The previous school year was an extremely busy time for me. This was mainly because I was working hard to complete my NPQH. It involved a lot of time out of school and a lot of time working on it at home. The relief when an email arrived in August to say that I'd passed was enormous. The course inspired me to apply for a couple of headteacher positions. I feel ready for the next step. There was one in particular that I really wanted. I was very pleased but also disappointed to finish second in the interview. Around about the time of my interview we found out that we were expecting another baby, due in January. This made me question my career plans for the next year and I am putting applying for other jobs on hold until after the baby arrives. All around the same time, several staffing changes at school have created an opportunity to become a non-teaching deputy head in my current school in the next year.
All of these circumstances make for an exciting year ahead:
- Although I am not based with a class I will still be teaching. I am teaching a couple of high ability maths class (challenging for Level 6s). This is one of my passions! Also I will be teaching Year Six for a couple of afternoons, teaching Computing and PE. These subjects are lessons I love and I can't wait to get into this. I believe that a senior leader must continue to do some teaching and I want to make sure I do this well.
- My headteacher has asked my to do a lot of observing and scrutinising planning and books this year. Although I don't necessarily agree that these should be massive priorities (another story) I am working to the head's vision for brilliant teaching throughout the school. I want my monitoring role to be supportive, nurturing and fair. I will make sure the NQTs have an inspiring start to their teaching careers.
- A massive reduced marking schedule means that I can concentrate on aspects of my leadership which I believe will make a real difference. It also means that I can find time to do a few things that I haven't had time to do over the last year - such as blogging!
