February 2020 – Happy Schools

Is Your TO DO List Making You Sick?

February 27, 2020

Exercise more, eat better, spend more time with the family, connect more with friends, how much more can we do? I know I’m not alone by sharing that once or twice (okay way more times) in my life I have felt stressed. I’m hiding so no one would find me, yelling at my phone to be quiet and on the brink, wanting to rip up my TO DO list and run to the mountains. Anyone with me? If we stop and think about the events that lead up to these meltdowns, we play a big part in getting ourselves into the situation. We keep saying yes when we want to say no, we sleep in when knowing we need to…

Dealing with Difficult Parents

February 20, 2020

Stevef

Communication

Dealing with difficult or demanding parents can certainly add to the stress of working in schools. Whilst staff in schools have the needs of multiple students to consider, most parents are only advocating for a small number of students, their own children. That’s understandable! Keeping the scale of the problem in perspective is important. What is known as the 80 / 20 rule generally applies. 80% of problems will come from 20% of parents. In most cases an even larger percentage of issues will come from an even smaller percentage of parents. This is not intended in any way to trivialise the issues. However keeping it in perspective is important. Whilst dealing with difficult parents may take a lot of…

Letting Go of Betrayals of Trust

February 13, 2020

Stevef

Resilience

What are you like at forgiving others and getting over hurts? Some of us find this extremely hard to do. However, over time unresolved, painful emotions can come at a major cost. Most of the hurts that we have are misunderstandings where we have jumped to the wrong conclusion. Many of these upsets are easy to get over. We calm down, find a kinder way to explain another’s behaviour and then find it easier to let go of any remaining hurt when the normal pattern of positive interactions resumes. But there are also major hurts, betrayals of trust or a long history of hurtful interactions that are much harder to let go of. Sometimes the change required is…

Live the Reputation You Want to Have

February 6, 2020

Stevef

Effectiveness

If asked for three words to describe YOU, what three words would your students use? What about parents? What three words would they choose? Finally, your colleagues, what is your reputation in their eyes? Each of us has a reputation in the eyes of others. This reputation may be accurate or ill informed. It may have been hard earned over many years, inherited through our position or even assumed based on first impressions. But our reputation impacts on our relationships with others and our effectiveness. This year I’d like you to think about the three words you’d LIKE your reputation to be. What would you like people to say about you at the end of the year? I recently worked…