CEO Thought for the Week

Hi All,

I hope you’re having a great week and looking forward to a well-deserved half term break when it arrives on Friday.

How’s your trumpet playing?? Mine’s not great but I’m determined to improve!

Forgive me…. I’m not talking about an actual trumpet. I’m referring to the idiom “blow your own trumpet”. It is often referred to as a negative and used when people are boastful or over-confident. However, I’ve always thought there is a bit of a nuance to this and have always adapted the phrase to be “Blow your own trumpet because no-one else will”. What is he going on about I hear you cry!

I’m talking about our ability to speak confidently and proudly about our achievements both individually, as schools and as a Trust. Too often in Education we are the unsung heroes, we hide our lights, and we wait to be acknowledged by the powers that be! Unfortunately, this just doesn’t happen (or not enough anyway). So, this leads to us having to “blow our own trumpets” if we want people to know of our successes and the lengths that we go to for our children and families. (This is crucial as we need our schools to be well known, well attended and well supported by pupils, families and the wider community.) This doesn’t come easy and many of us are anxious about coming across as big-headed or arrogant which leads us to working away and doing amazing things in silence. There are a couple of ways to solve this though!

Firstly, if you celebrate and promote your achievements in terms of their impact on others it is often more palatable and well received. We must look no further than the recent St Nics news story that shone a light on the work we all do to support children and families. It wasn’t focussed on the staff but the school has received so many positive responses thanking the team for their hard work and dedication. They received numerous donations, gifts for the children and further opportunities by be braving enough to share.

Secondly, and importantly to us as a Trust is championing the work of others in your team, school and in the Trust. It can be hard to push ourselves to the front, but we can do it for others and in return they will do it for us. Elevating awareness of our collective passion and determination to offer great things for our children. If we can be each other’s marching band, then it removes the awkwardness of us having to “blow our own trumpet”!

And finally, its about building relationships. The more we open our doors, welcome in our parents and the community, engage with the press and put ourselves out there into the world the more likely it is we will have our wonderful work appreciated, recognised and celebrated. As Rita Pierson says “every child deserves a champion” but so does every colleague and school in our Trust. As we go into the next term let’s be bold and start singing loudly from the rooftops about the incredible job you do every single day.

Best Wishes

Gavin