Feel-good hit of the summer

Education can a minefield or a roller coaster, or in a worst-case scenario, a roller coaster surrounded by a minefield. At times, it can feel like you've made a huge mistake and should have just worked in a safer, more predictable career. But educators are a special sort of human. They don't want money (clearly!), they don't want loads of spare time (ever) and they don't particularly need praise (no news is good news, right?). So what happens when the unpredictable happens and you have NO idea what to do? What happens when you map out the day in your head and everything goes a bit wonky? What happens when that bad day, becomes a bad week, a bad term and you're considering running away with the circus? 

Anything from a Monday morning internet/printer/kettle explosion, a pupil who projectile vomits in your book corner in the middle of an inspection (yeah, it happened), a really tough class that you can't build a relationship with or a toxic colleague, who hides their horns and everyone seems to adore decides to make life uncomfortable?  

From someone that is a terrible worrier, over-analyser or a forever optimist… hopefully you'll find something useful. This isn't a fix-all, the debate and actions taken recently around wellbeing should still be high on the agenda. But what practical steps can you take, to support and control your own day? 

Find your personal and professional 'one'

You need someone out of your school, but in the same profession (retired and wise, or new and passionate helps) that you can talk to. Share your day with them, explain the good and the bad. Talk it through, they'll either laugh and say, ‘Yep, that's happened to me’ or listen and lend an empathetic ear. Sometimes talking outside of school gives a fresh perspective and allows you time to reflect that possibly something really small, has been magnified into a huge deal. Tiredness and stress play a huge part in this; be aware of how you feel, physically and mentally.

This is where your person outside of the profession can come into play. Find someone that knows you, really knows you. The one who can see when you're not right. The one who can see triggers that mean you need a break, or a gin, or a mahoosive bar of chocolate, or even… a run. But, you need to listen to them, they're saying it for a reason and your ‘I'm alright!’ act can only last for so long. 

Reach out to the most relaxed colleague

There is always one. 'The great unflappable'. This could be someone working in your office, in the kitchen, the Site Manager. Find them. Tell them your woes. Immediate relief. Guaranteed. Watch how they work, how they interact with others, how they remain calm in a crisis. Learn from them. 

You can't do it all and the list will never end

Someone once asked me to write down everything I did. I had a massive overwhelming surge of stress. The list started and I couldn't stop. It doesn't stop. Ever. The job is evolving, the expectations change, the DFE, OFSTED, the government will ensure that we are never done. But we can say no. The children are in school? They are being taught? You got a decent nights sleep? You feel prepared for the day? Enough. If you need to take it day by day until you're feeling better. Do it. Slowly increase to a few days at a time? Better. Tell your line manager, Tell your colleagues. Make it clear the reason behind it. 

Don't be afraid to talk 

Just say it. Honestly. Just speak. Holding negativity, stress, annoyance does awful things to you. It screws your face up. It gives you a stomach ache, it keeps you awake, it can make you really grumpy with people that are nice. Is it really worth it? 

No. 

I have learnt to be less blunt. Admittedly, I've been known to just speak without thinking. But, nothing truly awful has happened when I've said what I'm thinking. Yet. 

Ask for regular support

Anyone working with children, parents, people in general, carry all sorts with them. The highs, the lows, other people's problems, unanswered questions,  If it all gets overwhelming, ask for regular support. This could be through coaching, supervision, regular meet ups with your line manager or finding a colleague that you trust. 

Tip - Put a date in the diary! Don't just agree and then not do it. Plot out 3-4 weeks of meeting time that you can do and stick to it. Don't think your own well-being isn't a priority. You can't teach, support, or inspire others if you're not well. 

Laugh - Cry - Laugh

A child once projectile-vomited during an inspection; it was bloody awful at the time. I didn't quite know whether to remove the class, the child, or the precious books. The inspector didn't know where to look, while the kids jumped up in horror. Looking back – it took a good few months – I laughed. It got sorted, life didn't stop, and worse things have happened. It gives another great round the dinner tale to tell, or a way to appease a panicking NQT! 

