Remember, remember the 5th of November… I am sure I have already mentioned that my dad has a love for fireworks and so they played a large part in my childhood. Indeed, I have many happy memories of people visiting our house to choose individual fireworks (this was way before the advent of firework shops) and the annual visit from the fire brigade who were coming to check the safety of the firework sheds at the bottom of our garden. I do wonder whether, over 30 years on, one would be permitted to store explosives in the back garden of a 1930s semi located approximately 6 miles from central Birmingham… To this day, my mother hates fireworks and is nervous of them and it stems from her concern that my dad was in regular contact with gunpowder and was, up until around 10 years ago, actively involved in setting off massive public firework displays. Again, in the 80s and 90s it was perfectly acceptable for a young child to be within the restricted area and in close proximity to professional-grade fireworks at large public displays such as the one at the Cadbury’s factory. Modern firework displays are generally electronically controlled, another shift in safety; no longer is it a man (in my experience it was always a man anyway) running round with a port fire which gets thrown in the air to signal the end of the display.
So what exactly does this have to do with my current thoughts? Well, I have spent today attending the British Schools Forum (online rather than in Beijing) and listened to a fascinating talk about successful schools and successful leadership. According to research, the most important factor when achieving success is the culture of the environment and, subsequently, the initial key to this success is trust. Reflecting on my return to BISS three years ago, it was abundantly clear to me that, before we could move forward as a school, it would be my job to develop a sense of trust in each other and the leadership team. Maybe I am guilty of confirmation bias, or maybe it doesn’t matter. Trust is so important in any relationship. It wasn’t that my mother didn’t trust what my father was doing (although she may well have been right not to in some respects), it was that she didn’t trust the materials he was working with. If we don’t trust those around us, we cannot have a quality relationship with them and without that relationship we cannot have meaningful dialogue and so on. In a school, we have to trust that we are all striving for the same purpose, and to me, that purpose is for the children to have the best experience we can give them and, in turn enable them to succeed (in whatever form success looks like to them or for them).
When I look back over my career and at my adult life, I both realise and appreciate the opportunities I have had where I have been trusted professionally and conversely how I have felt and responded in situations where I have not felt the same level of either personal or professional trust. I have also been reflecting on my personal propensity for ‘imposter syndrome’ and a lack of self-belief. One thing that has definitely changed in recent years is my ability to trust my own judgement. I don’t always get it right, but none of us ever do, and that’s ok. I know I am definitely more my authentic self when I am comfortable and, possibly most importantly, I trust myself and my own judgement. I also like to think I am also more successful, but I am purely judging that by the fantastic growth of those around me that I hope is, at least in part, down to me.
It’s drizzly, grey and miserable, but I wish you all a very happy Friday.
Music today is a Spotify recommendation – an acoustic version of Miss America from James.
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