Loss and leadership
January is already a terribly long month in schools. For mine, it has included the usual post-holiday slumps, staff and pupil illness, and an Ofsted inspection to boot.
We’re a small school but we’ve had our share of loss as a team and as a school family. So I was struck by Viv Grant’s honest words about her own battle against cancer and the loss of her mother. Her words, ‘deep emotional labour’ particularly resonated with me.
We need to work on this as leaders. In my experience, leading through grief is mostly left unspoken and unsupported. But navigating others’ as well as our own requires a whole skillset, not least of which is self-care.
That starts with acknowledging that we’re not superhuman, because if we can’t then our people won’t be able to either.
Chaos to calm
Speaking of which, the big news this week is Ofsted’s consultation on its new report cards. Amid the less-discussed topics in the digital staffroom are these reforms’ effects on early years. With a new inspection framework also in the works, while I’d like to say we shouldn’t need podcasts to help us get inspection-ready, I don’t think that’s on the cards somehow.
In that context, this snappy podcast from early years consultant Vanessa Dooley is particularly useful. It’s full of ‘quick wins’ to support providers, whether in school or not.
The latest episode focuses on creating inspiring environments, and the ideas in it are just as relevant to all schools and classrooms as they are to EYFS. You probably know most or all of what Dooley suggests, but reflecting regularly on how our classroom environments work for everyone in them is a valuable part of wellbeing and belonging.
These wouldn’t go amiss in staffrooms either. Especially amid the coming Ofsted churn.
Ready or not
Sticking to the early years for a moment, this year’s Kindred2 school-readiness survey was released this week. The news has been covered extensively, but as Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance says, “while deeply concerning, [its findings are] sadly not at all surprising”.
Many schools will no doubt echo that sentiment. Having taught for 32 years now, I’ve seen and felt the consistent shift in expectations of schools. Successive governments have floundered in their attempts to make things better, and have arguably made them worse.
In this paradigm, breakfast clubs are seen as a solution. But what is their aim? To foster engagement, or to facilitate parents to work more?
Arguably, the latter is closer to the truth, and there are deep ironies involved. For a start, families are no better off – any gains more than cancelled out by the cost-of-living crisis. And for seconds, the most vulnerable families see the biggest gaps in early child development – gaps that will pursue children throughout school and into adulthood and employment.
In the name of growth today, we are undermining growth tomorrow. We’ve been doing it for ages, and I’m not convinced Labour are seeing their way out of that trap.
Stretch and challenge
January blues aside, here’s a podcast to see out the month with a bang(er). Many will be familiar with James B. Partridge’s ‘assembly bangers’, which he performed a Glastonbury last year. Well here’s his podcast!
Any celebration of the brilliance of AC Black’s classic, spiral-bound primary songbooks is always going to chime well with me. But nostalgia aside (including a digression on the “disturbing merits” of the Stretch Armstrong toy of the late 70s), this is a great listen.
Beneath Partridge’s revival of classic assembly songs is someone who knows his music and cares deeply about keeping it alive in our schools. I witness its demise daily, as I’m sure many Schools Week readers do, so more power to him.
This podcast simply celebrates the joy of song, and not just in primaries. Partridge reminds us that once upon a time secondaries used to sing in assembly too.
There is no doubt that singing enhances wellbeing, and that communal singing fosters belonging. More of it, please!
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