Friday again

This past week has been exceptionally busy and enjoyable.

This morning, after a short meeting with our Principal Teachers, I enjoyed a very fruitful meeting with Sheena Purdom and Audrey Gilmour from our Parent Council. In the coming weeks I will be working closely with the Parent Council to ensure that parents have the opportunity to be involved in curricular planning and are fully briefed on progress with the new buildings.

At morning break I was pleased that there was less litter in evidence around the campus than last week. I'm hoping that the pleas made at assemblies are making an impact.

Highlights of this week included gaining Council approval for building our new school and meeting with Headteachers from our Primary schools. Obtaining planning approval was very important as I feel we need to get started so that as many of our current pupils can enjoy what will undoubtedly be an amazing school campus. I was invited to attend the hearing at the City Chambers on Wednesday and be part of the presenting team from the council. I really enjoyed being part of such a well organised and well prepared team. Overall, It was really interesting to see how rigorous the process was and how seriously everyone took the discussion that ensued. I was hugely impressed with how knowledgeable and prepared the elected officials were and how passionate they were in their views. There was some opposition to the layout of the new school but I noted with interest that all those who spoke in opposition were supportive of the school and proud to be associated with it. This, I felt was significant, as in the coming years I will want to work closely with all sectors of our local community.

Meeting with the Primary Heads gave me a chance to hear their views on what they believe we do well as a grouping of schools and what we need to improve.

Looking back at the week I feel that I need to spend more time visiting classrooms and less time in meetings. Achieving this and keeping on top of all the correspondence and meetings I am invited to is going to be a huge challenge in the coming weeks.