I had always enjoyed being a headteacher. Well, of course, there were days when I would wish briefly to be anything but. The days when I had to spend hours with the LA inspectors justifying statistics or trawling through books to find something that was wrong. But most days I enjoyed the unpredictability, the variety and the challenge. Most days I counted myself lucky.
One reason I was lucky was the people I worked with. I’d gradually built a team over the ten years I’d been headteacher. Considering the difficulties we’d had with recruitment, they were an excellent bunch of people. We had our moments, of course, but as a nearly all-female workforce working in close proximity in challenging circumstances for long hours, what could you expect?
Ready and waiting
Teachers are an extraordinary breed. We can be so harsh and judgemental of one another and yet when it comes to it and Ofsted appears we are a very supportive bunch. There can’t be many who don’t see Ofsted as the enemy. And what a shame and a missed opportunity that is. Before our inspection, I personally didn’t consider Ofsted to be the enemy. In fact, I was quite looking forward to them calling.
With my very good staff, who were hard-working and conscientious, what could go wrong? We had just the right balance of age and experience following on from several years in which an NQT was an unheard-of commodity. We had an interesting range of ‘extra’ activities. A holiday club, after-school childcare, a breakfast club, a nurture room and an understanding of how important support for individual children and their families is.