Balancing Act blog

In some ways I’m annoyed that my last ever blog post relates to performance management instead of something more positive in terms of teaching and learning BUT as I think about this – it’s positive and has made a difference to the learning experience for Year 11s at our school.

• Talk to her subject leaders (Head of Biology and Physics, Anna acts as Head of Chemistry) and create resources and lesson outlines for active revision for Year 10 and 11. I would organise cover so that the three of them could meet together as a team. This has now been done.
• Write letters home personalised (via mail merge) to every Year 11 parent explaining which modules were yet to be taken (either for the first time or as re-sits) and which websites were useful for revision; the letter would also outline what would be happening in lessons until the exams; this would also be copied to teachers who would then be expected to follow the content in the letter. I would read the drafts of the letters and organise office admin support for the mail merge and posting. I proof read the letters on Friday afternoon and so Anna’s perfecting them in the half-term ready to pass over to the office on Monday.

Here’s another question that’s almost always asked at any leadership interview at subject leader level or above.

“How do you manage somebody who is not performing in their job?”

Any leader or manager needs to have an approach to this situation. Before you get to a leadership position you need to know how to answer the question well at interview!

• Observation
•  Keeping eyes and ears open
•  Line management meetings
•  Parents/student complaints (although ideally I’d know before then)

I really can’t complain as I had 3 snow days “off” last week and besides I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of the events on at school this week.

Day one
Monday evening was the postponed 'Options' talk. It was brilliant (I know self-praise is no praise but this was the verdict of several parents). I was pleased with it. In addition to my own talk about what was on offer, and the assembly from subject leaders that the students had already received, we had the 14 – 19 team talking about Increased Flexibility, Diplomas, Young Apprenticeships etc.; Connexions were in to offer support; our own Year 10s did a fantastic job of telling Year 9 why they had to chose what they enjoyed or were good at rather than what their friends were choosing. We had another group of Year 10s talking about how grown up you have to be to become a Young Apprentice and go out to college and work once a week. I think we comprehensively covered all the issues that parents and students will need to think about before making the important decisions that lay ahead.

Day two
On Tuesday evening it was Year 7 parents. I don’t teach Year 7 but stayed for a while because Parents Evenings are my event management project. I was down to nitty gritty detail:

• Is the clock for appointment timings large enough to be seen from the back of the hall?
• Do the teachers drink the bottled water on their desks or just use the PTFA tokens for cups of tea?
• If a parent comes without their child can they still navigate the signs to get into the hall and find all the correct teachers?
• Did our evaluation sheets give an average of more than 5 (on a 1 - 6 scale) for all aspects of communication, hospitality and organisation?

Luckily the answer was “Yes” to all but the tea question which is great because it’s one less thing for the admin team to put out on desks in the rush between the 3.30pm end of school and the 4pm start of parents evening.

Days three, four and five
Wednesday (and tonight) it’s the termly Music Concert – at the Autumn ones I’d planned only to see one evening but once I’d felt the warm glow watching our children perform I had to return the next evening. This time I planned ahead and had Mr. OC for company last night and will be helping out the PTFA with refreshments tonight (they’ve cleverly planned to hold our meeting during the concert, stopping for just 20 minutes to help with interval top-ups). I’m saying that attending 2 events in one night is beyond the call of duty but I am a martyr to the cause!

Day six
End of half-term mufti-day's bad enough (it's something about removing the almost physical restrictions of uniform); I've organised a Year 11 study skills day so that they start the half-term with no excuse about not knowing how to revise.  Friday night is staff cook-in from 6pm. This is mainly to say goodbye to Ben, the Australian English teacher who’s heading back home. I’ve cooked up my lasagne and am looking forward to food, drink and merriment till the early hours (oh well nearer 10pm).

Day seven
Luckily I’ve had my stint on Saturday detentions so I can have a bit of a lie-in on Valentines Day and start to enjoy the half-term.

Day eight
I’m not actually involved but the Head of Music will be back in school on Sunday set-building for the main school production which is on for a four-night run in March. I will try to show my face although maybe I’ll leave it to the other end of the half-term when I’m a bit more rested.