A Place for Reflections - 2024

A Place for Reflections 

2024

Term One - Employment Relations, Legal Process and Media

Induction of two new young staff (JJ and IF).

Leading the school with positivity and calm, despite having the enormous stress and weight of AB and his actions (and the uncertainty about the court/legal process)

Working in the background to ensure comms and processes were all in place ahead of the court case and sentencing.   Being able to share some information with the board alleviated some of the isolation.   A change in place meant that we could fast track termination and move on with an appointment.  A false start with the initial court case provided additional stress.   An adjournment with so detail or date was upsetting.

What have I learned?   Have good people around you.    Breathe, follow process and repeat.   Ring for legal help, insurance and media help asap.  Contact presiding member and MOE asap.   Put boundaries around work and home as best you can so you can sleep and stay well.    Self talk and reflective practice helps, this is not your behaviour or your actions.    Your response is what matters and ensuring students and staff are safe.

Term Two - Reflect and Review

An ERO visit - was a positive experience and not unexpected.   Some clear next steps that we had already identified

A trip to Auckland for the KA - which I organised 

UC executive leadership coaching - a really great two days of learning.

The ERO experience was poorly timed after the stress of term one but provided a really good focus for us on what is important ie teaching and learning and progress and achievement.  The team pulled together and presented well to our ERO partners, they were articulate and the reviewers had plenty of positive things to say as well as giving us assurance that we were on the right directions with our next steps to continual improvement.

Term Three - Time for a Sabbatical

Time to rest, reflect, recharge and take stock.

Time to attend professional learning without the demands of running the school.

Time to curate my case study about Best Practice in Supported Learning.

Leaving NZ was a blessing, and the only way I think I was able to fully reconnect from the demands of school.     Time together to travel away from work was really special.    We reconnected and remembered all the things we love doing together and apart.     The adventures were new, inspiring and sometimes challenging.    Memories made forever. 

Coming back without working was challenging.  Some time in Dunedin to connect with a couple of schools helped provided focus and a reconnect with education.  Time at NZPF with dear colleagues was a fantastic way to conclude the term.

Term Four - Change on the Horizon

Returning to impending staff changes and an appointment process to conduct.    Two staff relocating.    

Returning to some staff who had been navigating personal challenges outside of school that had impacted relationships at school.

Returning to an SLT who appeared worn out and were looking for leadership and direction.  There were some frayed relationships that were going to need some repair.

Returning to an impending property project that was going to have a significant impact on the admin team for the second half of the term.

A really enjoyable weekend away with the Water Polo team and staff.

Meeting SLT at Lincoln on my return, it was obvious that there were some elephants in the room and some things that had happened in the group that were not being talked about openly.   It was going to take time to get alongside people and start to build trust in the group again.   I suspected we may need some outside help eventually.

The complication of impending staff changes, added to the complexity of the SLT dynamics.  Change was clearly on the horizon and that was going to need to be worked through as transparently as possible and provide strong leadership.  Not everyone would be happy about the changes that I was going to need to make for the greater good.

One on ones took place.   People were invited to share their aspirations for next year and their current challenges.   Ahead of the shortlisting, classroom teachers were asked to contribute their thinking to the kind of people we were after.   All team leaders were invited to be part of the appointment panel.   Following the successful appointment of two teachers, the focus turned to the dynamics of the teams going forward.    Two team leaders were open to change and adaptable.    All but one offered a variety of possible models for consideration.    As the leader, I needed to make the best decision for the whole team (based on all the information that I had in front of me).   The DP supported this decision as we worked through scenarios.    This was presented to all team leaders in a meeting where we could all be together to discuss.

There was some fallout and some disappointing gossip and speculation.   The perception of some was not based on fact and was being fuelled by some sideways chat.  I addressed this by meeting with people one by one.   Clearly we were going to need to regroup ahead of 2025 as an SLT and redefine our MATES.     I reached out to Jacqui Pascoe in the hope that she may be able to work with TLs one on one and as a group next year.     I also reflected on being careful about not being unintentionally drawn into conversations that were not helpful.   Who could I confide in and use as a sounding board at school and know that they were a VAULT?