Blog Post One
How did I transition from a deputy headteacher to a head of school?
Time flies by, and before you know it, it is lunch. You feel you have done nothing as there is nothing ‘tangible’ to show for it, but in reality, you’ve done so much!
The transition from Deputy Head to Acting Head of School
Well, where do I start?
This is a disclaimer firstly that this is my personal experience. For some context, I have worked at a one-form entry primary school for the last four years. I joined the school when it was in special measures as an assistant headteacher, and we have been on quite a journey since. My role expanded into a deputy headteacher, with my primary role being the teaching and learning lead. Finally, the school reached a ‘good’ grade in Ofsted 2021 and some tremendous KS2 results for us in 2022. I would like to say that while it has been a ‘whirl wind’, I wouldn’t be as near as successful as I have been had it not been for the lovely staff and guidance from my headteacher (currently acting executive head).
In April, due to a temporary leadership shortage, my fantastic headteacher informed me she would become the ‘acting executive head’ within the MAT. Therefore, I had the opportunity to become the ‘acting head of the school’. Although daunting, I was assured that she would always be available on site for some of the week and on the phone (and she was and is!). However, it did not stop the imposture syndrome from thumping through my head, telling me I could not do this.
It was Summer 2, and we all know how bonkers the school diary can be. The first thing I noticed was the increase in communication. Oh my! From the office staff to the teaching staff, the TAs and the site staff. Looking back, I always thought I had lots of communication with the team; however, I soon realised the conversation context was shifting from general teaching and behaviour to more personal issues. These needed to be handled with care and compassion. This is probably one of the things I found the trickiest, not because I couldn’t support the lovely staff - I was lucky to have good relationships across the board, but because I found I was taking these issues on as my own. There was, in the early months, no separation in my mind. However, after the six-week break, I started to understand how my mind was working, and I learnt to be practical and focused more on how I could best support that member of staff – which made me feel like I had helped without taking on the mental strain.
Moving on to the school systems – September hit. I was being asked questions by the lovely administration staff that I had no idea about, as I didn’t quite understand the processes that were well embedded in the front office. I had mapped out the events throughout the year and was aware of everything coming up. However, to me, the office ‘just worked’ as a previous deputy head. Luckily, the admin staff are like a ‘well-oiled’ machine. I realised pretty quickly that they also needed direction at times. I feel that since September, I have had a steep learning curve in looking ahead at least 8-10 weeks, and this has helped me ensure that the school runs ‘smoothly’ as there will always be things that will crop up!
Parents – well. I thought that I had quite a high profile in the school. I am already a deputy head and deputy DSL. However, as my now the executive head was spending time supporting other schools, I found myself dealing with more incidents or requests for support. However, keeping to the way I worked as a deputy, I quickly learned to listen and listen more. Mainly, this is all the parents wanted. Those that then were offered extra support, I directed to our SENCO and inclusion lead. Something I learned very quickly was that you would need to call on people; you cannot do it all! But I was very aware of the workload for other staff members and delegated within reason, within their roles, which were well formed.
I’ll be really truthful here, and again this is my experience. You will have some members of staff, not a lot, but a very small handful, who notice the shift and will try to test the expectations. While I recognise that it is a worrying time for staff to experience a shift in leadership, I am also aware that some staff assumed (or so I think) that it may be different, and my expectations may be less. Luckily, my fantastic headteacher included me in all aspects of school life over the last four years. As a result, many expectations from staff had been co-constructed between us. This meant that I was not trying to drive the policies that I was unaware of while she was off-site, but I had been a key part of the construction of all policies, meaning expectations stayed consistently high. Staff soon found that the school runs similarly, and the expectations remain the same. Difficult conversations were had early on, and the staff in question soon jumped back on board as it was addressed so early.
On the other hand, many staff took the changes within their stride and supported the new change. I quickly realised the power of distributed leadership, and my ‘stepping up’ has allowed other staff members to grow. For instance, as the deputy head with teaching and learning responsibilities, I still had these and much more. Staff started to rely more on each other than coming to me, as I lacked availability. However, reflecting, maybe this is the push needed for the school. I am pretty precious, shall we say, and amid special measures and requires improvement, I needed to ensure training was tight and teaching was moving forward. Now we are good, and I need to ‘loosen the reigns’, no matter how much I feel I don’t want to. Seeing people ‘have a go’ show commitment to the school and help others has been incredible. Whether that is an experienced KS2 teacher picking up a parent complaint from the ECT’s classroom and helping them navigate that, to the PPA teacher going through the new phonics planning to another ECT in the morning, ensuring they had everything. To the Yr 2 experienced teacher who had informally offered an ECT to pop in and view their lesson in their ECT time. All of these practices have been ongoing and are part of school life, but the difference is that teachers are now taking this and executing it themselves, contributing to the ‘team’ culture we speak so highly of here.
Finally, I figured out a way to gain an ‘overview’ of the school since April, as I found it difficult to have all the information in one place. So, I would schedule two meetings every half term, one in the middle of the half term and one at the end of the half term. This was for TLR holders (middle leaders) and the assistant head (SENCO). These became useful, and agendas included all the aspects of school that I needed to be aware of / might not know. It also allowed me to gain a picture of the school and develop solutions co-constructed with the middle leaders and AHT. This led to more people ‘driving’ improvement and allowed me to delegate with a straightforward way to follow up in the next meeting. It enabled all leaders at all levels to experience other aspects of the school and share common concerns and solutions. I also requested headline data reports so I could provide quality assurance to the observation accounts being given and cast a critical eye. It was also a moment for me to be able to deliver leadership training to the group. Whether that included how to have a difficult conversation, handling a staff member showing early signs of resistance or planning the tailored teaching and learning support. I may further blog on what this entails if the interest is there. These meetings are documented, shared with the executive head, followed through, and invaluable for all leadership.
To keep it all light-hearted and fun, I have learned much more than I could ever commit to paper here. But a few fun facts are noted before I put some takeaways:
I now know how much a hot plate fuse costs in the kitchen
Who knew that a birth certificate has notes of errors at the bottom?!
I had no idea the girls’ toilets pipe was in the middle of the school car park
I also had no idea that there was some fancy wire that was needed for Wi-Fi under some carpet
Time flies by, and before you know it, it is lunch. You feel you have done nothing as there is nothing ‘tangible’ to show for it, but in reality, you’ve done so much!
Takeaways:
Support staff and try not to ‘take on’ their troubles mentally but provide practical solutions that will help them
Address resistance as soon as you see it rumbling to keep culture stable
Don’t ignore the need to help the office/site staff (and in my case, think they just ‘run’)
Look AHEAD. 8-10 weeks each time.
Listen to parents
Delegate within reason and to the right person who is accountable
Promote distributed leadership
Trust your team
Minute actions and follow through
Always inform your executive head – ultimately, it is on them! Choose the method that suits you both
If you are an aspiring Head of School/Deputy/AHT – always ask to be involved as much as possible so you are prepared for when you ‘step up’.
Comment your thoughts below! I really do hope my ramblings are somewhat helpful 😊
Siobhan Sanders