Of missing newsletters...

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 consideration to both organisations. Teacher retention, wellbeing and job satisfaction have everything to do with how a school is managed and how the head copes with the pressures to improve the school. 

An over 50% churn of teaching staff speaks volumes...

Onwards and upwards

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 thirds of class teachers leaving a primary school in London may be pushing it a bit.

If I may be so bold: it may be that the head teacher there is not so appreciated by their staff. And that maybe, just maybe, the governing body and council may still be turning a bit of a blind eye to the whole situation. No pattern there. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Ignorance is bliss. Yada, yada...

One thing for sure, my lovely readers, is that I will be looking into this with great interest…