Ashhurst School
Shona Oliver discusses leading people and building community relationships.
Video
Clip duration: 3:49
Leadership style
"Passionate ... visible and involved at all levels."
To me, one of the most important aspects of leadership is having passion about what you are doing. I believe that you need to have pride in your school, to involve people, and to show them that they are valued and that their ideas are important. All of our teachers are leaders. Part of my role is to model good leadership practice and to provide opportunities for teachers to demonstrate their skills.
My strategy is to get alongside people, to encourage them to lead, and then to give them opportunities 'to fly'. I support and encourage teachers to take risks. I believe that the leader's role is to know about every person, to be visible, and to be involved at all levels.
We work within a framework of high expectations of staff and pupils. Every decision made, at any level, from the board through to individual teachers, is based on this. Our systems are there to support learning. We always ask the question "How will this decision impact on pupils' learning?"
Where we are at
“Putting the heart into the school."
When I arrived at Ashhurst I found a school with excellent systems in place and a professional board of trustees who had a very clear idea of what they wanted to happen next. The board felt that the school could be more responsive to the needs of our community and the challenge for me was to create a culture, which delivered this expectation. The challenge was to put more 'heart' into the school so that it became very much part of community.
Together we developed key aims, which were to develop:
- A communications-based culture about people – a culture of teamwork, based on respect, a culture that valued both adults and children
- A caring community, a learning community, a health-promoting school.
The culture we have developed is one of being responsive to the community's needs. The culture is very much one of working together, sharing ideas, and empowering everyone who is in school. We nurture leadership at all levels, and have developed a shared leadership style.
The school feels and looks fabulous. Everyone knows they are part of it. People coming into our school hear laughter. Together we are learning and having fun!
Where my ideas come from
"I developed my leadership style by reflecting on what I have done."
I have developed my leadership style by constantly reflecting on what I do. At this stage, I feel that I have completed my apprenticeship in principalship. I have worked alongside wonderful principals in the past and I have gathered many ideas and skills from them.
I also undertake professional reading and really value the ideas of people I respect, for example Dr David Stewart with his writing and ideas on reflective leadership.
I also work closely with colleagues. I believe it is important for all school leaders to meet with others and to talk with them about leadership practice. I am involved with a very stimulating mentor group. We meet regularly and we trust each other to talk about all the other day-to-day things that confront us. We also discuss and reflect on professional readings.
What we've been doing
"We are a village school with big-school opportunities."
We are a village school and are very proud of that. We describe ourselves as a community school with big-school opportunities. We have accomplished this by consulting with our community so that they have become stakeholders in the school's development. Together we have developed a closer vision of where we want to be, and a better idea of what we want to look like. To achieve this vision it is important that we get out among the community, ask them questions, and listen to their ideas.
We are very proud of the leadership shown by the children in school. To develop student leadership we have shown them in so many ways that we value what they have to say, and that what they are doing is okay. We have established a student council and every class has a representative on the council. Recently at a staff meeting two members of the student council came along and spoke to staff about an idea they had: that teachers swap around classes for a day and teach other class levels. The staff picked up that idea. The students really enjoyed and benefited from the contact they had with other teachers. This helped to maintain the school culture encapsulated in our mission statement: "Together We Learn".
Students are provided with a range of opportunities to develop their leadership skills including: acting as buddies, house leaders, peer mediators, green team leaders, civil defence radio operators, and student council representatives.
Listening to people has been a key component of all leadership development in the school. We work hard to ensure that everyone feels valued and important. I also believe that we need to involve local businesses and service groups – not just to ask for their support, but also to invite them into the school. We also have older people (many ex-pupils) who pop in for morning tea to tell us about their school days. This is just one of the ways we make everyone in our community feel involved.
The outcome is that people are happy coming into, and being a part of, our school.
For any change to be successful it is important that everyone stops to celebrate what we have achieved. We have many ways to celebrate our successes and we continually celebrate our children and the learning that takes place.
How do we know?
"We take quality time as a group."
Reflective practice is very important for us, as it is in any school. Every year we ensure that we take some quality time as a group (such as parents, board, or staff) to reflect on what we are doing, where we are going, and what we can do better. To ensure quality time is provided we plan senior management retreats, staff retreats, board of trustee retreats, and teacher retreats.
We also get feedback from the children, their parents, and from the community. If a child, for any reason, is not happy or not sure about something, we quickly work together to address the concern.
We never say, "We have arrived." We are always looking for ways to improve.
Where to next?
"What's the best deal we can give our pupils today?"
Our next step is to continue reviewing our practice through critical reflection on the year's learning cycle. This is not just a review of our programme but also the processes and systems we used to implement them. We are interested not only in the 'what', but also the 'how'.
As a staff, we ensure that quality time is set aside for us to read, reflect, and talk about what we are doing. We see this as a really important part of leadership. I believe it would be really sad, as the principal, if I arrived at the 'next gate', and to turn and find that no one is there with me.
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