Headship in the bramble patch

Thorny and resilient; if you have ever tried to tackle brambles that have been allowed to grow wild, you'll know they are not the easiest thing to get rid of, or even bring under control. They have their own thorny protection and no sooner have you cut them back, new shoots appear.

Becoming and being a head teacher can sometimes feel a little like the bramble patch has grown around you. Another initiative from the DfE, more changes to the OfSTED regime, insufficient SEND support, looming budget problems and more contribute to you wondering quite where to start on tackling the issues at the same time as running the school.

You probably went into teaching with a passion for making a difference. Getting involved in developing the learning resources and supporting colleagues, you found yourself as a subject leader, phase leader, and into the world of SLT. NPQH behind you, along with the experience you have gained still does not quite prepare you fully for headship. No longer is it enough to be an effective teacher, but you are now in charge of what is, in many ways, a small business enterprise.

The time has come to tackle the brambles. The weather has been kind, so its time to set the excuses to one side and consider where to start. They have spread so far there doesn't appear to be either a beginning or an end, just a twisting turning mass of them. The job is so big it doesn't appear possible to ever finish it, and perhaps that why its been allowed to take over. So as you fight off the rising sense of overwhelm, we'd like to offer a helping hand.

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"Do it badly: do it slowly; do it fearfully: do it any way you have to, but do it."

Steve Chandler

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Over 2 decades ago I stepped out of a secondary school role and into a Local Authority role. I got the job on the basis of my ability to look at and interpret data - and then objectively describe the obvious course of action. What I didn't realise back then was not everyone is prepared to call out the 'elephant in the room'. The job? Managing the supply of school places, or to name this particular elephant - close schools! In those days one of the OfSTED criteria when inspecting a Local Authority was whether they had more than 25% surplus places in their schools. This Local Authority did, had 'failed' their OfSTED inspection and been privatised just before I joined. So, there was a lot of pain ahead.

It was a time of falling birth rates nationally. Birth rates tend to be cyclical and are something we are once more experiencing. BUT that particular OfSTED criteria no longer exists. Local Authorities must still manage the supply of places, but are no longer under any pressure to close schools in quite the same way. There will still be valid reasons for considering such a drastic action, but it is worth considering why that criteria was removed. There is never only one option, so if your school is one facing the challenge of falling rolls then follow future blogs as we'll be talking more about the subject.

As I moved around the Education directorate I found myself in a variety of roles, all of which had one common theme - thorns. School Admissions in the era where we moved from Hard to Place children to Fair Access Protocols. School Transport with the ever increasing budget pressures leading to reductions in policy entitlement for families. Maintaining school buildings - no you can't have a fence! Customer relations, and rising parental complaints about the ECHP process.

The thing about brambles is you have to face up to the thorns. Pretending they don't exist only ever leads to more pain. So winding forward to now, I've finally left the Local Authority after many years in a senior leadership position, bringing with me extensive leadership experience and knowledge of the education sector, an experienced coach and mentor, as well as an NLP and Hypnotherapy trainer. I've partnered up with a former primary school head teacher and together we are offering support in dealing with Education tough stuff.

In addition to the blog posts covering a range of topics, we're developing a range of resources available too. Some will be available on the website, others by joining the mailing list, and yet more available to buy. For example, check the 'rest a while' page of the website for some soothing hypnotherapy recordings. and some podcasts to help you through more difficult days. Ask us about the packages that provide some cost effective training and support with topics such as parental complaints and performance management. Finding out whether we can help costs nothing. Reach out through email and we can fix up a mutually convenient time to talk. We'll listen and let you know if its an area we can assist with. We have extensive experience in culture change, coaching, and staff management issues as well as communication with parents and the Local Authority. If its thorny its likely we'll have dealt with it!

So if you want to be sure that you catch future blog posts sign up to our mailing list. We promise you will not be inundated with emails, just the blogs and the occasional email to let you know about developments that may be of interest to you. By all means let us know about a topic you'd like to see covered, happy to help.