I had not expected to be in such position – to attempt to say something witty and wise to a hall full of boys & their parents – so soon.  So what to say?  Well I got off to a risky start when I told the audience that my old house was Garnet.  Immediately alienating myself from 4/5ths of them!  I recovered with a more serious reflection on the simple, unifying factor of all Campion Boys (and girls, now there are 60+ in the 6th form) and that is their quality as decent men ( and women).  “A firm hand shake an good eye contact will take you far”.  For a couple of hundred teenage boys to come up on stage and do just that (with just a few exceptions and “cheers, mate” will be addressed by Mr. Luck!), was exceptional testament to the standards set by the school and adhered to by the men.

Continuing the risky route I then pointed out the importance of balance between work and play and that the school provides so many opportunities to develop personally – music, arts, literature, sport.  I pointed out that a man who can dance, cook, know poetry or play a musical instrument would be more popular with the fairer sex!  A positive reaction – to say the least!

I then took the plunge and gave them my advice as a primary school teacher and invoked Robert Fulgham’s “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten.”  Partly to deliver some humour, but also to demonstrate the importance of the simple things in life, it certainly provoked a good response.  Especially when I told them how important it was to flush the toilet & wash hands before you eat!

A great day, made more so, when i discovered that the Headmaster, John Johnson – himself a Former Pupil – was a Leyton Orient season ticket holder.

Unfortuneately, I don’t necessarily have the time to delve very far into micro-sites such as this one on the Human Mind & Psychology Tests. However, there is much that can be gained from this site for our INSET sessions!

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…

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.

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.

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…

Anyway, to cut a long story short, after compiling some data on pupil numbers, I managed to produce the following pictoral evidence (thanks to the wonderful Zoho suite of online applications).  Indeed, the numbers in Independent Schools remain healthy.  I calculated the number of pupils at Independent schools as a percentage of the total number of pupils in full time education in the UK.  For the raw data, this is the link to the Zoho database table.

The Independent Schools Council is now blogging.   We will see what this precipitates.  Will the collegiality of blogging encourage the usually detached Independent Sector to discuss its own issues?

However I did google “education anorak” and got 8 results!  In fact, one link (with a fruity description) didn’t work, thank goodness,  others just had the two words adjacent, yet another was a load of nonsense.  In fact the only link with the phrase used in a sentence was from Theyworkforyou.com, a website concerned with the goings-on at the Houses of Parliament.

So now I am going to set up a Facebook group for anyone, like me and my Mother-in-Law (no, seriously).  People who are not afraid to say they love education & learning, who enjoy talking about it and would even go and visit other schools and (God help us) talk to other teachers about teaching!  So come on.  Fess up.  Are you an anorak too?

…The “Invite Friends” option has a curious effect on me.  Do I invite everyone I know?  Do I just click on Doug or Josie or Ewan or someone I know who might just remotely be interested in me?  Or do I just lurk & draw down their feeds?

This unlocks 2 deep psychological issues.  One, a fear that I won’t make any new friends (i.e. my real friends won’t become my part of my online network) and two, that the cool kids (e.g. Doug, Josie…you know who you are!) won’t want to be friends with me!

Do I need 100+ friends?  Or can I get by with the dedicated 1 or 2 who poke me back on Facebook?

Anyway, if anyone does want to be my friend, you can find me at the edge of these playgrounds: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

BTW – I’m well aware that right now, like many bloggers, I’m probably talking to myself!