Talking Heads – Leadership during a pandemic

Talking Heads – Leadership during a pandemic

We are looking at the experiences of our school leaders on the ground through lockdown and the pandemic. This week’s ‘Talking Heads’ comes from Rachel Campbell and Emily Carr, Co-Head Teachers at Bishopton Pupil Referral Unit.

We truly believe it is a privilege to work in school. To be able to support and inspire colleagues during a time of uncertainty and to have the opportunity to shape the hearts and minds of students and their families is in our opinion a very privileged position to be in. However, as much as we love our jobs and thrive on having the opportunity to make a difference and provide demonstrable improvements in the services we provide, the truth is, leading a school during a global pandemic has been challenging.

In March 2020 the country went into lockdown. I was in my third trimester, whilst my Co-Head was also in the late stages of her pregnancy and preparing to leave for her maternity. Pregnant, during a global pandemic, we both worked every day to ensure staff, students and families were safe. As did leaders up and down the country. We continue to reflect on our time and support staff with their own personal challenges faced during the pandemic.

Across the national lockdowns imposed we rose to the challenges that this presented, epitomising what it means to be a PRU with inclusion at its heart.  Our response was tailored exclusively to the community.  Work packs were quickly, but carefully and expertly, prepared for every child and these were individual and personalised.  There is no space for generic offers as every child at Bishopton requires a specialised and bespoke approach, something that the caring and committed staff team recognised and delivered on.   

This term saw schools up and down the country enter another period of uncertainty and challenges: from testing to exam entries, school leaders have continued to rapidly respond to the challenges Covid-19 presents whilst simultaneously dealing with the pre-Covid pressures of the job. Unless you are in the profession we don’t feel there is a wide understanding of the many metaphorical hats school leaders wear. Whether it be trying to alleviate the concerns of worried parents and carers, delivering food parcels to vulnerable families or organising a robust blended learning offer for all pupils, the duties of school leaders has expanded exponentially. Never before did we imagine that staff meetings would no longer include sitting shoulder to shoulder in the school hall, or that we would interview potential candidates via Microsoft Teams.

Throughout the national lockdown our staff have continued to support students and their families through daily phone calls, delivery of food hampers to households and weekly, socially distanced, doorstep visits to maintain a physical and visible interaction with their community of learners.  This highly personalised approach allowed us to generate an intimate picture of what lockdown looked like for their families, thus enabling them to respond accordingly.  The workload and emotional impact of this level of work on the staff team at Bishopton cannot be overlooked and the staff quite rightly deserve huge recognition for the “above and beyond” way in which we supported families, students and indeed the wider community during this most unprecedented of times. 

Communication with students and parents has a strong emphasis; a conscious decision to utilise Facebook as a communication tool during lockdown was made in light of the fact that this was a platform known to be frequently accessed by the community.  Check-ins with families and students, so obviously linked to our target around developing mental health and well-being were started during lockdown and have continued thereafter, including during the summer holiday when staff would still come into Bishopton to undertake such telephone calls.  This drive and commitment on behalf of students and families is front and centre to the Bishopton way of being. 

Another example of this level of commitment and adaptability can be found in our decision to retain Year 11s on roll beyond July 2020 as a contingency in case colleges could not open due to COVID-19 which would have potentially left students ‘out of the system.’  Dedication exemplified and gave further evidence, should it be needed, that Bishopton fully promotes the notion that ‘learning never stops’ – such an important message for young people which helps advocate for high aspirations.  

As school leaders, we truly believe in the ability for education to transform lives. We are committed to maximising outcomes for our students – not just academic, but socially and emotionally. We strive to inspire and empower the colleagues we work with. But as the latest research shows, it is time that school leaders give themselves the same attention that we give to others. 

Bishopton Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) in Stockton-On-Tees Local Authority, is commissioned for 65 pupil places across Key Stages 3 and 4.  The PRU is led by an all-female SLT, including the first Co-Headship in Stockton.

If you would like to contribute a blog to Talking Heads please get in touch