What does a thriving school look like?

Have you ever considered what the ideal school day might be? I asked AI this week. It told me there was no stress, everything ran to plan as the day was predictable and everyone was calm. It told me that everyone ate lunch together to build community among staff, staff all arrived on time and left on time. The words it used were balance, inclusive, supportive, calm, community and joy.

How does that list make you feel? Laughable? Anger? Frustration? Hope? Would you add or remove anything?

Can a school day be predictable? People are messy aren’t they? Both pupils, families, staff and anyone else who is part of your school community. What is a realistic goal? I’m pretty sure it would look slightly different for each one of us.

Perhaps the title isn’t the right question to be asking? All schools have their own context, vision, community and challenges, don’t they? A survey conducted by the National Education Association in 2023 found that nearly 60% of educators indicated that they would remain in the profession longer if their mental health needs were better supported.

We have all heard the statistics on staff leaving. This has impact across the board – both for those individuals, school finance, experience leaving and of course the pupils.

A 2023 NEU survey revealed that over 40% of teachers are considering leaving the profession within the next two years, citing reasons such as workload, stress, and lack of support. Have they left?

Would a better question be: What can be done to support nursery and school staff to love their roles, so they stay, they thrive?

One of my happiest roles in school (and I loved them all!), was in a troubled school with a headteacher who saw me, valued me, believed in me, invested in me and pushed me to be the best version I could be of myself.

Does that sound simplistic or annoying? I worked extremely hard, managed high levels of stress daily and yet I thrived. There are so many components to this:

• I was encouraged to use my most valued strengths

• Communication, support and belonging were key

• CPD was a priority, so I was learning constantly

• We talked about our WHY A LOT, and all had a common understanding

• I was given the opportunity to support others

• We were a team, so those areas that were not my strength, another took over

• We celebrated each other’s impact

I could go on, but it wasn’t about pay, hours, challenging behaviours or workload. Yes, we talked about these things, regularly, but deeper things were happening. As a result, we were creative, more productive, honest with each other, had more energy and even joy in the job.

I remember going into a school to train the team in a new maths resource. They were quite overwhelmed and very stressed and exhausted. I offered to stay after the session to support the EYFS teacher to introduce the resources to her class. She was so surprised at the offer but happily agreed. We had an absolute riot! We got out all the resources and explored them with the class. We laughed, challenged each other and the children, and her whole demeanour was transformed. A little support, a little fun, collaboration and being given permission to make a massive mess with support to clear it up!

She discovered she was capable. She was reminded how good she is at her job and how much joy there can be. I was reminded of the importance of feeling supported, reminded of our impact and remembering there is so much joy to be had in discovering the learning opportunities when we remove ourselves from what can become a daily grind.

These moments need to be celebrated. They need to be noticed, shared and talked about. I recently read that we need to focus on a thought for 20 seconds for it to embed, otherwise we so often forget it. So, at the most simple level, this teacher started to thrive as she found joy again, remembered WHY she is doing the job and re-discovered her impact.

I would suggest that a thriving school community isn’t about huge changes. Yes of course, extra resources, more time, changes to expectations would help so much. However, what if we look to small, even micro-changes to enable both staff and pupils to thrive?

How about we:

• Use the strengths we already have in our teams to drive change?

• Spend time to enjoy our team and share the load?

• Celebrate our successes? Not as pride but to discover our impact.

• Discover better how to manage relationships and conflict?       

• Remember our WHY?

These are just some of the areas we address in my course 5 Minutes to Thrive.

Reduce stress and overwhelm in just 5 minutes a week. Together as a staff team, build relationships and belonging to reduce burnout by 30%.

Interested? Book a chat https://calendly.com/rowenaphicks/30min