“You never leave the villa” - so said Andy Thorpe, manager of the Lothian Villa, a residential home for challenging and vulnerable teenagers in East Lothian. I was privileged to visit the “Villa” a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to write up my experiences since that time.
What Andy means by “You never leave [...]
Read Full Post »
Unless you’ve been there I don’t think it’s possible to imagine the anxiety which teachers, principal teachers and head teachers experience at the time Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) results are published.
I’ve been in there in all three roles and now in my wider role as Head of Education.
Over my 27 years in the business I’ve experienced [...]
Read Full Post »
I was recently asked to speak at the Braw Lads Gathering Big Breakfast. This meant getting up at 5.00am for a 6.am start. 350 people gathered in the Galashiels Volunteer Hall for an hour and half of song, speeches and general good fun.
I spoke about one of my favourite poems “The Borderland” which was first [...]
Read Full Post »
I gave the welcome to our Depute Head Teachers this morning at their first annual conference. The theme for the day was “Entrepreneurial Leadership”
I began by reinforcing the difference between entrepreneurial leadership in a “for-profit” environment” e.g. Alan Sugar, and entrepreneurship in an educational (not-for-profit) environment - i.e. social entrepreneurship.
I shared three definitions of Social [...]
Read Full Post »
How would you like to work in a place which set itself out as ”A Space to Grow”?
A place where you could:
Achieve your personal goals;
Provide an outstanding service;
Fulfil your sense of vocation.
A place where your employers:
cared for your personal welfare and well-being;
focussed upon the impact of their service to users;
were flexible and willing to take decisions based upon [...]
Read Full Post »
Following yesterday’s post I’ve been doing a little more reading about honesty and leadership.
Honesty is seen by many as a key factor in effective leadership 1,2, 3, 4
However, the recurring definition of honesty in most texts relates to trustworthiness of the leader.
I’m convinced that trustworthiness is a key factor in effective leadership but “truth” is [...]
Read Full Post »
It was just an innocent question but it triggered a fascinating and very productive discussion this morning.
The questioner had been Dee Torrance who had invited me to speak to the most recent cohort of SQH candidates at Peebles Hydro Hotel. As well enjoyed a cup of coffee after the session she popped the question:
“So what [...]
Read Full Post »
We had been out at the weekend and I met two teachers who work in different local authorities - neither of which are East Lothian.
One teacher talked about their authority’s Curriculum for Excellence co-ordinator and the other referred to a School Review which she was going back to after the holidays. It made me think about [...]
Read Full Post »
EXC-EL.ORG.UK
We had very useful Exc-el Open meeting this evening.
Look out for our forthcoming skype (or equivalent) conference - Ollie Bray will be setting this up - participants are welcome.
For me one of our most significant decisions was to move from Exc-el.org.uk to edubuzz.org during the Easter break.
I was personally fond of Exc-el as it’s been with us [...]
Read Full Post »
For those of you not familiar with the Scottish Borders dialect this is a little gem.
If you are ever out shopping and you see something that you would like to buy for yourself - then you would say it’s ”Frae masel, tae masel” or “From myself , to myself” - Gill, my wife, uses it [...]
Read Full Post »