If you need to cry, whether it’s on your own, with someone, or over a large gin and tonic – do it. To quote the great R.E.M., everybody hurts. 

Just remember to laugh as well. We have the BEST job in the world. 

Be brave and walk away 

If something really isn't working well, and it's been going on for months. It doesn't give you the enjoyment it used to, or you're feeling worse and worse, run out of positives, run out of motivation. You've talked to people, you've got support, you've tried different ways to work through it. 

Walk away.

Find the greener grass, find the place you belong, find the people that appreciate you, find your happiness again. 

We have one shot at this. Make it a happy one. 

Your mental health is precious.

This is just some practical advice. This is not a fix-all. Mental health is important, if you are feeling lost, here are some other contact details: 

Anxiety UK

Charity providing support if you've been diagnosed with an anxiety condition.

Phone: 03444 775 774 (Mon to Fri, 9.30am to 5.30pm)

Website: www.anxietyuk.org.uk

CALM

CALM is the Campaign Against Living Miserably, for men aged 15 to 35.

Phone: 0800 58 58 58 (daily, 5pm to midnight)

Website: www.thecalmzone.net

Men's Health Forum

24/7 stress support for men by text, chat and email.

Website: www.menshealthforum.org.uk

Mental Health Foundation

Provides information and support for anyone with mental health problems or learning disabilities.

Website: www.mentalhealth.org.uk

Mind

Promotes the views and needs of people with mental health problems.

Phone: 0300 123 3393 (Mon to Fri, 9am to 6pm)

Website: www.mind.org.uk

No Panic

Voluntary charity offering support for sufferers of panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Offers a course to help overcome your phobia/OCD. Includes a helpline.

Phone: 0844 967 4848 (daily, 10am to 10pm)

Website: www.nopanic.org.uk

Bringing your vision into focus

We really needed to take our time to create our vision statement. It was difficult to even think about getting to the end of the week without being unscathed, let alone a long-term vision for the school, pupils and community. To obtain a baseline of what people knew about the school values and vision, I started asking people (genius idea, i know!). There really wasn't a clear understanding of the vision for the school, but the values were quite prominent around the school.

The words 'Kindness, Trust, Compassion and Forgiveness' adorn the assembly hall walls, in 2ft high letters; although they were very visual, there was no deeper understanding of them within the community, and before I turned into John Cleese in 'The Life of Brian', I thought we'd better start working on something sharpish. The children had been told the Bible passages that formed them, yet struggled to demonstrate the values as they went about their day. When everything needed a focus in terms of school improvement, we used these as a starting point in collective worship, and still regularly re-visit the values, ensuring they underpin our purpose, practice and improvement.

Phase 1

I decided that the first step would be to get a ‘voice’ from our community about what they considered important about school and their own experiences.

We created this display in a location with the highest footfall of a range of people: parents, staff, pupils (on their way to and from Forest School) governors, visitors and clergy. It was designed to be changed regularly and kept up for the academic year 2016/17.
The display itself was a working wall with peg lines and the questions were changed regularly (every short term), as below:

The questions were pretty broad, such as:

'What experience do you remember from school the most?'
'Who was your most memorable teacher and why?'
'Which value is most important to you and why?'
'What lesson did you enjoy the most?'
'What did you learn from school that is still important now?

The first few questions were pretty easy to answer because I wanted the community to feel confident in answering and use the board regularly. They grew progressively more challenging to answer, so that they may have needed to go away and reflect/consider, before returning to answer. I wasn't going to be the only one to consider what makes a school great and set a vision that didn't have buy-in from everyone!

I also asked the mighty Twitter about how they created vision and values within their settings. I got an abundance of support, ideas, strategies and want to thank - @kitandrew1 @pdcornish76 @lindylouielou @_missieBee @blondebonce @mr_bmh1


Phase 2

Once the school felt a little less chaotic, the daily firefighting had started to plume smoke rather than the onslaught of back draft, I felt ready to ask visitors to give a sense of how they viewed the school. I always feel that fresh eyes allows you to have open and honest dialogue and people tend to pick out the good things to build on rather than all the negatives that keep you awake at night. When you’re living and breathing school improvement, it’s difficult to see cultural shifts or areas that needed immediate attention. We invited Liz Pettersen, a trust improvement partner, to visit and support our work within the SIAMS framework and SEF.

