CEO Thought for the Week

Hi All

I hope you’ve had a great week so far and are now in the full swing of the busyness of Term 2.

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about appreciation, I suppose sparked by the Remembrance events at the start of the week but also because I received a couple of lovely emails from colleagues thanking me for my help. There is no doubt that we live in a fast-paced world where no sooner is one thing off our to-do list than the next thing appears to take its place. We are constantly relying on others to support us in our roles, to help us solve problems, to guide us and to pick us up when we fall. However, all too often we slip into a mentality of expectation rather than appreciation. We can take others for granted, use awful phrases like  “it’s what they’re paid for” or “it’s the least they can do”. When thinking about pupils we can be even more overt by saying things like “well I expect them to behave” or “that’s the minimum they should do”. If we allow this attitude of expectation to become the predominant one, it cannot help but erode positive relationships. Saying “thank you” to someone is the basis upon which mutual respect is built. It breaks my heart when I see children trying so hard to produce a piece of work that they give to the teacher expectantly but receive little acknowledgement or appreciation for their efforts. Similarly, when a colleague goes out of their way to support another or share a resource via email because they believe it may be useful to others and then it is followed by complete radio silence by all on the distribution list. None of these actions encourage children or colleagues to do such things in the future. So this week, lets all focus on appreciation of others and thinking about how often we actually take the time to say “thank you” to those we work with and around- the difference it makes is immeasurable.

Thanks for all you do for our children, families and each other. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Best Wishes

Gavin