Hello - and Happy Monday,
I hope this newsletter finds you well.
Here’s 3 from me all about workload.
1.
Family comes first. Imposing specific start/end hours doesn’t consider this. As long as I am seeing happy kids, good books, progress and attainment - I will be happy. The amount of time you spend in school doesn’t equate to your effectiveness as a teacher. When schools impose start/finish times, it can accidentally send a message of distrust to staff.
2.
Reduce email, marking and meetings.
Reduce email. Nowadays, we all have the standard line of “This email may have been sent outside of working hours but there is no expectation to reply to it”. This line is used to cover up and excuse unnecessary and excessive email. Simply, think, does this NEED to be an email and does it HAVE to be sent right now?
Reduce marking. Hot marking, live and instant in the lesson. If your staff are marking lots of books away from the children, you need to ask: Who is benefitting? What’s the opportunity cost?
Efficient meetings. Don’t hold a meeting when circulating a document would suffice. Don’t make the meeting last until the end of the designated time just because you have scheduled it to be that long. Also, don’t keep people past the end time. How you conduct a meeting shows how much you do and don’t respect people’s time.
3.
Trust staff. Asking for plans to constantly be handed in, checking timetables, analysing displays, wanting excessive detail on planning - all breeds mistrust. It’s like checking to see if adults have done their homework!
In a time where we keep going on about catch-up (whatever that is), a burnt out profession won’t catch anyone up.
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Save the date. Upcoming online courses in 2022.
Monday 10th January - Online Discovery Event
Monday 31st January - That Wellbeing Conference
Monday 7th February - SENCO Wellbeing Conference
Monday 7th March - Leading School Wellbeing
Details to follow coming soon…
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Until next time.
Best wishes,
Simon Bolger, That Wellbeing Guy
Website: www.thatwellbeingguy.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thatwellbeingguy
Twitter: @simonbolger
Read more: thatwellbeingguy.substack.com