The first 100 days
“I was excited about making a real difference.”
Having secured their new post, the headteachers recalled a mixture of emotions: “I had no fears of any sort, which is unusual for me. I felt excited with the prospect of the challenge ahead.” There was also a sense of shock. “I spent the following three hours after ‘the call’ saying ‘Oh my life I can’t believe it.’” Generally, they could not wait to get started. Even the experienced head, whilst being quietly confident, still had the sense of excitement for a new challenge with different pupils and staff.
Before taking on the role of headteacher, previous years of training and experience clearly played an important part. One, who had been a deputy, spoke highly of a head who had “allowed me to shadow every part of the job. The head ensured that I had a clear understanding of the role and accountability that sits with the headteacher.” Another agreed that the mentoring they had received whilst a deputy had been invaluable in understanding “budget, finances and HR.”
Not all were so fortunate, stating: “I didn’t have any mentoring in terms of preparation for leadership and the budget/finances” and “I was never really involved in the HR.”
It was evident that the new heads felt that training in HR and budgets was essential, as one explained: “With budgets getting ever more challenging, it is important to have a clear understanding on how you can save money and make money.” A real problem for any deputy is a head who is not prepared to share, to offer that apprenticeship model. Learning from this, one new head was already giving their senior leadership opportunity to experience this responsibility: “The knowledge empowers them to make decisions,” while another had decided: “Once I appoint a deputy I will mentor in budgets and finance.”
Berry (2016) makes much of a good handover from the outgoing head, but there seemed to be little evidence of this amongst the respondents. Clearly circumstances do not always allow this, so it means a great deal of catch up. Neither did the new heads make particular mention of support from a deputy. This was interesting. One had no deputy, and others referred to the leadership team, but where was the relationship with a deputy? The head who spent 100 days without a SLT was reliant on coaching sessions provided by the Trust, which enabled focus and reflection. And of course, the SLT may include unsuccessful headship candidates. It would be naïve to assume that everyone has got the new head’s ‘back.’
The euphoria of being offered the post can somewhat diminish as the new term approaches. Self-doubt and unhelpful negative predictions crept in for some:
I questioned if I had done the right thing. I still felt emotional about leaving my other school.
Could I do this role to the best of my ability and be accepted by the staff, parents and children?
For a headteacher there are different stakeholders who need to be satisfied: “I had a roller coaster of emotions. I didn’t want to let anyone down.” Taking over from a long-established head was another anxiety: “Would staff be on board with a new direction in leadership?”
Make sure you prepare for Day 1
“I was really excited and really nervous!”
Preparing for the first day of school was a clear priority and something which needed to be rehearsed: “I wanted staff to have confidence in me, which meant I had to ensure I was confident and strong on the outside.” For one head, assuming headship in the time of COVID-19 added to the pressures, as the first contact with staff would be via remote means. Emails were a cause of anxiety, taking longer to write, “so they would be interpreted correctly.” How easy it is for things to be misinterpreted by those who might not want change!
The head of the new school had almost a year between the interview and taking up the post, “so a range of emotions had been experienced up to this point.” There was a need to remain optimistic but realistic at the same time. Knowing that it had been able to establish an “outstanding team of staff” added to the confidence. The staff all held the same values and vision for the school, and this undoubtedly helped with any self-doubt.
With this range of emotions, each new head approached the day before the start of term in different ways. Some used the day to relax:
A lot of preparation had already been done so [I] spent the day with my family and walked the dogs along the river. I needed family time to ground me.
Another took on a task which didn’t need much thought, such as painting the garden fence! Others, however, felt the need to be immersed in the school:
I spent the day in school. I wanted to ensure everything was as prepared as it could be, no stone left unturned. Mental preparation also helped. I started to visualise how the first day would go … what would I say to staff during the first briefing, etc.
Working on advice they had received whilst a deputy, one head noted, “I wrote out a to-do list. I re-read effective leadership articles that I had used on my NPQH and wrote the first page of my Leadership Log.” With so much anticipation it was perhaps not surprising to learn from one head, “I didn’t sleep very well as I was worried that I would miss my alarm.”
