Keeping in touch in tough times
Newsletters written by Coach Paul Cassar to support principals in difficult times.
READ THE INSPIRING LETTERS THAT KEEP OUR PRINCIPALS GOING.
High Expectations (of Principals)
As an experienced principal I have always regarded high expectations as one of the drivers of successful teaching and learning. Things don’t happen just because of expectations, though. No, expectation is something set through high quality example, daily practice and...
Experience Only Matters When We Make It Count
Do you remember your very first day as a principal? I remember walking into a staffroom filled with women I did not know. It was a girls’ high school, and I was not only the first man to lead the 112 year old school (it celebrates 150 next year) but the only man in...
Citius, Altius, Fortius – a school motto which became the Olympic motto [THROWBACK TO 2021]
It’s a Latin phrase, meaning ‘faster, higher, stronger’ which the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron de Coubertin, borrowed from the headmaster of a school in Paris. All of us can relate to why a school leader would love the phrase. Coubertin loved to...
In a Great School Things are ‘Tight’
As a retired school principal in the Principals Academy, I get to visit eleven schools every fortnight. That’s my community of practice. The warm and sincere greeting experienced at each gate, reception window and principal's office is both inspirational to a lifelong...
Professional Presence
I have always been fascinated by an effective teacher’s presence; not just being present, but successfully holding learners’ attention and creating a classroom atmosphere which makes engagement, focus and inspiration possible. Nothing pleases a principal more than...
It’s Time for Surgical Intervention
We naturally associate holidays with summer. A three-week winter break is a much-needed blessing for teachers and learners. Now the challenge is to reboot a positive teaching and learning mindset. It doesn’t happen automatically; like your surgeon you have to have a...
Getting Better
Every glossy magazine is full of self-help articles aimed at getting you healthier, thinner and fitter. We've all tried each of these degrees of comparison and what stands out is just how hard it is to get better at whatever. Getting better as a principal or teacher...
Teachability is an Important Life Skill, especially for Teachers
Do you know what makes me a happy pensioner? I’m teachable. I’m not done learning. Being a principal meant that learning was my daily currency, but, when that ended, I wanted to use nearly three decades of experience as a head to delve deeper into school leadership...
Keeping in Touch – My Motivational Purpose
After a holiday break it’s time to get myself into writing mode which, I can assure you, is far from easy. The big question is to find a topic worthy of a letter to principals which suits my motivational purpose. My letter-writing emerged from the forced lockdown of...
There’s Nothing Easy About Being A Principal
When we get together as PAT mentors (currently of 102 schools) we often highlight the number of principals who find the pressure of leading an underserved school detrimental to their health. And, we all know, that principals not at their best cannot expect to...
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