Successful difficult conversations

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Are you expecting inspectors? Then how about a handy crib sheet to help you from the moment you get the call?  This comes from Paul Murphy, Headteacher at Lancasterian Primary School, Haringey, London who had their inspection in May – thank you Paul 😊 If you’ve not got one already then please click here to automatically download […]

I had the pleasure of supporting a MAT develop their vision: ‘Life is a journey and nobody’s path is certain in this rapidly changing world. Together we are stronger…’ We will guide and inspire you along the way. When you let go of our hand, you and I will know that you will choose the […]

Christmas.. always a special time of the year, and always a bit of a headache finding that little something different without breaking the bank! And so, Kay our very own angel 🙂 has put together some great gift ideas for you:  Something that almost everyone would love is a gift from Boomf.  They do nine gorgeously […]

Sometimes a conversation is difficult because the other person doesn’t understand there is a problem – you might have told them several times but feel that they don’t appreciate how serious this is or that they don’t acknowledge that there is a problem. One of the school leadership team’s I support had exactly this issue; […]

I worked with the team at Capel Manor Primary school to help them create their vision and several years on it’s still one of my favourites:        

  At our annual conference ‘Moving to Outstanding 2016: Best practice from outstanding head teachers’ the brilliant Gillian Kemp, Headteacher at Cyril Jackson Primary School in London, shared a way in which you can have a pretty good idea of when your next inspection will be. I’d never heard of this way before but speaking […]

Getting to good is hard work, I’m in schools every day and I see that first hand. However becoming outstanding can be a bit of a mystery. I know heads who can walk into a requires improvement school (or worse) and turn it around to be good; some specialise in this. But getting to outstanding […]

What a great piece of research! One that may well put a cat amongst the pigeons. If you haven’t read it please do, it’s not long and is fascinating. https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-one-type-of-leader-who-can-turn-around-a-failing-school Here is a quick summary and some thoughts. First up: The research was based on 411, secondary, academy heads. They found 5 kinds of leaders: […]

So you’re having a difficult conversation and they start to cry. What do you do? I get asked this a lot, because it happens quite often. When someone cries in a difficult conversation it’s awkward and in my experience most of us are unsure what to do and most of us feel guilty because we […]