The job of headteacher is certainly varied, I am sure we would all agree with that. Recently I found myself at a “pop up” event at a local university to promote teaching as a career for graduates to consider.
The event was organised by the National College for Teaching and Leadership and was part of a nationwide marketing campaign.
Clearly, as the headteacher of a school with a SCITT I had a bit of my own agenda to attend, so I agreed to support the event and took three other members of Anton staff along.
I had taken with me one of our current SCITT trainees, an NQT who had trained with us the year before and Bree House a year 6 teacher who leads on English, art and drama at Anton. After we put our Train to Teach hoodies on, we were given instructions on how to approach students and record their details on the iPads provided.
I tried my best but as a fairly self-conscious bloke approaching 50 I found approaching youngsters a tad awkward, so my role quickly became that of chatting to interested students once one of my three teachers had lured them in. Now, the two young teachers I had brought along did a good job, but what quickly became apparent was that it was a master stroke to bring Bree along. She happily approached student after student and amassed a good list of interested candidates. Bree was awesome and it quickly became apparent why: she loves teaching, she loves working with kids, she loves her job.
It made me reflect on what it is that makes Bree remain so in love with her job after 20 years in the classroom. Why has she still got the same incredible work ethos that she had as a young fresh-faced NQT? How has she maintained her high levels of energy and enthusiasm that make her the outstanding classroom practitioner she is? While I could guess the answer to this, with the shortage of high-quality teachers it is too important for me to surmise – so I asked her. I’ll finish this diary entry with her words:
“Every day I have a laugh and every day I am smiling away – whether it is with the kids or my colleagues or both. I love the fact that laughter can be heard all over our school and I am a great believer that to be an effective teacher you have to be enthusiastic and smiley – if I am having fun, then there’s a good chance, hopefully, that my children in my classroom will be too. It is also an amazing feeling when a child grasps something new or has mastered a difficult concept or skill – I love that feeling.
“I am fortunate at Anton to have the flexibility to be able to plan (with my year 6 team) lessons that I know will engage and inspire the children and Tom trusts us to get on with teaching the children in our care. At Anton it is certainly not about writing detailed plans and handing them in to the leadership team be checked – it is about planning, and most importantly, delivering engaging lessons which will inspire, motivate and enthuse the children.
“At Anton, we can be ourselves in the classroom – yes, we all follow the same school code of conduct for behaviour, but we are also able to be flexible and establish our own routines that we know work in our own classroom. I am incredibly fortunate in my school to have the opportunity to work with a lot of trainee teachers and one recently made me smile so much when he said to me: ‘Bree this is the best job ever – I actually am buzzing to come to school every day!’
“I only hope he still has that same enthusiasm in 20 years’ time and that the love of teaching has not been squeezed out of him because of the heavy demands that this job can sometimes have on people. I honestly can say that I have never lost an ounce of enthusiasm or passion for teaching and even after 20 years I still absolutely love my job!”
- Tom Donohoe is the headteacher of Anton Junior School in Hampshire.