What your staff survey is not telling you

A photograph of a school building from outside, looking in through windows where you can see warmth and activity inside.

Most multi-academy trusts I work with can share their values, their strategic plan, and their leadership structure. What is sometimes more difficult is understanding what it actually feels like to work there. And that is the part that determines almost everything else: whether talented people stay, whether honest conversations happen, whether the trust feels likeContinue reading “What your staff survey is not telling you”

Is your leadership team a team, or a group of individuals operating in parallel?

This piece is for MAT CEOs and the senior leadership teams running multi-academy trusts, though much of it applies to any senior team trying to function as more than the sum of its members. Leadership teams in schools and trusts are under enormous pressure. And one of the things that doesn’t get talked about enough isContinue reading “Is your leadership team a team, or a group of individuals operating in parallel?”

The Density of Togetherness – why culture is key in schools

A short essay on why the most important work schools do may not appear in any inspection framework, and the three questions that sit at the heart of every school community. The conversations young people most need to have are increasingly happening without another human present. Young people can now talk about loneliness, anxiety andContinue reading “The Density of Togetherness – why culture is key in schools”