‘Life is not a Popularity Contest’
Our schools are generally harmonious places, full of joy and light but conflict does from time to time arise. As a school leader, I never once enjoyed those moments, even though they were sometimes necessary. Managing difficult conversations well, is an art form and is something all effective leaders need to be able to do.
 
The most challenging moments are often when you are driving forward a necessary change agenda and lots of people question the wisdom of what you are doing. They may tell you that you are doing the wrong thing, have made the wrong choice, or haven’t thought it through. They may be right, but the easy path is not always the best way.
 
Some years ago, at St Paul’s, we attempted to launch a new digital strategy based around personal devices for every pupil around which we could build an exciting new curriculum and pedagogic approach. We launched it with a few other local primary schools and made the local press for the wrong reasons.  Unusual levels of disagreement or upset, generally make interesting news in a way the ‘another happy day in school’ does not. That adds to the pressure of course, and social media? Probably best not to get me started on the damage that can do to people.
 
Although, I think the digital strategy had sensible ideas and objectives at heart, I made some big mistakes in how we tried to implement it. The main one was, it was too fast, with insufficient dialogue and discussion. In the end we pulled the plug as the pressure to do so, became too great. The negative pressure subsided quickly but we lost something valuable. A few years later the pandemic hit, and those personal devices in the hands of every pupil would have come in very handy when running remote learning.
 
I often reflect on the way in which Jesus drove change in hearts and minds. He modelled the change. He talked to people and he told powerful stories to grow understanding. His actions led others to believe in Him. He was not afraid to reprimand and call out injustices or bad behaviour. Popularity was not his purpose. Occasionally, he flipped over the tables.
 
One of my late father-in-law’s advisory catch phrases, which still echoes through the family was, ‘life is not a popularity contest’. Sometimes we need to take unpopular decisions because they are the right thing to do but these can be some of the most difficult moments in our leadership.
 
Any school leader that has changed the school uniform or the arrangements for collecting children at the end of the day or has changed parking permissions outside the school or significantly increased the number of playground duties, will know what taking unpopular decisions feels like. Sometimes the best strategic direction for a large group, is unpopular with individuals, sometimes many of them. School uniform changes are a good example. A single child may leave the house looking smart and appropriately dressed for school, but if there are 25 variations on the uniform, when the children are together in large groups, the uniform no longer gives the impression of a school with high expectations, where presentation is important.

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RE & Christian Ethos

• Exploring Worldviews in RE: 21st June 9.30am - 12 noon 

Governance

• School Leaders' Guide to Inducting New Governors: 30th June 2022 5.00 - 6.30pm

Monday 20th June will be UN World Refugee Day. So for next week’s worship we have reflected upon the plight of refugees around the world. We explore the Bible teaching to care for all who live in our lands (Leviticus 19:33-34) and remind ourselves that Jesus' was also once a refugee.  

If you would like your school community to benefit from our weekly Collective Worship Videos, please contact the Education Team at education@hereford.anglican.org or call on 07539 372748 and we can talk through the Partnership Agreement options available to you.