The First Time and the Reflection Time
 Do you think it is easier to remember the first time you did something rather than the last?
 
As a teacher, I can remember my first class and the very first time I took the register, but I can’t remember my last one. As a dad, I can remember changing the first nappy (always a tricky one) but I can’t remember changing the last one. I can remember my first OfSTED inspection…pretty sure I haven’t done my last one yet.
 
I can clearly remember the first time I had a complaint from a parent. I can remember the name of the child and I can remember exactly what it was about. I was in my second week as a newly qualified teacher and the parent complained to the head that I wasn’t hearing her son read enough. I remember how upset I felt and how difficult it was to open up a dialogue with the parent and talk through her concerns. It took some time to build trust (in both directions) but I think we got there. As tough as it was, it was so valuable to know what that process actually felt like. How personal it felt and how deeply it cut when I was trying so hard to get it right. I’d love to say it was the last time it happened, but of course it wasn’t. There were many other upsetting moments and dealing with a concerned parent goes with the territory. I’m not sure it ever got any easier, but I learned to live with it and just to keep trying hard to build bridges and do the best I could. I certainly can’t remember all of those complaints as clearly as the first. I can still remember a few very clearly.

I have been involved in many SIAMS inspections over the years, as teacher, headteacher, inspector and DDE, but this week I experienced my very first secondary SIAMS inspection. It was an interesting new experience which took me out of my comfort zone and brought a new level of understanding, clarity and perhaps empathy. In actual fact, a secondary SIAMS is not very different from a primary one. Most of the meetings with inspectors have a similar focus and the questions asked are also very similar, but it felt a lot more elongated. The meeting with governors was 60 minutes long, for example. For me that made the process a little deeper. The two day version of the inspection is actually quite intense, even in a larger school where the inspector has a lot to see.

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When we have seen a problem before, experienced it before, we gain wisdom which can be so helpful when the situation comes around again. When we face something for the very first time the anxiety levels and uncertainty are inevitably higher. This is of course why experienced teachers or support assistants or leaders are so valuable. They have already been through so much and have gained such valuable wisdom, knowledge and skill over the years and countless children and parents they have worked with.  This is why we often link up new headteachers with more experienced ones or early career teachers with seasoned practitioners. Hopefully this sharing of wisdom will help those with less experience from making the mistakes we made when we were at the early stages of learning a new role.
 
I have now been DDE for over 4 years, but when I met with fellow DDEs this week in Oxford, many of whom are more experienced than me, it was a great joy to engage in conversations and ‘plug-in’ to their experience and wisdom when dealing with similar issues in other parts of the country.

Of course, the greatest wisdom of all comes from God and I have learned (from experience) to find opportunities to listen to the still, small voice of wisdom through prayer and quiet reflection. This is always helpful but very easy to neglect. I find I need to be more intentional about it when I am very busy (most of the time). My days, like most people working in schools, can be a bit of a relay race, rapidly moving from one thing to the next, with very little time to process. Trying to establish a pattern or rhythm of life which gives a regular spiritual opportunity to ‘tune in’ can be really helpful. It might be going to church or a daily walk, or some protected reading time or exercise or something else. I actually find that the weekly pattern and discipline of writing to you here, is a helpful, reflective and hopefully, reasonably thoughtful activity. I hope that for some, the rhythm of reading it, perhaps with a cuppa and a moment of peace at the end of the week, will provide a small sanctuary in your frenetic days in school. If nothing else, it means it is Friday once again!
 
I heard this week that so much less of today’s ‘living’ is spent in the here and now than it used to be. A huge proportion of our waking hours are filtered through the lens of technology. For example, at music concerts, many people now prefer to record what is happening on their phone rather than just to watch and listen, fully present in the moment. Apparently, Manchester United now has a ‘no phone’ section of the Old Trafford stadium for people who just want to watch the games rather than watch through their phone.
 
So, in addition to gaining experience and coming out of our comfort zone to face and overcome new challenges, we also need time to process and to reflect, if these experiences are to blossom into wisdom and understanding. We need time to make sense of those experiences. Time spent in the here and now. Time to listen to the still, small voice.
 
Collect (3rd Sunday before Lent)
Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the many changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
 
Well done  to headteacher Michael Stoppard and the dedicated team at The Hereford Church of England Academy, who had their (two-day) SIAMs this week.
 
Prayers and best wishes to Vicky Reynolds and the team at Lydbury North CE Primary who have their SIAMs inspection today!
 
Please don’t forget to book your conference places. Not only will it be a brilliant event, but it will also be restorative and spiritually nourishing. You will be surrounded by colleagues who know what it means to carry the burden you carry. You must take care of yourself in order to sustain the resilience you need to help others and this is one really good way to top up your battery a little.
 
Thank you all for everything you are doing in support of schools, at every level in schools across the diocese. Your work to keep our schools as places of sanctuary for every child and young person who crosses the threshold, is vitally important and will be, for many, life changing.
 
You can be certain, that your work each day, is known and loved by God, as are you.
 
Blessings and best wishes,
 
Andrew
Canon Andrew Teale
Diocesan Director of Education