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Middle Leader Superheroes Are The Unheralded Stars of Every School

As another school year gets off to a flying start, Claire Stoneman offers a heartfelt paean for the unsung heroes who help it all happen…

Claire Stoneman
by Claire Stoneman
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Although the vast majority of teachers may feel that tightly clenched knot that forms like a repeatedly jabbing fist in their stomach towards the end of the six-week summer holiday, there are many joys to the first week back.

There’s the relatively superficial, but gorgeously exciting stuff: the stationery (all the stationery!); the tang of freshly painted classrooms; those piles of brand new, beautifully smelling exercise books (if you’re a book sniffer like me, you’ll know what I mean); just the general newness of everything. There’s catching up with fabulous colleagues and getting back into the routine of that break time coffee and post-school catch up.

And there’s seeing the kids after six weeks – meeting new classes, establishing routines, marvelling at how some of them have managed to grow about a foot in height in little over a month. We soon find ourselves back in the familiar, comfortable routine of that behemoth that dominates so much of our lives: school.

Behind the scenes

I’d like to take some time, though, to consider our school superheroes. As the whirlwind of school picks up speed, let’s pause for thought in praise of our middle leaders – those X-Men equivalents that enable much of the above to happen, like some sort of magical, schooly voodoo.

Because it’s these stalwart champions that have been hard at it, oiling the wheels to make the first week back run like clockwork.

They’ve already had their adrenaline pushed to fairly stratospheric levels (remember, for our middle leaders, results day anticipation is the first left hook from that fist in the stomach – the not knowing is worse than anything), and have probably already spent about a week scrupulously analysing results to the nth degree; they then move on to ensuring all is as well as possible for their teams from Day 1, and get those plans for the year carefully in place.

They’re the magical elves who made that sparkling pile of stationery appear on your desk on Monday morning; they’re the ones who liaised with site team to get your blinds fixed over the summer; they’re the ones who ummed and ahhhed and strategised and meticulously planned that curriculum you’re teaching from. Heck, they’re also the ones who thoughtfully made you that cup of tea when things were a bit rubbish. They are the school’s linchpins; they stop the wheels slipping off. Let’s show them some love.

Always and everywhere

Middle leaders – I want you to know how much we appreciate you. Whether we’ve been in this amazing profession quite a few years, as I have, or whether we’re sparky NQTs fizzing with ideas, you are vitally important to us all.

Schools couldn’t run without you. You’re the curriculum-mappers, the mentors, the organisers, and CPD trainers. The assembly-givers, the pupil-chivviers, the data-crunchers, NQT-saviours.

And this doesn’t just happen at the start of the year. It’s all year. There’s really no let-up as a middle leader. You are the face of your faculty, year group or house. You’re the one everyone – teachers and pupils alike – looks to. The one expected to have the answers and solutions and data and plans. Oh, and biscuits for that meeting. And glue sticks. And do you have any more Post-its please?

You are the conduit between senior team and teachers at the chalkface, transforming those whole school priorities into tangible, subject-specific or pastoral plans that work in day to day practice.

So for the first week back, and for every day, we thank you, middle leaders. You really are superheroes. Hang up that cape for five minutes, rest those Spidey senses. And let us make you a cup of tea for once.

Claire Stoneman is deputy head teacher at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School, Birmingham; she blogs at birminghamteacher.wordpress.com and can be found on Twitter at @stoneman_claire.

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