My first guiding principle is for the head rather than the deputy, and it is about putting your ego to one side. In one of my previous schools, I was strong on classroom behaviour and my deputy was good on managing exclusions. Recognising your own weaknesses and getting the balance right is vitally important. The head also needs to be able to step to one side and allow the deputy to fill his or her shoes.
With a good deputy, the school should be able to run as normal when the head is offsite. This means that as a team, you can achieve more for the school and your pupils.
It also takes the pressure off the head in the day-to-day running of the school, leaving them with time to develop the school strategically.
Like any recruitment process, choosing a good deputy head is not straightforward, nor does it conform to a checklist. Remember, you could spend 60 hours a week with your deputy in term time — possibly more waking hours than you spend with your partner — so the importance of getting the relationship right and ensuring the two different personalities work is a must.
The deputy you recruit should be as dedicated as you and their skills should complement yours. You need to be able to see that you can trust them as well as respect and be loyal to them - and feel that they would be able to offer you the same in return. This will ensure that once working together, you will be able to work as a tight team. The one person you can probably spend more time working with and have a far greater understanding of than anyone else in the building is the Headteacher.
Now I have worked with many, many Heads in my career and they have all had their special foibles, talents and quirks. The reciprocal relationship between Head and Deputy is a distinctive partnership in any school. With a great Head you can learn what can make a really great school and be cultivated into a great senior leader yourself. The place of a Deputy Head to support and challenge the Head can also be an exceptional position to be in.
Relieving tension by having the occasional moan can be supportive, as can be finding things to laugh about. As a Deputy I know that from listening to woes, to answering questions, to sharing jokes and relaying tricky messages being a good communicator really helps.
Like many teachers I love a good to-do list — I have long handwritten ones, colour coded ones with deadlines on my iPad, collections of scribbled Post-it notes and even a bedside notebook or two.
In truth, at my school, my Girl Scout preparedness and slightly OCD organisation is a cause for some gentle banter in the staffroom. Leaders and managers will all have their own strategies for making sure that they get all their jobs done in a timely fashion. We all work in different ways and the pressure that can be felt in schools can be motivator and hindrance alike. Something that works for me is the four Ds which is just a way of prioritising what must be done and when:.
Delegate — As a Deputy it can be difficult to relinquish control but it is beneficial to yourself and the development of others to sometimes ask for help or give tasks away. Delay — Not all things have to be done straight away.
However you organise yourself, the principles outlined above are so useful. Everything really does not need to be done immediately by you, just done well and in good time. As a profession, teachers are always tinkering and assume that there is always room for improvement. This can be true for Deputies too. So much of what I do is self directed that the trick is to know actually when to stop and be content that you have done a good job. I use an analogy to describe how this condition works for me.
I have huge internal stores of motivation, commitment and enthusiasm much like a mobile phone battery. Not only that, but you can often be the barometer for the feelings of the staff picking up on the overall stress level in school.
Being able to recognise this within yourself and around you is important for the emotional climate in school. Exploring the things that will help you and the school recharge can ensure a happy and healthy life for all. Schools are incredibly complex organisations and there is categorically no way that all decisions made by the senior leadership team will be positively viewed by all staff members.
It is important in these times to remember why you work in a school: we are here for children and because we want them to have the best possible start in life.
I think transparency is key here. Not all staff are privy to the full picture and knowledge is power when it comes to decision making. This is possibly the most important lesson. Senior Leadership in a school can sometimes be stressful, it can sometimes be difficult and it is often exhausting. You can find yourself at the other end of problems, complaints and concerns for a full day. This is part of the job and it is vitally important that you make time to hear concerns from others as they arise.
You do need to make time to have a drink with staff at break time and you do need to find a time to share the funny stories others have. It is so important for your own wellbeing to find the time to do this! This blog has been reproduced with the kind permission of Stephen Mitchell. Games-Based Learning by Quick Controls. Across the globe schools are responding to the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
In a number of countries, schools have been closed and teachers are trying to deliver lessons remotely. Reward Shop. Worksheet Directory Menu.
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