building excellent leadership
Headteacher: One has to realise that there's leadership at every level in our school. Not only through headteachers, senior management and middle managers but particularly, and perhaps equally importantly, at classroom level. Teachers at every level show leadership. We have a collective leadership in our school and we have a clear agenda of where we want to get to. The headteacher, obviously, in consultation with others, has to address and work out that agenda. I would think that those of us who try to exhibit strong leadership have to accept that, like the conductor of an orchestra, we don't have to be able to play all the instruments but we do have to be able to bring it together to a great piece at the end of the day.
We are very fortunate at St Andrew's that, rather than having people who will come to us with a problem for every solution, we tend to find that because of the leadership exhibited at every level, people can come to us with solutions for most problems; people are quite comfortable in giving us advice and we are quite comfortable in listening to advice, because one has to realise that there's no monopoly of the right thing to do. As George Bernard Shaw said, ‘a leader who cannot change his mind or her mind cannot change anything’.
A good leader and a strong leader - at whatever level - will perhaps, if things go wrong, take a little bit more of the blame, and when things are correct, take a little less of the credit. It's also important that when we have strong leadership we are not into a situation or a culture of blame, because if we don't try to change things then nothing at all will move forward, and quite frankly, if we get things wrong, the bottom line always has to be that we know they're well intentioned: we know it's in the best interest of the young people.
Pupil: For me the thing that makes this school such an excellent school is the fact that you can't always make everybody happy - it just doesn't happen, but when people do complain it just means that there’s an opportunity to improve it, which this school really does try and do.
Headteacher: There are occasions when it might be that others don't think a particular way to go is the correct way to go. Having said that, leaders at whatever level - headteacher level in particular - may have to say, 'Well, I've listened to what you have said and really respect and know where you are coming from in those points; however, this is the course of action we are having to follow', and sometimes that can be unpopular and a tough decision to take, but leaders have to make those kind decisions and stand or fall by them. And accountability is very important.