Blog
New year is often a time to reflect on the year that has been and think about the year ahead. We might do some decluttering, decide to lose weight, or maybe we want to exercise more. There are two ‘declutters’ I’ve not heard many people do is think about which might resonate with you: 1) […]
Amrit Bal-Richards, one of our speakers at Moving to Outstanding 2019, has been looking at raising behaviour in her school even further. To do this she used an imaginative one, one that built on the vision work we did in her school. She created a clear picture of what she wanted to see in behaviour […]
A huge number of us were taken in by ‘Blue Planet 2’, and the wonderful Sir David Attenborough’s call to reduce the impact of plastic waste. It certainly got me thinking and, since then, I’ve tried to reduce the amount of plastic (and waste) I produce in lots of small ways. It turns out there […]
When you need to have a difficult conversation, it can feel like the other person will never change. In fact, that might be a reason for you to not waste time in having the conversation. However, in my experience, people do change in the vast majority of instances, even with some pretty entrenched behaviour: I’ve […]
This strategy is about letting everyone be excellent at what they do. Typically, what happens when a school is in ‘RI’ is they do what I call ‘wholesale’ training; training which everyone needs and everyone attends. This is the right thing to do at this stage. But what happens when you get to ‘good’? Usually, […]
Hugh Gaitskell Primary School has just about every demographical challenge available in their school. I had the pleasure of working with them to create a powerful vision and to set the direction of the school as they move from good to fabulous! Take a look. Hugh Gaitskell Primary School Vision Together, we will make the […]
It’s probably not a surprise that we’ve seen less outstanding schools since February. I’ve done some initial analysis on what’s changed between 2017 and 2018, and the percentage has definitely dropped. Looking at 2017 (the calendar year), 4% of schools inspected were judged as outstanding. Looking at 2018 (up to May), we see only 1% […]
Some people automatically flee from conflict. Perhaps they run away like a frightened child or flounce off with a flourish in a huff, or storm out angrily! What should you do? Let them walk away and then arrange another meeting, informing them that it is inappropriate to walk out of a meeting about work; such […]
As a leader, you are not going to witness everything that happens in your school. This means that your difficult conversations can be about things you have been told about but not seen first-hand. This is fine; it’s part of your leadership responsibility and an expectation that staff can come and report things they are […]