Developing Teachers, and Teaching

Today we held internal interviews for a new middle leadership role. These positions don’t come up very often; when they do I am always impressed with the number of applicants and the aspirations of our staff team. Today was no different.

Candidates were given an hour to prepare a presentation. They were asked to think of an area of practice or policy which they felt could be developed – this could be anything at all: parental involvement, behaviour, outdoor learning, development of an individual subject area, etc. They were asked to outline a plan for the development of their chosen area, describing initiatives and/or objectives that they would lead on.

What came across in all the presentations was the passion and ambition that all the candidates have for the school and our children. The candidates were both honest and insightful about their vision for areas of school improvement. The ideas and discussions that came out of the presentations will certainly be useful for the leadership of the school to help inform future direction.

What struck me most, is the drive that staff have to better themselves and their desire to improve outcomes for all our children. They all spoke eloquently on matters such as strengthening links and utilising the whole school community, to ensuring all children develop a real deep love for learning and school.  Their answers were grounded in research and experience, all the candidates were able to reflect back on their experience and suggest areas for development around their own pedagogy.

Whilst it is a pleasure to deliver the good news to the successful candidate, it is very hard speaking to those who came so close. As a head, you want to be able to give recognition and reward to all those who go the extra mile for the children; only being able to award one position is difficult, especially when so many are deserving of it.

Any one of the candidates who applied for the post yesterday would have been snapped up in any other school. I feel incredibly blessed to work with a staff team that has such strength and depth of talent; they are driven, ambitions, creative and hard-working. Above all however, they are supportive of each other; it was no surprise to see everybody congratulating one another and enjoying a friendly drink afterwards.