Smoke and Mirrors

It seems extraordinary that I haven’t written since the end of February. Still, the busy life of a head & all that!

I have been wrestling with just what to write. Recognising the need for a more circumspect approach, I realise that my emphasis needs to be more reflective. An online professional development portfolio, if you will. I think this would be a good place to keep evidence of what I’ve achieved.

Currently I’m writing our school plan. As chair of governors at Flamstead Village School, I have exceptional access to resources and training that have enormous benefit to my own practice as a Headmaster.

Monday started with a SWOT analysis. The ideas that the staff produced are a marvellous jump-off point for further planning. Incidentally, having mixed the groups across departments, the analysis they returned was very much focused on whole-school issues. Note to self for next time: ensure time is given for staff to work on analysis in their departments as well. Actually I will hijack their meetings for some extension work.

Tuesday we had a presentation from Theresa Forbes of the International Primary Curriculum. Very positive feedback from the staff. It will be an excellent solution for our foundation curriculum and allow staff to utilise their innate creativity.

Today - the start of term. Smiles, hellos, sunshine. There is not a much better way to start. It continued with a round of meetings & phone calls - although I pleased my PA by almost completely sticking to my 9-12 admin slot & not wondering off to do something more interesting! It finished with my J3 & 4 PE - thus proving one of 2 things: either I have huge range as a professional educator and school manager or (which is more likely) I’ll do as I’m told by my Head of Juniors!

And just to prove one or the other of these statements…

Tomorrow I’m off to Tescos with the winners of our Healthy Eating competition. Oh for the life of a Head…

Having written to my brother-in-law in the US, I thought it would make a decent blog post…

Good to hear from you Pete & I do owe you an email although, in this job I am fully utilising my 7,000 word daily allowance of words for males, especially as many of the words have several syllables and are hard to understand even though I say them!

Note: women have 21,000 words (allegedly) and since 2/3 of my staff are women I do have to have to go into semantic overdraft on a daily basis.
I agree with you about the importance of measuring change & I am equally curious to discover just how the school, under my headship, is progressing.  However, it is a delicate balancing act and to many yardsticks and too many new initiatives will get in the way of actually letting change happen.  I know, against my natural inclination, I have not started with all guns blazing.  As I said to Robin: Take a deep breath & a step back.  The people who are going to enact change are the staff & to make change acceptable and achievable the direction of change has to be familiar and recognisable by them.  At least at the start, as the teams get used to the idea of change.  At the moment I am concentrating on upskilling, training and professional development opportunities.  These are the tools that we will all need to approach change in the future.  To paraphrase Diana Ross, as covered by Phil Collins, “You Can’t Hurry Change”!

If you want to play with some exciting tools have a look at this collection of bookmarks:

http://del.icio.us/neil_jones68/web2.0

In fact the del.icio.us website is interesting as a place to store bookmarks.  Also digg, stumbleupon & reddit.  You may also want to try netvibes, igoogle & facebook (don’t be afraid!).

Anyhow, I now know I’ve got enough to publish on my blog, thanks!

How far will XU get?  Final 4?  Does anyone actually watch basketball anymore?  Isn’t it like Ice Hockey?

How are the Bearcats football team shaping up for the new season?

It is worth noting that an important new collaborative project is starting down under.  Al Upton & his Mini Legends are embarking upon the development of class weblogs.  I hope I’m able to join as a mentor.  This is a collaboration on a global scale and truly embraces what educational weblogging has always been about, especially at Primary level.

Two exponents of UK collaboration have been discussing their work on a podcast.  John & Tom have an awful lot of advice & experience & it is worth listening to.

Not necessarily in this order…

Boy with suspected dislocated wrist
A policy on dogs on the school grounds
Making sure parents weren’t parking in our turning circle
Tour with the Ashraf’s
Meetings with 3 members of staff
Finalising Pay & Conditions policy
Whole staff meeting
School Leadership Team meeting
Meeting with our graphic designer
Lunch
Cups of coffee
Toilet breaks
Brief chat with Head of Music about siting music practice suites
Discussion about staff sports kit
Arrival of new palm top PC for a trial
And tonight concludes with the last Headmaster’s evening, meeting about 60 parents.
And the chair of governors should be popping in shortly.

