Mr A Raw

I'm 56. I've been a Headteacher of 7 schools this thread sums up beautifully why I've retired and walked away. "I could win a 1000 battles but could not win the war"

“Can you just log that on CPOMs!”

School leaders are facing relentless pressure right now. Attendance challenges.
A growing SEND crisis.
Safeguarding cases that are more complex than ever.
Funding that never quite meets the need.
Staff recruitment and retention becoming harder each year. Schools are increasingly being asked to hold together the social fabric of their communities. And rightly, we are accountable. We should be. But there is a question the system needs to start asking. Schools have a duty of care to staff.
Employers have a duty of care to employees. So what duty of care exists for school leaders operating within a high-stakes accountability system? The debate following the tragic death of Ruth Perry forced the profession to confront something uncomfortable - the pressure attached to inspection outcomes can be immense. This isn’t about avoiding accountability or lowering standards. It’s about recognising that school leaders are human. Right now, many heads are carrying extraordinary responsibility for issues that stretch far beyond the school gates, while still being judged through a system overseen by Ofsted that can have life-changing consequences. A strong school system needs accountability. But it also needs leaders who feel supported, trusted and able to sustain the role. Because if we continue to ignore the human cost of the job, we risk losing the very people the system depends on. And I suspect many school leaders would quietly say the same thing: Enough is enough.

If the job of teaching is dependent on people sacrificing their own mental health and wellbeing to do the job then this is simply not sustainable. Also the figure that 58% of very dissatisfied teachers say their mental health is "harming their teaching" is very concerning also. Bad behaviour, pay, tech, PD are all factors. fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/…

If you haven’t taught in a classroom post-Covid, you don’t know what it is like to teach the modern student. The students have changed. Teaching has changed. You have to be in the classroom daily to understand what I mean.

SCHOOL INITIATIVE FLOW CHART Problem detected ⬇️ Don’t ask teachers ⬇️ Pay for an expensive corporate program ⬇️ Program doesn’t work ⬇️ Blame teachers ⬇️ Don’t ask teachers why it didn’t work ⬇️ REPEAT

When you don’t brush your teeth AND you don’t floss AND you skip some of the dental visits, you don’t get to blame the dentist for your bad teeth. People need to STOP BLAMING SCHOOLS for kids that are behind. We aren’t a solution for everything. #MaslowBeforeBloom

Worsening pupil behaviour is playing a significant role in teachers deciding to quit the profession, finds new study from @TheNFER tes.com/magazine/news/…

When you give schools and teachers responsibility for everything…education, parenting, mental health, discipline, meals, safety, you don’t get better outcomes, you get burnout. Systems fail when expectations replace support.

Schools are now structured so that the overwhelming number of student misbehaviors essentially have ZERO consequences. This is horrible for teachers…but it’s even worse for the students who want to learn!

“Every time I start talking I am interrupted, turn by turn, by at least 8 pupils. I can’t even give an explanation. When they’re finally silent for 30s, 3 pupils will raise their hand to ask to go the toilet or an inane off topic Q. Repeat for an hour. I’m quitting.”

I cried in our staff meeting tonight. Not for attention. Not to make a point (and I'm not doing that on here). But because I finally said out loud what so many of us are feeling - that this is the toughest time in education I’ve ever known and I need my colleagues’ help to get through it (so I can keep helping them too). I love my job, our community and the people I work with. I'm lucky because I really do. But the intense pressure and relentlessness… the growing SEN needs… the feisty world we live in... the funding cuts that force us to dismantle the very things we all know make a difference - it all takes its toll. It hurts. It keeps you awake at night. After 15 years as a head in two very different places, I’ve never felt pressure like this. I want to do more for our families, more for the children who need us most, more to support my brilliant colleagues who are running on empty. Their tears break me and I’m running out of wise words and clever solutions - and we’re not even in the Ofsted window yet. The daft thing? School is in a great place. We’re playing like we’re pushing for a Champions League spot while living in a relegation battle. It’s confusing and so bloody exhausting. So yes, I cried. And I’m glad I did. Because my colleagues were there for me - and vulnerability brought us closer and made me feel stronger, not weaker. If you’re feeling it too, please talk to someone at school. Make space for each other. Create safety. Create belonging. Make it deliberate. Things will improve. They have to. Until then, let’s be kind - to ourselves and to each other.

Two parents. Two jobs. Parent 1 earns £45,000
Parent 2 earns £28,000 Together, that’s £73,000 Sounds great, right? 
But after taxes you're taking home around £56,000 Now subtract: - £14,400 for daycare - £15,000+ for rent or mortgage - £3,000 on fuel - £6,000 on food - £5,000 on bills - £3,000+ in debt repayments and interest Suddenly, that £56k becomes £9k, maybe less and that’s before birthdays, clothes, school trips, or anything going wrong. You’re both working 40+ hours a week 
And for what? - Handing your baby to strangers 5 days a week?
- Living off frozen meals and exhaustion?
- Falling asleep thinking about your overdraft? 
It’s not “making it.” It’s surviving with nicer clothes. You’re not chasing dreams you’re covering bills. 
It’s not financial freedom. The system isn’t broken. It’s just working exactly as designed. You need a way out.

A very good pal of mine who is a serious player in the London property game. just told me he’s struggling to sell flats in Central and West London. We’re talking prime locations that used to fly off the market. Now? Nothing. He reckons the prices have collapsed and it’s only going one way…. down. And it is only gonna get worse. Why? Years of inflated prices driven by overseas investors, not real working Brits. And now, people just don’t want to live in London anymore. Why would they? Crime’s through the roof, the streets aren’t safe, and working families are being pushed out while the city gets run into the ground. This is what happens when you let short-term politics and weak leadership ruin a great city. London was the absolute governor and should be the pride of Britain, but right now, it’s broken. What’s everyone else seeing out there? Is it the same in your area? Has London lost it? Bosh❤️

72 weeks into a Headship and the best week so far! From around 20 suspensions a week to 0 suspensions for the 1st time in my tenure. Not even close. Changing a school culture is hard. Changing school behaviour is hard. Holding the line is extraordinarily hard but worth it!

If you get up, go to work, pay your taxes, and manage to raise your children at the same time - you shouldn’t be forced to further subsidise someone else’s refusal to do the same.

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Chatting to lots of heads and senior leaders recently. Especially ones who have had OFSTED. I have come to the opinion; Unless you work in a school, you've no idea how difficult things are.

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Is it time to work to rule and only work the hours you are paid for. Only do school work in school hours? Reclaim your time and family time.