How ‘honest’ are you and your school?

Within the “modern school”, staff need to be masters of all things. Yet surely this is often an unreachable ambition, one we strive for but seldom attain.

Wise leaders prioritise the most important things, placing them in their improvement plans. Wise staff set clear performance management goals based around these plans, shaped by their departmental priorities. Wise students follow suit, setting concise targets guided by teachers and tutors. Wise parents help offspring in ways informed by the staff. To be wise takes honesty, but it is the best policy.

To possess honesty we need to be truthful, possess integrity, sincerity and be open. Honesty is a disposition, a way of laying bare all the elements needed to grow. In schools, as in life, we improve the more we practise. This inspires us to act the same way again and again, however we feel and whatever the situation.