Having reread my last post, I’m in danger of sounding like a TES columnist.  So I will beware.

I’ve begun to meet with groups of parents.  I worry about being too open, but I judge that do start a dialogue with parents, allowing them to ask questions & recieve honest responses, is something that they deserve.  I feel that, as educators, we have the children during the day and have a responsibility to lift the lid on the “black box” that is school as best we can.  In return, I know that I have an incredibly commited staff who I can trust to speak with authority.  Therefore we as a school are working on a position of strength where both teachers and parents have a common understanding. 

Obviously this is not always going to be as realistic as we would like, but it is something towards which I believe we must strive. 

Where does the week go.  On the one hand it seems to have lasted an age, on the other to have passed by in a flash.  It began, on Monday, with discussions about modernising our approach to school photos, meeting a former pupil who is now in her 80’s (wonderful lady) and a chance to take stock - it seems so long ago.  It continued into Tuesday with my first tour of our school, staff concerns with children, meeting our lead LSA, discussing “branding” & marketing with a graphic designer.  Wednesday started with an important parent conference, more graphic design, construction of a storage shed for Foundation Stage scooters & trikes and the chance to teach some PE & do cover - hoorah!  Thursday was Child Protection training…

…and incase I get to full of how wonderfully well MY role as head seems to have started, I have nothing but admiration for colleagues in the maintained sector and the work that they do.  My goodness it is so challenging.  We are blessed in the Independent sector and with that privilage comes enormous responsibility…

 …Friday was Friday Assembly.  Our weekly celebration of children’s achievement and since the parents are present a real opportunity to bring the community together.

So I felt as though I’ve had a full week’s work.  Compared to some, its been light & there will be rockier times ahead.  But its exciting to implement, or try to, ideas on how to bring about greater cohesion in the community.  Support staff in carrying out their duties.  Ensure the children have fulfilling experiences.  Which, lets face it, is why we are educators.

I’ve learned that it is a lot harder to learn the names of parents than their children.  So I’ll take from trying to hard on that one & let my knowledge develop over time!

That having a P.A. as good as Karen (just in case she’s reading!) is absolutely priceless.  Now, at last, I’m organised.  Well, at least my Outlook calender tells me so.

Being a head is about meeting people.  And meeting people.  And meeting people.  And…well you get the picture.

Having authority is a tremendous (in all senses of the word) responsibility.  I love and respect the privilage in equal measure.

What will I learn next week?  I cannot wait to find out…

New year, new start.

Having started this blog 3 years ago under the guise of an “Aspiring Head” at Blogger, I guess I have now aspired!  I even have my photo on the website.

On Tuesday, term started at St. Joseph’s In The Park.  I’m the Head.  The buck stops with me.  And that’s about it. 

Except I wasn’t quite anticipating just how exciting it is.  Let me say at this point, however, I am fully aware how difficult it may get in the future.  Indeed there are issues that are not pleasant to deal with right now.  Yet overall, the sense of purpose and the delightful unceratinty of what may come is thrilling.  I work with a diverse, dedicated set of people and their enthusiasm for what they do each day is clearly represented in the delightful children that leave the school each day.

Well I would say that, wouldn’t I?  But its not because of me.  I’ve only just arrived on the scene.  These are the bare facts & it would be easy to march in & destroy everything by imposing a new regime.  And that is the challenge & where the excitement originates.  It is the process of personally absorbing what makes St. Joseph’s so successful and deciding what is necessary to move it forward.    Enhancing the learning experiences of the children and ecouraging the staff to develop in a direction with which they are comfortable.

We’re starting with the cobwebs…

How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci « Wandering Ink.

With the Edulblog awards fast approaching the final stage, I took a little time to peruse the nominees.  And found the link above.

I really enjoy the thought-provoking nature of the piece.  What bloggers should do!