the way back - nervous breakdown and all that

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that more than half of class-based teachers have left my previous school this year. Interestingly, this has not been mentioned on any social media linked to the school, nor does it feature in any newsletters on the school’s website. In fact, the traditional end of year newsletter has yet to appear on the school’s website (see picture below). It could be an oversight, I guess – but one cannot help but be a little dubious. In previous end of year newsletters, the head had very little to say about the departure of staff (especially those who had had the audacity to question their poor leadership). Maybe this year’s exodus has proven too difficult to whitewash.  And where would they even find room for any other messages once they had said all those goodbyes? It is a small wonder that neither the council, nor the governing board seem to consider that haemorraging teaching staff is in any way problematic. Staff retention is surely an essential considerati...

The MAT campaign is over for me. We lost. We lost well. However, I cannot function properly without writing. It is a way for me to process my messy mind: a way to funnel my anxieties and make sense of the world. For years now, especially since my nervous breakdown in 2019, I seem to be stuck in a fight or flight state. It tends to be more fight than flight these days to be honest. The blog helps anchor me. I was wondering what I could write about, and then bingo: it came to me… Obviously: what better way to move away from recent events than to write about my previous school which is so rich in happenings...  It would appear that things have not exactly improved as far as work conditions go in that hotbed of toxicity. In fact, rumour has it that over 50% class-based teachers are leaving this July. This has been reported to me not by a little bird, but a whole flock of them... While it is true that staff retention is a real issue at the moment in England’s schools, two thir...

Since the decision of the Federation to academise, a group of concerned stakeholders have created a group called Protect Prendergast. If preventing the conversion to a MAT is not possible, they are trying to ensure that academisation is done in a just manner. Their campaign has provoked a number of rather provocative comments on social media. Below are my personal responses to some of these accusations and attempts to dispel some of the misconceptions that have arisen.   Comments Responses 1 The push for MAT conversion was not kept from stakeholders for the past three years: it was governors exploring options.  It literally was an option ‘secretly’ explored for years before 'consulting' and ignoring staff and parents. 2 Teachers’ would have reacted badly if they were asked to contribute ideas to sorting out governance issues on top of their workload. It is not our job and it is why go...

Things have sunk in a bit now. We teachers and union members have had a bit of time to process this painful period in our schools’ history. Things have not yet returned to normal, but then again they probably will not. Good people have resigned: people I count as dear friends. I suspect a lot more will this time next year, if not before. Morale is low; everything is still raw. A large swathe of people seem to think that NEU/GMB members are happy with the way the MAT industrial action ended. It would appear that people genuinely believe that we are satisfied with the outcome of talks between the governing body (GB) and the unions. This is simply untrue. We are distraught and angry. We feel betrayed. Below is my attempt to unpick the past few weeks. ___________________________ On the 6 th  of June, we (union reps) were sent a  National Governance Association Report  on current and proposed structures for effective governance. This, I presume, was to try to conv...