headteacher-secondary

Essential reading: On board this issue: Victoria Hearn is principal at Impington Village College Julia Knight is principal at EtonHouse International School Bahrain Cath Bishop is an Olympic medallist and Cambridge University Business Coach Emma Turner is research and CPD lead for Discovery Schools Academy Trust Barny Sandow is head of school at ACS International School, Cobham Dr. Paul Heery is CEO at TheWhite Hills Park Trust ...to a new venture from us here at The Teach Company. Some readers may be familiar with our sister title, The Headteacher – a publication that seeks to dispense useful advice, present interesting ideas and highlight great practice for primary school leaders. Well, in this inaugural edition of The Headteacher – Secondary we’re looking to do the same for those working with KS3/4. To that end, we’ve gathered together a sampling of material from of our past contributors that we hope will prompt some reflection and inspiration. Whether you’re keen to maximise your spending power when it comes to your tech procurement (p38), map out your CPD plans for the year ahead (p16) or refine your school’s behaviour policies (p12), we’re sure you’ll find something of interest in the following pages. Of course, we couldn’t produce a read like this without acknowledging how dramatically the landscape of school leadership has changed since March 2020. Partial school closures; frequent and prolonged absences; wildly unpredictable staff cover needs; formal teacher assessments in place of exams, and the rapid imposition of safety restrictions. None of it's been easy, but the nation’s schools have managed to weather the COVID storm and emerge more knowledgable, vigilant and resilient than before. Because that’s what education professionals do. Amid all the difficulties, frustration and exhaustion, however, there’s also the possibility that COVID’s legacy may change some parts of the profession for the better. We could, as school principal Julia Knight observes on p50, harness the new-found appreciation in many quarters of how important a schools’ pastoral provision can and should be, and use this to devise a richer educational pathway. In terms of the day- to-day, it’s also worth taking stock of the remote teaching facilities schools now find themselves with, and considering how these can be put to effective use in the long term (p36). In any case, we hope you like what you see – feel free to share your thoughts, queries suggestions with us at the email address below or via @teachwire on Twitter. Enjoy the issue, Callum Fauser callum.fauser@theteachco.com 03 FROM THE EDITOR “Welcome… teachwire.net KEEP IN TOUCH! Sign up for our weekly secondary newsletter at teachwire.net/ newsletter 44 24 Stuck in a rut Is it possible for teachers to oversee the same class for too long? 42 “I was an imposter” The career benefits to be had from winging it Winning isn’t everything Why ultra-competitive school environments can do more harm than good