Monthly Archives: May 2018

Email should be a convenient and efficient communication tool. However, it is also fraught with danger as messages can be misinterpreted, especially if a ‘tone’ is read into the content. It is important to remember these key points when communicating with parents using email. Once you press SEND, your message is gone. You can’t take back and it’s “on the record”. Filling in the TO section last, avoids making the mistake of prematurely sending the message. (PS Retracting an email just highlights your mistake and is likely to make them pay even closer attention to what you wrote!) Avoid rushing your response. Time pressures and the reactive nature of email can contribute to us rushing our response to a confronting…

In many schools, the staff car park is a busy place immediately after meetings. Colleagues often congregate in small groups, in the staff car park, to reflect on the meeting and share, what they were going to say or should have said! at the meeting. In the car park, after a meeting, staff tend to congregate with trusted colleagues and are honest and open with their viewpoints. Sometimes they are too open and too honest! The length and vigour of the ‘car park meeting’ is often a symptom of the level of trust that exists within the staff. It is important to school culture that staff are honest, open and genuine with their viewpoints and share them in an appropriate…