Times are a’changing at my school. Teachers are a’TES-ing. Children are a’pushing the boundaries.
A new head will bring change and people will like it or they won’t. They’ll lump it or they’ll leave. That’s fine and kind of the point!
However, people struggling with change, especially the unknown changes (including restructuring on the horizon) is making for a stressful environment to deal with. This makes an already stressful and emotional job harder. Therefore, I am spending a few minutes writing a list to remind myself about why I go in every day. Keeping my eyes on the right prize, so to speak.
// The children.
Well, that was easy.
So now the harder reminders to myself:
// Stop listing/listening to the things that are hard with staff: that just breeds stress and discontent.
// Stop spending all evenings and weekends working on things that don’t have a direct impact on the list above: that makes for a tired (and now greying) teacher for the children that matter.
// Stop blindly accepting things that will increase workload: discuss and offer solutions.