Author Archives: kyrstie1

‘Expect the unexpected’ a saying that can undoubtedly explain the teaching profession. However, I don’t think that teaching through a pandemic was on anyone’s list of unexpected – definitely not mine anyway! So what’s it like teaching during a pandemic? It’s confusing. One day we are welcoming our children back to school and the nextContinue reading “Guest Blog- Cameron Richardson NQT”

I’m bolshy and gobby so I don’t get anxious. I’ve never had anxiety and I don’t understand what it feels like. Positive people don’t get anxiety. None of the above is true but it’s the perception of many of me. I know exactly when my anxiety started- it was 11 months after the sudden deathContinue reading “POSITIVE PEOPLE DON’T GET ANXIETY”

It’s true! I am not doing my job at the moment. It’s not because I am not doing a good job it is quite simply that my job has changed so much that it is almost unrecognisable. It is not the job I signed up to that is for sure! Life has changed for manyContinue reading “I’m not doing my job anymore!”

Open the door I have many friends who talk to me about their mental health openly. I also have many staff who talk to me about their mental health openly. I am not a mental health practitioner other than being trained as a mental health first aider, so why do they talk to me? IContinue reading “Open the Door”

This is me! Too often currently I see teachers and leaders comparing themselves to others. There are some amazing personalities in life and on twitter and it can be easy to start feeling inadequate. It can also seem as if there is one ‘right’ way to do things- there isn’t despite conversations to the contrary.Continue reading “This is me!”

Some of you will know that I am currently studying towards a masters in Race Education. I’ve only had a few seminars and lectures so far but already I am starting to see many issues through a different lens. The old adage- you don’t know what you don’t know- is true, but we have aContinue reading “Stopping the silence”

Many of us, myself included, made our own promises to change things this year. We had been through an unprecedented time and whilst challenging it also brought about a revelation that we could do things differently. It’s a bit like when you make a New Year’s resolution- you start the year with a real passionContinue reading “Stick to your guns!”

I found two quotes last week which talked about leadership and motherhood and both were so similar it got me thinking about just how similar these two roles are for me. There are key traits in both roles which I think are similar and the more I think about it, if I relate the principlesContinue reading “Leading as a parent?”

So, before anyone gets the wrong end of the stick – I don’t mean my job. Despite the challenges of the last few months I love my role as a head- perhaps even more so now – lockdown has shown me that I can help support my community in many more ways than just throughContinue reading “That’s it- I quit!”

Lockdown Leadership- all change. Last week I was on an online meeting and a staff member asked the others to do a round of applause for me and the leadership team for our dealing of the lockdown situation thus far. I was moved beyond words because it was a validation, I perhaps didn’t even knowContinue reading “All change- lockdown leadership”