including all the stories and scars which come […]
