“The small school with the big heart that stole mine”
Recovering from Covid19 means:
Filling empty seats with the right student who has a learning barrier with parents that are willing to make the right sacrifices for their child’s education,
Nurturing students to have a positive frame of mind that allows learning and growing to take place,
Encouraging staff, who are anxious about what’s happening around them in their personal lives and who might have lost a loved one recently, to remain optimistic and passionate about their work and the children under their care,
Maintaining the systems and processes that have kept us afloat over the past 16 years,
Keeping our eyes on the vision and mission statement,
Telling our stories in ways that can educate, inspire and connect us with others,
Keeping close to our parent community and supporting where we can.
10 lessons learnt:
Don’t hire in a crisis…choose attitude over skills and find someone with more energy than you have and who has the same or similar drive and passion to work in this field,
Don’t be all things to all men…protect your energy levels, your private time and always put family first,
Don’t take things personally…when someone doesn’t match your enthusiasm or passion for something, don’t be offended,
Don’t keep things bottled up…if something is bothering you, communicate about it, a problem shared, is a problem halved,
Don’t try and solve everyone’s problems for them…listen, but release, unless of course, you are directly involved, then act,
Don’t over-extend yourself…your plate is only as big as a plate, take only what you can handle and leave the rest, be selective,
Don’t act on an idea too quickly…write it down, leave it for a few days and then look at it again and if you still feel the same about it, take the next step,
Don’t hide away in your office every day…your staff need to see and hear you to continue trusting and believing in you as a leader,
Don’t be a robot…its ok to show your feelings and emotions when appropriate, be real and authentic, and
Don’t forget to have fun…you must want to go to work because its a fun place to be every day.
References:
The Differentiated School – Carol Ann Tomlinson
Teaching with the Brain in Mind – Eric Jensen
All Kinds of Minds – Dr Mel Levine