Priority areas for your first weeks as headteacher

To take on the role of mentor for a new headteacher is immensely important. It can make all the difference at the starting point of the career for the new head.

Few deputy heads or assistant heads will have faced the unexpected and often unwritten job description and responsibilities of what it actually entails to be a headteacher. Many senior teachers will have been involved in much of the curriculum side of the role, including strategic matters – but the global role will be unchartered territory.

This article sets out a number of starting points for mentors to focus on with their mentees as a useful aide memoire to shape meetings and give them a valuable focus. Time is precious on both sides. It is important to give good value for money both for the school releasing their head as mentor and for the new head, who will be very busy in their new post.