Anxious predictions are unhelpful; we all make them; but predicting that things will go wrong generally leads to anxiety. In reality, actual events never seem as bad. Reflecting at the end of the first day, all respondents felt “an overwhelming feeling of relief that the first day was over.” Not only relief, but also a sense of achievement: “As I walked out, I thought, ‘I did it!’” In one school, where clearly the school needed to change, there was the sense of being weighed up by the school community:
They didn’t speak to me on my morning and afternoon walk around the playground – they just stared at me! Staff were wary.
When a school has been in special measures or performing under par, there can be a mixture of feelings, dejection, suspicion, anger and a lack of self-worth. For the incoming head, the responsibility to inspire and support whilst giving challenge can be daunting:
I knew a lot needed doing, I had an overwhelming sense of responsibility. Raise aspirations for all, make them feel loved and worth it.
One head spoke of the realisation of the need “to change the environment from everything being dark to injecting colour. If we all feel loved and valued, then we all move mountains for each other.”
Deliver your vision stage-by-stage
“You can’t build Rome in a day.”
The first week of headship, reality dawns. There has been much debate about the changing role of headship. Woods and Roberts (2019) talk about distributed leadership, where there is an explicit value base for leadership to be exercised collaboratively, and there is certainly much to commend this. The heads mentioned how important their colleagues are, but there will still be times when the buck stops with the individual. Pay differentials suggest that ultimately one person will be held responsible, and a successful team still comes down to the support and guidance of the head. Interestingly, when things go well credit is given to the strength of the team; yet when things go badly wrong, blame is generally laid at the door of the headteacher.
As a new head there can be a real temptation to get involved with everything, but there was a realisation of the need to “sit on my hands and see how those who are leading areas in the school tick or empower the staff in school.” A school has many component parts, and one head commented: “I kept finding another layer and another, like peeling an onion!” Some situations cannot wait and need urgent attention, benefiting from a fresh pair of eyes, as one head described:
Key pupils need a different approach; systems were not working. A structured nurture group will run from next week.
Knowing when to take urgent action is key if education and welfare are at risk. Not everything can be afforded the luxury of a longer overview. One of the standards which marks out a headteacher is to ‘identify and analyse complex or persistent problems and barriers and have strategies for improvement’ (Department for Education 2020, Standard 8), so meeting every member of staff can be time consuming but extremely beneficial, as one head described:
I spent quality time engaging them throughout the first week. These conversations helped me to find out who they were and what motivated them.
Being visible to pupils, staff and families is critical. A school will have a reputation locally (even nationally in the case of well-known schools) for good or ill, so a new head will have to work with this, like one explained: “I hosted meet the headteacher coffee mornings and introduced weekly newsletters to increase communication with parents.” Being visible, praising the children for their conduct around school whilst developing a culture of high expectation was much appreciated. Beginning headship during the COVID-19 pandemic meant one head had to guide staff through the process of online team meetings, which some found challenging.
Teaching, whilst an exciting and enjoyable profession, can be stressful and taxing at times, and staff need to know that they are valued. Heads were impressed: “Staff work incredibly hard. They are dedicated and resourceful.” Thanking them personally for their hard work as they left the building suggested that one new head would be there to support them.
There was even time in the first week to open up the laptop, answer emails and produce policies. One even recruited new staff. For those working in rural areas with poor Wi-Fi coverage, issues of connection added to the pressures.
Stay positive: energy, enthusiasm, hope
“Acknowledge mistakes, forgive yourself. Don’t be afraid to change direction and move on with humility.”
‘It’s essential to have energy, enthusiasm and hope’ – Brighouse (2007: 8). In defining the character of headship, the author uses hope not optimism, because there is the promise of delivery: a matter of determination, not opinion. Clearly the new heads were moving forward with great amount of energy and enthusiasm and buckets full of hope!
Having survived the first week, the new heads felt confident to instigate review and make changes. For one, an immediate review of the whole school by the Trust was key in identifying which areas were successful and which areas needed development. External review is always healthy for any school. Better that things are picked up before the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) arrives! Perhaps unsurprisingly, the issue of middle leadership was an early priority with “correct CPD being mapped out.” Understanding t...
