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Are parents harder to work with now?
It’s not your imagination. The generation of parents you're dealing with today experienced school very differently — and it shows in the way they respond today.
In this short video, I unpack why conversations with parents can feel more emotionally charged, and what school leaders can do to stay calm, confident, and clear.
East Wichel isn’t a shiny outlier. It’s a large, two-form entry school with high mobility and a deeply mixed pupil population. It’s in a town that’s been publicly called out as an education “cold spot” — a place often overlooked and unfairly judged.
But under the leadership of Paula Phillips, something different took root.
Why does my inbox look empty, but it isn't…
Because I snooze emails. A lot.
Maybe you’ve found ‘snooze’ already. But if not, you’re in for a treat 🙂
It’s one of the best ways I’ve found to protect my time, my brain, and my well-being.
September INSET is coming. Faster than we’d like!
There’ll be the usual - mandatory training, safeguarding updates, maybe some new policies.
It’s one of the few moments in the year when *everyone* is in the room.
So here’s a question:
How could you use INSET to grow culture, not just compliance?
Do 95%+ of your team work at least as hard as you?
58% of school leaders say *no*.
And yet…
77% say 95%+ of their staff are driven by what’s best for the children.
So where’s the disconnect?
Do you have great staff well-being in your school?
It’s something we all want.
But here’s a thought…
Well-being isn’t something *we do to* people.
It’s something we *create with* them.
Yoga, breakfasts, early finishes—great.
But they only go so far.
True well-being happens when everyone takes ownership.
You create the conditions.
They bring the awareness.
You make a decision.
Your team nods along.
But do they actually support it?
40% of school leaders say no.
That means nearly half of schools are pushing forward with decisions that don’t have full team buy-in.
People problems are inevitable. You work in a team. They’re doing their best, and so are you. But here’s the thing—there really don’t need to be as many people problems as there are. 97% of schools have at least one of the five common difficult conversations that crop up in schools. And they can all be fixed.
Almost half of school leaders say getting staff to consistently apply new ideas feels like herding cats.If you’re one of those leaders, you’re not alone. The challenge is real—but are the most common solutions really the ones that work? You might already be trying things like: Create Clear, Small Steps Engage Through Ownership Celebrate Wins […]