Grievances and resignations, endless meetings and time management issues… and what to buy colleagues in the ’Secret Santa’. These are all trials and tribulations to be faced by the new head.

Voyage into the unknown

Voyage into the unknown

"I always knew that becoming a headteacher would present challenges I had not faced before, but I thought that the years I had spent as a deputy and as an assistant would have been good preparation. In some ways, this is so, but in others it could not be further from the truth.

Before starting the post, a number of newly appointed headteachers tried to prepare me for the level of expectation and for the continuous demands that are placed on the role; I now know what they were referring to. Reaching the end of my first term as a head, I can truly say that I have never before, in my career, felt the relentless pressure that I have felt over the last 15 weeks.

Support network

The biggest challenge has been dealing with the unknown. I always knew that there would be a rapid learning curve and that I would need a good support network. I am lucky to have a highly experienced PA who saw most things under the previous head and who has been a valuable help in dealing with a large number of the issues that have arisen.

I assumed that I had experienced a ‘normal’ term (if such a thing exists), but she reassured me that in all her time working for the former head she had not known a term like this, especially in terms of the number of issues related to staff.

Staffing issues have presented by far the steepest learning curve. The most difficult has been the senior member of staff who had to go through disciplinary, which could have led to dismissal.

Alongside this, I have had a dismissal, someone return to work after five months of absence, three resignations, a grievance led against me and a head of department step down. It has been an eye-opening experience with a range of emotions demonstrated by the staff involved from indignation to embarrassment.

The other testing aspect of the role is the various and competing demands on my time. I was always busy as a deputy but I had a great deal of control over the time I spent on tasks. As a headteacher, everyone wants my time.

Meetings, meetings

Throughout the term, I have had more than 150 meetings, the vast majority with staff and parents. I realise that it is the balancing of these demands with maintaining a high profile around the site that presents one of the biggest challenges for a head. It is also one of the many tasks I still have to perfect.

Three pieces of advice I would pass on to any new headteacher would be:

1. Hold an individual ten-minute interview with every member of staff. This gave me an opportunity to ask them about themselves and the strengths and limitations of the school. I would recommend this to anyone as a way to engage and value staff. You also get to find out some very interesting things that you didn’t know and collect some ideas on what to buy someone for Secret Santa…
2. Sign up to the National College’s professional partner programme, which links you with an experienced head to call on if needed. I cannot recommend this highly enough as my partner has been a wealth of knowledge and has provided a great deal of support, practical advice and, with the term I’ve had, a shoulder to cry on.
3. Keep notes of all meetings. Before becoming a head, I never made lists or kept detailed notes of meetings. This is something I now do as a matter of routine, as I quickly found that I cannot keep all of the information I need in my head – or it could just be that I’m getting older!

Despite the numerous and unforeseen challenges this term I have enjoyed being a head and I have been impressed with the responses from staff, students, parents and governors. I now have a very good understanding of why headteachers say that this is the best job in the world – I could not agree more.

• The author is a headteacher in the East of England

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