She looked at the SIAMS framework, took a tour, chatted to pupils and staff. Alongside giving us recommendations to improve further (always welcome and useful), she said, ‘You are clearly living your vision, you just need to name it.’

This was a real turning point. Suddenly, I realised that we had been heading towards something good, but had been so busy, we hadn't noticed. The school was calm, the children were being given wider opportunities (Forest school, more trips, visits to the church, learning to play musical instruments and working with the Royal Shakespeare company). I knew that the children needed these things, but the experiences themselves, were not the vision, the outcomes were.  The children were gaining confidence in new experiences, they were embracing challenges, taking risks and becoming more articulate.  By the staff pulling together, along with parents and stakeholders, the community was becoming more cohesive and we were inadvertently role modelling this respect and teamwork to the children.

Phase 3

We were getting a sense of the 'How' and the 'Why' being a Church of England school meant that our values and vision statement worked hand in hand with the guidance from The Church of England evaluation Schedule. It uses 7 useful strands to consider when creating the vision.
The full document is really useful in giving clear guidance and is something which we used when starting discussions and ensuring that the shift was towards 'leadership at all levels'. By actively seeking feedback, experiences and opinions to feed in to the vision and values work, it supported the work towards it in a non-threatening and natural way.

So, we helpfully had a criteria to work with that cut down the vastness of decisions. The values of the school: Kindness, Compassion, Forgiveness and Trust has always been a steadfast feature throughout the school turnaround. However bleak things got, the staff, parents and families always returned to these 4 values, almost like a haven. We used the values to set out expectations and we talked about them when behaviour issues cropped up. I was reluctant to change them, but knew that they had possibly run their course and needed refreshing. I decided to create a short questionnaire to ask parents their opinion and asked them which of the 15 values were most important to them. The results (with 35/45 families responding) said the 4 already established ones, plus 'community' and 'respect'.

After some discussion with our School Reverend, Chris and my boss, the decision was that we would keep our 4 values and add the other 2. This meant that we would have 6 values and could focus on 1 per term.

Phase 4

The next step was just gathering a snapshot of the schools strengths. I asked teachers and pupils to give 3 words to describe the school. The teachers were asked to describe the school in approximately 30 words.

The school Ambassadors came together and created a drawing of the school and everything we had to offer. Using these drawings, I cajoled one of the fathers, who happens to be an amazing children's illustrator, to use the original ideas and drawings to create a 'Brenzett Portrait'. We talked around using the tagline 'Journey to success', but this didn't feel 'big' enough for what we were trying to achieve. I was still unsure as to what 'success' would look like!


Phase 5

Pulling it all together. 

By this point, I had gathered viewpoints, opinions, ideas, thoughts, pictures and voices from everyone. We assumed that the hardest bit would be writing the vision statement, but actually, it came to us really easily and my Exec head found the words that we needed to encompass all that we do...

'Life in Abundance' 

John 10:10  New international version (NIV.) 

 'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.'

This is exactly what we had been doing,and continue to do so;  giving our children a wide and varied education, while sticking to the fundamentals (reading, writing and maths) to ensure that once they left us, they could continue to embrace life and all is has to offer to the full.

The Vision statement .

'At Brenzett Church of England Primary School, we provide children with a purposeful, rich and holistic environment that puts community and family at its heart. We believe that children should be the aspirational champions of their own unique success, by providing them with life in abundance in the eyes of God.'

Some useful editing and a few adjustments (thanks Steve!) and our Brenzett backdrop was completed too...

Next Steps

We've kept our values and Bible stories pretty simply displayed. We asked our ambassadors to create hand gestures to accompany them (in photos above) but we would now like to develop our worship leaders in running collective worship and having a more prominent role within the school.

Creating 'Champions' within the school as part of our celebration sessions on a Friday. Champions would demonstrate part of our vision or values within the week, selected by other pupils in the school.

Continue to use our vision to promote the school to a wider audience.