Brilliant Headteacher Part One

As part of my plan to become a headteacher, I have been reading books which offer some great advice. I recently read Brilliant Head Teacher by Iain Erskine. This book is certainly a helpful read - it's full of practical, honest advice for anyone who wants to be a brilliant headteacher.

So what makes a successful Headteacher?

Building an ethos
No really successful school is about standardisation and uniformity. Inspectors will tell you that they get an immediate feel for the school they are inspecting and even what will be their overall judgement for a school after the first few minutes of entering it. Something hits you about the ethos, which has a unique feel to it. A good school has developed an ethos and a curriculum that suits its teachers, the school building and most importantly its children and community. Ultimately the creation of that ethos is down to the Head even if much of a school's success is down to what happens day to day within the four walls of a classroom and the interaction of the adults and the children in that room. A Head's influence can and must inflitrate those four walls as well.

Being a leader
Headship is about enabling others to be successful, be the best they can be, at every level of staffing, as well as the children and the extended school family of parents and carers.

More than ever before, staff want a Head to be good at the job of headship and not necessarily a wonderful classroom practitioner. In the past there was always a strong argument that Heads must be good classroom practitioners but the whole educational landscape has changed in recent years - there are many more distinctive layers of management leadership and responsibility and a Head's job is very different and distinctive compared to 20 years ago. In addition to this, if we are not in a classroom day to day, we quickly become de-skilled as practitioners, but we do become up-skilled in what we have to do as Head.

Role model
Many Heads rightly believe that it is important to role model the behaviours we wish to see throughout the school, the Head ultimately setting the whole climate for the school. Staff follow the model that is set for them by the Head and children follow the example that is set for them by the Head and the school staff. That is why when a Head changes in a school the school can go from a highly successful one to a failing school or the reverse.

There are times when family life and the needs of family members must come first, but equally there are times and circumstances when the job must come first.

Ever the optimist
As Heads ourselves we must display bountiful energy and be full of enthusiasm for the job no matter what each day places in front of us; we must have an endless supply of optimism and hope for a better and more successful tomorrow. More importantly the school community must see the Head's optimism in order to replicate it themselves. As Heads we must be confident in what we are doing and what we believe in and stand for.

Be visible
Successful Heads know that during the day the whole school community is in school and that they need to be high profile, making the daily round of greeting staff, pupils and parents cheerfully as they welcome everyone into the school. It is important, when you tour the school, to vary your route so that you get a chance to see different people at different times of the day. This allows you to monitor what is going on around school and which staff are following school routines.

People person
A brilliant Headteacher in this day and age has to be a people person; you must be able to get on with both the Ofsted Inspector and the cleaner. 

Decision maker
One of the most important qualities, if not the most important of headship of leadership, is to make sure that in your decisions you put aside your own needs and priorities the needs of others.