How do we take teacher wellbeing seriously?
"Last one out of the building is a nerf herder!" was how my fellow Deputy Headteacher Phil chose to sign off a whole-school email on the final Friday before half term. It didn’t matter whether all teachers recognised the Star Wars reference or not. The message was universally understood: GET OUT! GO HOME! HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK DOING THE THINGS YOU LOVE WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE!
Although often playful in approach, at Barr Beacon School, staff wellbeing is no joke. We take it so seriously it’s written
Fantastic first blog David – well done for highlighting such an important issue in education.
This is a topic that is increasingly important in our current educational culture. I hope other school are able to take on a similar policy. I don’t agree with the current testing on children in schools nor how results are used to judge schools but It would be interesting to explore a before and after comparison after this policy was implemented. This would look at results and more importantly, the ability to turn out well rounded children. Hopefully this would at least be the same if not improved. Thus suggesting, that working staff to death is not an efficient use of time!
Thank you Lynn. You’re right – it is so important. And working staff to death is definitely not effective! Many of these 47 things have been introduced over several years, during which our results have been consistently well above national measures. For what it’s worth, our Progress 8 was +0.33 last year and that was the first full academic year following the introduction of the new ‘mark however you like’ policy. Our children are exceptionally well-rounded too. Not sure how you quantitatively measure that one (!) but maybe our latest newsletter might give you a flavour: http://www.barrbeaconschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/BB%20Newsletter%20May%202018%20Final.pdf
Really interesting read – not sure how I would feel about the Paddington stare but do understand the point there. For me its all about agency (the feeling staff like myself have that they have a choice and are therefore more in control of their circumstances.) This can be greatly enhanced through collaboration on even the smallest of things on a regular basis. Just talking through an issue or voicing something new with someone else you trust can be transformational. Perhaps you could consider in what ways your staff do this and how this could help develop your policy further.