I like to think that the process of coming back from a summer holiday is somewhat like reconditioning a bus with a new battery, an oil change, clean filters, re-upholstered seats, re-treads and a navigation software upgrade. Ready for another hundred thousand kilometres.
The driver has been mentally readied for the new journey – it took a few days – but, first stop is picking up the staff. They leave the holiday spirit at the bus stop and are welcomed into the freshness, excitement and positivity of a reconditioned bus. The 2025 bus route is well-planned, well sign-posted, crystal clear and aimed at an agreed destination.
The principal in me marvelled at the reconditioning – actually, the return to glory – of the Notre Dame in Paris at year end using the best of our civilisation, generosity and special skills. I had been in the Cathedral just months before the 2019 fire. I know I’m stretching it a bit, but a school is as much a beacon of hope to a community in need as that cathedral is to the diverse and currently divided French nation.
I certainly get that feeling driving into schools I have served, like Dunoon Primary, Sinenjongo High in Marconi Beam, Welwitschia Primary in Delft or Siyazakha Primary in Browns Farm. Notre Dame may have cost nearly a billion dollars to restore to its remarkable splendour, but your very own centre of excellence in Khayelitsha shines a light which is priceless. School leaders are the architects of that climate of hope and achievement. Learners must be able to buy into the credible imagery of a school that inspires futures just like that cathedral. Not only should a school be a place of beauty, but every classroom in this cathedral should be a source of inspiration.
Remind every teacher of the importance of lesson number one in 2025. In that first twenty minutes, Prof Jonathan Jansen reminds us, the learners should notice: this teacher knows her thing, this teacher is fully prepared. He knows where we’re headed this year, this term, this week. This teacher exudes and instils confidence. In the years to come learners will recall that phenomenal classroom atmosphere and the wonderful way each individual was made to feel. That’s what great teaching is.
A new year offers teachers – novice and experienced – the chance to up aspects of their game especially their classroom management skills, their teaching techniques and their effective use of baseline assessment. You either start well or you invite mediocrity.
Ask yourself: was any teacher at your school or in your department a better teacher in 2024 because of you? That’s the idea of instructional leadership and that’s not just the role of the principal, but of every team leader in the school. Actually, most teachers report that they become better teachers because of the example, inspiration and expertise of peers usually within their phase or subject.
Going into 2025, goals are important: goals about self, family, work. Planning for the future – the weeks and months ahead – is infinitely better than looking back with regret. This week I read in the Wall Street Journal about a 71-year-old guy, Ron Shaich, who writes, not new year resolutions, but ‘premortems’. He looks ahead to his final days and wants to have a sense of completion, peace and, most importantly, self-respect. So, he asks himself what he can do now to ensure that. He has been doing premortems since the 1990s. His book is entitled ‘Know What Matters’.
High schools should be ready for NSC results day on Tuesday. Everyone should know their part – the photocopiers, the collection desk operators, the help desk experts, the official record keepers, the good story writers. Don’t hide any disappointments. Own them. Analyse the implications of those weaker subject results and the performance of your statistical neighbours (those schools closest to you in context). Break them down to key learning opportunities.
On Monday and Tuesday teachers will be in and out of the staffroom and meeting venues, but on Wednesday those seats should be empty from early till late as teachers engage learners from arrival to assembly points, to classrooms with register teachers, to a planned programme and to timetable in place. No teacher or assistant should be waiting for things to happen. Weak links on day one place that all-important climate at risk.
This week I scrolled upon US principal Chanavia Patterson, a champion of women in school leadership, who used her favourite holiday binge on the newly added Netflix movie – Six Triple Eight – to turn five key quotes from Major Charity Adams into Lessons in Leadership for Back-to-School professional development and team meetings. I have watched the movie – the true story of the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of colour to serve overseas in WW11 as they overcame sexism, racism and gruelling conditions to serve their country. All this just to share Patterson’s lesson from Adams, but I think it’s worth the extra words:
‘As school leader, your team is always watching you – your decisions, your actions, your leadership. This is the responsibility we signed up for. It’s time to own it. Your leadership sets the tone for the team, so lead with confidence, integrity and purpose. They’re watching, and what they see will inspire how they show up.’
Just remember, you are the driver of that bus. You have your hand on that lever. Yes, YOU are the lever for change in the school. Drive safely, but get to your destination on time.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 01/25
09 January 2025
Video link: https://youtu.be/0L7AOyZrxM4