The day after we returned from Gibraltar and Spain it was back to school for the Leadership Team meeting. Unlike this meeting the year before I went to the school in a very positive frame of mind. Our results were on an upward trajectory, our team was strong and we were heading in the right direction. We may not be quite at national level in terms of our results just yet but we were heading closer towards them and we had re-established a better position in the league tables for education in the city of Plymouth. Moreover, when we compared our results with 50 other schools in the local region we were in the top 4 for most improved results. A slight correlation with me. I felt I had had improved results too.
Of course what I’d forgotten in the six weeks of holidays is that schools are incredibly busy, dynamic places were you can go a whole day without sitting down. We had a larger intake of Year 7 than previously, we had almost 30 new staff, there was coaching, new qualified teachers to induct, several trainee teachers to ensure knew where to go and what to do – you never have two days the same. I had new classes to meet and one of the expectations is that our class folders are put together to show that we really understand the needs of our young people by identifying who is pupil premium, a high achieving pupil premium, who has special educational needs, who shouldn’t sit with who. The first two weeks passed in a blur – we had open evening which is our opportunity to showcase our school to prospective students. I was on the front of house team – love it, getting to meet and greet all our visitors who made their way to the hall to have a presentation before a tour of the school. We had well over 500 visitors during the open day evening – the whole atmosphere was buzzing. The word on the Street is our school magazine and gives a great overview of what we are about:
Click to access newsletter_sept_2018.pdf
As usual school proved a great distraction as I had three breast cancer items on the agenda for September: a date at M&S, a meeting with Mr X and the will they … Dare to Bare ball.
Tip: take plenty of vitamin C and zinc when starting a new term. Try to get to bed early and pace yourself.
The Impatient Geography Patient 