I wished I had been able to take a little more time to personally articulate how the first six weeks at The Wellington Academy have been. I know that I will never again get to experience this education adventure. It really has been the most exhilarating, yet steep learning curve of my career today and every day still brings with it new learning.
Not only am I learning about the intricate workings of the school, new systems, processes, culture, names, rooms, job roles, I am also acclimatising to ‘Academy,’ values. Working in partnership with The Wellington College colleagues is definitely one of the affordances of this partnership.
Day to day, I’ve been trying to build ‘buy-in.’ At the same time, trying to seed new expectations and teaching and learning practice. At a management level, conversations with staff, lesson observations, learning walks, organising meeting minutes, opening dept agendas. Taking on trips and visits, and over-seeing cover and exams. Leadership has been focused on data collection and integration; expecting greater integrity and accountability. All the time supporting colleagues adjusting to a new timetable and MIS.
Yet, it is still the one or two poor decisions or missed opportunities that provide the best opportunities to leadership and personal growth. I’m pleased that most of these mistakes I recognise myself, but occasionally you need a steering hand from someone more experienced to nudge. For most seasoned colleagues, I am sure you will attest that the higher up the leadership ladder, the broader your responsibilities and the more acute the accountability. You may not be directly responsible, though you are almost always accountable. Which brings me to the title of the post.
Don’t let what you do, get in the way of what you are doing well
I learnt today that it’s important, when building staff confidence, that no single action or decision, creates barriers to future success. Or as I was told, ‘Don’t let what you do, get in the way of what you are doing well.’ That no single action or decision should override the many things you’re doing for the greater good of the students and the school.
I have been a teacher for 13 years, a Vice Principal for 6 weeks and, at the age of 38, I have a lot more to learn about being a VP.
It may be a somewhat strange penultimate line, but I am hoping that one very inspirational and accomplished school leader might find it mildly amusing, and appreciate the warm sentiment.
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