It takes a village to raise a child
Blog post by Jane Prothero, Headteacher, Bradford Christian School In 1996 Hillary Clinton, the wife of the President of the United States, published a book on children and family values entitled “It Takes a Village”. The advert for the book says she ‘chronicled her quest—both deeply personal and, in the truest sense, public—to help make […]
Headship -punch, after punch, after punch.
Blog by Jon Le Fevre, Headteacher I have been thinking about how to describe Headship right now. The image of two boxers in a ring hitting each other repeatedly came to me. However, as a Headteacher, there are a few differences: There are many opponents in the ring at the same time, throwing their punches […]
Through the Eyes of Children
Hildi Mitchell Over the past few weeks I’ve shown hundreds of prospective parents round my infant school. I’ve also shown round a dozen prospective candidates for two job vacancies. I’ve highlighted our focus on sessions of independent, active play-based learning within the school day and without exception my visitors have reflected back to me our […]
Finding my Headteacher Mojo
Emme tells us about how she found her MOJO again after the pandemic To be honest, I don’t know if I ever truly had a ‘headteacher mojo’. I was asked to act up as principal of my former academy, following the dismissal of the previous substantive principal. I admired and respected my CEO and agreed […]
Broken but not beaten
Reflections on how we support new headteachers navigate in unchartered waters.’ For the second year running I have been invited to lead the Bury Mentor Heads Programme. This is a course I designed with executive leaders in Bury, Greater Manchester to support experienced headteachers who have agreed to mentor new headteachers in the area. Bury […]
Difficult conversations – why they are necessary
In this blog, Aziza explores the link between our own self improvement, human connections and the ability to have ‘difficult conversations’. ‘The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.’ Warren Bennis Challenging the status quo and having difficult conversations is not easy – at least at the start. The human desire to be […]
5 things we could do to improve school for autistic students
An autstic person’s view on how we could improve schools. I have a client who is autistic and has recently left the school system at 19. He has a long and successful career ahead of him and coaching is helping him to focus on his strengths. He says that he did well in spite […]
Securing strong outcomes for disadvantaged students.
A case for investing in teacher development to help the most disadvantaged students in our schools. In December last year I was approached by Bury Council and two Mat leaders who asked me to design and deliver a 6-part professional development programme for experienced headteachers, who were mentoring newly appointed headteachers. We had our last […]
5 tips for new headteachers
5 tips from experienced headteachers for new headteachers Today was the penultimate session of the mentor headteacher training programme I have delivered for Bury county council. This group of experienced headteachers have been developing their knowledge in relation to supporting headteachers, who have recently joined the profession. Early on in the programme we explored the […]
Building a better legacy
How can headteachers move away from martydom towards freedom? I finished my first coaching session at 7.30am this morning. We started our conversation exploring what it is about my client’s job that means the only time she can fit in coaching is 6.30am. Her response astounded me, ‘I didn’t want to take time away from […]