I know you love your school. But as a leader doesn’t it feel like there are more hard bits in your day than good bits? A parent is upset about a decision. There’s been an incident in class. You can’t get the absence figures to improve, despite best efforts. And then there’s staff. You love […]
Who, not what, is the issue you need to fix this year? I ask because I regularly hear this phrase from school leaders: “It’s been brilliant this week in school because ‘X’ has been off sick/on leave”. I imagine you’re instantly picturing someone who makes you feel the same way. Maybe it’s your site manager. […]
It’s hard to talk to someone about their conduct. It doesn’t feel as concrete as something like lateness or not following policy. But it’s so important. Because conduct is our behaviour. And culture is our behaviour over time – as critical to your school’s success as performance is (and I would suggest it’s more important). […]
We’re all trying to be useful. And I have a lot of free resources that have helped many school leaders. In fact, this video has been watched over 3000 times. Ok, it’s not viral, but it’s a lot. In fact, you’ll see someone has commented ‘Goodness, why aren’t there more views?’ (and it wasn’t my […]
It’s October. Storming season. If all seemed to be going well in Sept, that’s great. But don’t be surprised if a few cracks appear in October. I hope they don’t. But it’s typically when it happens. Don’t worry, it’s normal. Here’s a good rule of thumb for any time of the year. It’ll help you […]
There are 5 difficult conversations I come across ALL the time in schools. They are relatively simple to resolve. But most have been going on for a long time: Lateness. Not marking books to the minimum standard. Caretakers not doing everything they need to, as quickly as they need to. Unwelcoming receptionist. The teacher who […]
Who likes conflict? Pretty much no-one! (Including me!) So it’s no surprise that a lot of us will avoid having a difficult conversation. However, there might well come a time when we realise we have to have a difficult conversation and, at that point, we often regret not having it sooner; after all, it’s very […]